In sending the Lamanite women to plead for the lives of the renegade Nephite priests, Amulon is repeating the tactic used by Noah’s people who fled before the Lamanites. When the men who refused to abandon their wives and children turned to face the Lamanite army, they also had the women plead for them (Mosiah 19:13). It seems likely that this action represented an accepted strategy for negotiating a surrender.
Although these women had been kidnapped and forcibly married to the priests, they were willing to plead for their husbands, instead of demanding rescue and vengeance. Perhaps they had developed some affection for their husbands or, because of the births of children, saw themselves as new families. Perhaps Noah’s well-educated priests had managed to persuade their wives to transfer their allegiance to them, even though they were Nephites.
Text: It is unclear what source was used for verses 33–34.