As part of the terms of surrender, Moroni declares to the army of Zerahemnah that "except ye depart with an oath . . . we will spill your blood upon the ground" (Alma 44:11). According to Thomas Valletta, the texts of both Old Testament covenants and covenant renewals and Ancient Near Eastern treaties support the notion of the serious binding nature of covenants. . . .
"Sacrifices accompanied the oath in connection with a covenant," according to M.H. Pope, which may be the origin of the Hebrew idiom "to cut a covenant with" someone. He explains:
In the sacrifices of the covenant the animals were cut in two, and one or both parties passed between the pieces (Genesis 15:10, 17). In Jeremiah 34:18 those who break the covenant with the Lord are told that they will be made like the calf which they cut in two and passed between its parts. This suggest that the oath which bound the parties to a covenant may have stipulated in the conditional curse that the violator should be treated like the sacrificial animal. (Pope, The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 3:576)
This imagery illuminates the divine warnings of an impending sword to come down upon a covenant-breaking Israel. For example, in Leviticus 26:25, we read: "And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy" (compare Deuteronomy 32:41; Jeremiah 46:10). Metaphorically and historically, a covenant-breaking Israel (like the men of Zerahemnah), faced the terrible prospect of a punishing sword. [Thomas R. Valletta, "The Captain and the Covenant," in The Book of Mormon: Alma, The Testimony of the Word, pp. 226-227,230]
Note* Does the phrase "cut off" from the presence of the Lord imply that a previous covenant has been broken? [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]