Helaman and his brothers intervened as the Nephites’ religious leaders. Moroni, despite his obvious spirituality, might well have been willing to accept the Ammonites’ offer. Many (most?) of the adult Ammonite men probably had military experience and would have been a boon to his spread-thin troops. Helaman shifts the argument from political and military grounds back to theological grounds. They cannot break an oath to Yahweh without jeopardizing their standing with Yahweh and perhaps even rescinding the effects of their repentance. Helaman understood that for this people the oath was a tremendous, but essential, burden; and he intervened to safeguard their “souls.”