This was, according biblical scholars Cyrus Gordon and Gary Rendsburg, “a routine procedure all through the ancient Near East,” and “symbolized victory in battle.” 8 In recent archaeological excavations in Egypt, pits containing over a dozen right hands were found in the proximity of a Hyksos palace, which renowned archaeologist and Egyptologist Manfred Bietak had stated were evidence of the “gold of valor” ceremony, where soldiers presented the hands of conquered enemies and received gold as a reward.

One recent reader has proposed that “arms” should be interpreted as weapons, 4 in part because “the image of a servant dragging a blood-soaked bag across the floor of the king’s palace in order to show him the gory amputated limbs of his enemies seems somewhat fanciful.” 5 Yet, a pair of LDS scholars long ago noted, “The practice of cutting off the arms or other body parts of enemies, specifically as a testimony of the conquest of victims, is attested in the ancient Near East.” 6 The severed body parts (typically heads or hands) would then be “sent on as evidence and trophies of the success” of a warrior in battle.Īncient depictions 7 show soldiers “heaping them up in triumph,” in order to tally the dead or to entitle mercenaries to be paid. 3 The servants then diligently took the arms “unto the king … for a testimony of the things which they had done” ( v. Ammon had consciously “slew none with the sword save it were their leader” ( Alma 17:38), 2 but he “smote off their arms with his sword,” seemingly with a single blow ( v. Hugh Nibley observed, “The whole affair at the waters of Sebus must strike anyone as very strange.” 1 Few details are stranger, perhaps, than envisioning Ammon’s fellow servants bringing a pile of severed arms to present to the king.

Ammon defends the flocks of king lamoni