Apparently the Nephites launched a total effort of all of their people to get the Anti-Nephi-Lehies settled down in the land of Jershon and the armies of the Nephites deployed strategically all around so they could protect these thousands of new converts in case the Lamanites came up to avenge themselves.
This verse indicates that the migration of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies up to the land of Zarahemla had been carefully tracked by the Lamanites. But this does not mean they were followed by a whole Lamanite army. It was merely a group of spies. However, when the word came back that the Anti-Nephi-Lehies had been given the land of Jershon and were now to be called the people of Ammon, the Lamanite leaders determined to mobilize their whole people and annihilate the Nephites as a nation. The results were devastating.
“The Armies of the Lamanites Had Followed Their Brethren into the Wilderness”
Apparently the Nephites launched a total effort of all of their people to get the Anti-Nephi-Lehies settled down in the land of Jershon and the armies of the Nephites deployed strategically all around so they could protect these thousands of new converts in case the Lamanites came up to avenge themselves.
This verse indicates that the migration of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies up to the land of Zarahemla had been carefully tracked by the Lamanites. But this does not mean they were followed by a whole Lamanite army. It was merely a group of spies. However, when the word came back that the Anti-Nephi-Lehies had been given the land of Jershon and were now to be called the people of Ammon, the Lamanite leaders determined to mobilize their whole people and annihilate the Nephites as a nation. The results were devastating.