We have previously seen that disaffected Lamanites are sent to the people of Ammon. The guards of the Lamanite king who were accused of his death by Amalickiah find their way to the people of Ammon (Alma 47:29). The relatively recent arrival of the people of Ammon from the heartland of the Lamanites would suggest this as the best location for more of the Lamanites. We also saw in the incident with Laman, one of those king’s guards who had gone to Ammon, but became a spy for Moroni, that there was probably a language difference in the two peoples (see the commentary following Alma 55:8). Thus language would have been another reason for the assignment to the land of Jerson and the Ammonites.
In verse 16 we learn that part of the covenant that the Lamanites have made is not to take up weapons again. Whether or not this was the equivalent oath to that taken by the people of Ammon, there was still a common aspect between the people of Ammon and the newly arrived Lamanites – there would be no weapons. With the people of Ammon, perhaps the newly arrived Lamanites might not be so tempted to breach their oath since weapons were not within easy access.