2 And it came to pass that he went in unto him into the king’s palace, with his brethren, and bowed himself before the king, and said unto him: Behold, O king, we are the brethren of Ammon, whom thou hast delivered out of prison.
3 And now, O king, if thou wilt spare our lives, we will be thy servants. And the king said unto them: Arise, for I will grant unto you your lives, and I will not suffer that ye shall be my servants; but I will insist that ye shall administer unto me; for I have been somewhat troubled in mind because of the generosity and the greatness of the words of thy brother Ammon; and I desire to know the cause why he has not come up out of Middoni with thee.
It seems to me that this asking a king to be a servant to spare your life was a common and appropriate thing to ask a king, because a king could off with anyone’s head they wanted to for any reason. Did not Ammon say something similar? I will have to go back and look.
Anyway, even though Aaron and his brethren knew they were released because of Lamoni the Elder, they still showed proper reverence to the king. Was this fear of kings more common with the Lamanites than Nephites? I suppose all that mattered was whether or not a particular king abused his power, or if he was a righteous king.
Fortunately the king didn’t want them as servants. He was consumed with knowing more about Ammon and the love he showed his son, and why he had not come to teach him more. A change of heart from the Angry King!
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