These chapters illustrate Captain Moroni’s character. Mike Brown, our Gospel Doctrine teacher in Provo, said he believed that Mormon put these fighting chapters in for his own ten-year-old Moroni. Now that Aidan’s nearly ten, I understand a little better.
Moroni is a champion fighter who hates violence. At the earliest possible opportunity, he pulls his men back and offers the Lamanites an ultimatum: a chance to surrender if they will swear not to take up arms against the Nephites again. Many accept; Zerahemnah infamously does not, claiming that they were preserved by their armor, not by any God.
I took a Book of Mormon course after my mission, and was dissatisfied with it; for example, in this section, the teacher thought that when Captain Moroni said, “I cannot recall the words which I have spoken,” that he meant Moroni couldn’t remember the words he uttered four verses earlier. Clearly, Moroni is saying that he cannot take back the words he had spoken, and the ultimatum still stands.
Again, the Nephites take on the Lamanites, but the offer for mercy is still there: as soon as Zerahemnah is willing to stop fighting, Moroni is willing to make peace.
Christ is the same way: no allowance for sin, but eager to show mercy to the penitent.
