“Fortifying the Line Between the Nephites and the Lamanites”

Alan C. Miner

In Alma 22:27-29, Mormon states that the more idle part of the Lamanites lived in the wilderness "on the west of the land of Zarahemla," as well as on the east (of the land of Zarahemla) "in the borders by the seashore." Thus, "idle" Lamanites wrapped around the land of Zarahemla both on the west coast and on the east coast; furthermore, the question of who had control of these lands which wrapped around Zarahemla might have been a matter of Nephite-Lamanite debate. In "fortifying the line between the Nephites and the Lamanites" (Alma 50:11), Moroni drove all these "idle" Lamanites out of the east wilderness, apparently southward, so that the Nephites came to possess all the land in the east wilderness north of a "straight course" (the Nephite-Lamanite "line"). We can reason that if the Lamanites (who were now in the land of Nephi) had held "strongholds" in the east wilderness, then from the Lamanite point of view, the east wilderness might have originally been part of the land of Nephi, or at the least a "no man's land" occupied by the "idle" Lamanites described in Alma 22:29. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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