The survivors of this attack did not flee to the city of Shilom but to the city of Nephi, presumably because it was larger, more defensible, and also the seat of the government. This description of flight into a town for protection underscores that this is the accepted relationship between the vulnerable outlying villages and the city with its greater concentration of people and, probably, some fortifications. (See Alonso de Zorita, commentary vv. 11–12.)
Geography: By treaty, king Lamangave the land and city of Lehi-Nephi to Zeniff (Mosiah 7:21). Now, however, Zeniff’s people flee to the city of Nephi. Were they two different places? Sorenson thinks they were the same location. (See commentary accompanying Mosiah 7:25.) Since this verse has Nephites fleeing to the city of Nephi rather than to the city of Lehi-Nephi, it certainly appears that they are the same. Nevertheless, the evidence is not conclusive. I suggest that perhaps there was either a scribal or a transmission error at this point. Since Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery probably did not understand the finer points of geography and the city of Nephi and the city of Lehi-Nephi are so obviously similar, such an omission during dictation would not be unusual.