Another lesson is given regarding prisoners of war. Moroni kept them busy. It was easy to guard them while they were working (v. 5), but it was a benefit for all. The prisoners were able to get physical exercise. The burying of the dead helped with sanitation and personal comforts. Lack of proper burial at the city of Ammonihah after it was destroyed by the Lamanites caused the city to be unlivable. “So great was the scent thereof that the people did not go in to possess the land of Ammonihah for many years. And it was called Desolation of Nehors” (Alma 16:11). Time would pass more quickly when they were kept busy, and the needed improvements were made in the defenses of the Nephites. The prisoner’s work did not endanger their lives, but it may also have had an unintended benefit for the Lamanites as a whole when these prisoners learned the methods of defense used by the Nephites. Other benefits will be shown in the future chapters.
Another example of the cause of war is shown as intrigues and dissensions of the Nephites on the west sea placed the people in dangerous circumstances (Alma 53:9). The iniquity among them is an example of the second precept given to us by Mormon, as he abridges the record. He said quarrellings and contentions “brought upon them their wars and their destructions” (Alma 50:21). Mormon leaves the sequential account at this point to tell us of the young Lamanite soldiers, which is the subject of the following chapter.