“Ye Shall Not Depart Except Ye Depart with an Oath”

"Captain Moroni was steeped in covenant theology. The word 'covenant' or its derivatives appear 26 times in the Book of Alma chapters dealing with Moroni (Alma 43-62), while they appear only three other times in the rest of the book. 'Covenant' appears seven times in Alma 46 and five times in Alma 44, a frequency surpassed only by the Lord's discourse in 3 Nephi 20, where the term or a derivative appears ten times. Additionally, the term 'oath' appears twelve times in the Captain Moroni chapters, while it doesn't appear at all elsewhere in the Book of Alma. The closest match is in the book of Mosiah, where it appears nine times. Clearly, realizing Moroni's fundamental grounding in and adherence to covenants is necessary to understand him. Indeed, his words and his actions can only be understood in the light of ancient covenant theology." (Thomas R. Valletta, Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Alma, edited by PR Cheesman, MS Nyman, and CD Tate, Jr., 1988, p. 230)