When Nehor seems to lose the battle of words, he escalates to battle with a more deadly weapon. Nehor was equipped with his “sword.” The sword is a military weapon and would not have been part of the normal dress of a city dweller. If Nehor had traveled from another city, he might have carried a weapon for protection, although it is not clear why he was still dressed for travel.
Gideon is not mentioned as being armed. As a military man, he certainly was familiar with weapons. Furthermore, he must have had some kind of weapon since he apparently gave a fair accounting of himself, falling primarily because he was “stricken with many years.”
As mentioned earlier (see commentary accompanying 2 Nephi 5:14), the Mesoamerican “sword” might have been what the Aztecs called a macuahuitl, or obsidian-studded club. These weapons were wooden clubs edged on opposite sides with razor-sharp obsidian blades. The bladed edge could certainly kill; however, the weapon might also be turned to the side and used as a club to capture rather than kill. A skilled man, like Gideon, might have used a staff, cloak, or some other item to fend off some blows without being severely injured (or the original author may have been using a literary device to defend Gideon’s honor after the fact). If we assume that this scene accurately depicts the fight, however, in the Mesoamerican context a skilled soldier, though unarmed, might have been able to withstand the attack until exhausted because of his advanced age.
How old was Gideon? According to the chronology used in this commentary, Mosiah2 took the throne in 124 B.C. Probably three years later, he gave Ammon permission to lead a party in search of Zeniff’s group. The reunion of those people (in two groups, one led by Alma1 and the other by Limhi) could not have occurred before 121 B.C. and was perhaps as late as 111 B.C. Mosiah2 died in 92 B.C., initiating the reign of the judges. These dates frame Gideon’s life and death. He was a captain of the guard between 121 B.C. and the reunification at perhaps 111 B.C. During that time, he was probably already mature, given his important position. He died in the first year of the reign of the judges, which was the year following Mosiah2’s death: in 91 B.C. Thus, Gideon had lived some twenty years in Zarahemla. While he might have been “stricken with years,” he was not completely enfeebled. If he had been killed at age about fifty to sixty, then he would have been Noah’s captain around the ages of twenty to thirty. Those ages seem to be a comfortable and plausible fit.