The priests’ fears are not without merit. They had no doubt witnessed or at least been aware of Noah’s execution by those who had followed him and abandoned their wives. Given that wrath from those who had been most favorable politically and religiously to the priests, it is no wonder they concluded that the city would be even less inclined to welcome them back.
Clearly, however, they also feared the Lamanites. They did not seek asylum at Shemlon among the Lamanites. They saw themselves as without a nation, required to make their way on their own. This would have been a difficult situation for men accustomed to luxury. They would now be entirely on their own for everything. Understanding their isolation, they would want women to complete their community.
It is also important that they did not attempt to lure away the wives they had abandoned or, at least, capture women from their own culture. It seems probable that they understood their act as a criminal one and perpetrated it upon an enemy rather than upon their own people, possibly rationalizing their act as a raid in which the women became a kind of spoils of war.