Of all the history that he abridged, we find that Mormon identified most strongly with Captain Moroni. Both had been chief captains at a young age. Both led armies which were outnumbered and impeded by the wickedness of the people. Both were men of God. And both were spiritually strong enough to shake ’the very powers of hell.’ Gary Layne Hatch wrote:
“Captain Moroni, chief captain of the Nephite armies, is a man Mormon greatly admired. He devotes a large part of his abridgment to the wars fought by Captain Moroni and may even have named his son after this courageous captain. The description of Captain Moroni in the book of Alma gives some insight into Mormon’s personality. He admires Moroni for his skill as a general but even more for his faith in God.” (Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Alma, edited by PR Cheesman, MS Nyman, and CD Tate, Jr., 1988, p. 223)
Maybe one of the other reasons why Mormon spent so much time discussing these Nephite wars was because he wanted us to be acquainted with the power and personality of this man, for if we were all like him, we would quickly win our war against evil. Hermann Melville, in his classic, Moby Dick, spends over 500 pages in a character study of a revengeful sea captain. In the last chapters of Alma, Mormon spends only 53 pages in a character study of a righteous chief captain. We must be thankful to Mormon for including this detail, for without it, we could never become as Moroni—mighty and unshakable in the face of the devil and his angels.
Neal A. Maxwell
“We know the tempter will be completely bound in the Millennium—but we can surely constrain him much sooner, so far as our lives are concerned.” (Even As I Am, p. 77)
Hugh Nibley
“You do not expel evil from ‘the hearts of the children of men’ by shooting them or blowing them up or torturing them—the Inquisition operated on that theory. Nor can ‘the powers of hell be shaken’ by heavy artillery or nuclear warheads…Nobody knows that better than Moroni, whose efforts to avoid conflict far exceed his labors in battle. When he sees trouble ahead, he gets ready for it by ‘preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God’ (Alma 48:7).” (The Prophetic Book of Mormon, p. 492)