Redaction: Pahoran begins with a declaration of who is writing the letter, and what is position is. He also recognizes Moroni’s authority as the chief captain over the army. While this is simply a statement of fact, it is also an opening that is designed to give Moroni immediate comfort for his grave concerns. We should understand that the exchange of letters covers much more time than Mormon depicts. It appears that this letter appears on the heels of the one Moroni sent, and indeed our modern world expects a fairly rapid (and with the Internet, nearly instantaneous) turnaround of messages. For Moroni the time period had to be perhaps a week, given the delivery period, Pahoran’s time to respond, and a military courier returning with the message. In a weeks time Moroni would have had ample time to continue to stew about the injustice he perceived in Pahoran. Thus this initial paragraph was very important, and had to be designed to allay Moroni’s greatest fears.
By confirming Moroni’s just position as the leader of the army Pahoran immediately tells Moroni that the order of government has not changed. Pahoran has not changed his position, nor has he attempted to strip Moroni of legitimate power. This confirmation of authority is followed by a recognition of the afflictions that Moroni suffers. Since Moroni had accused Pahoran of not caring, this opening is further designed to combat the types of accusations Moroni has laid against him, and to do so in the early part of the epistle.