The contrast between verses 3 and 4 is interesting. In verse 3 dissenters leave the Zarahemla polity and go to the Lamanites where they attempt to incite the Lamanites to war. They were unsuccessful, but another group of dissenters just two years later were successful. The first interesting item is that Mormon, or his sources, would have known the reason for the failure of first dissenters to stir up warfare. It is highly unlikely that anyone returned to report to official channels that they had tried to incite warfare, but they could not because the Lamanites were afraid. It is equally as unlikely that whatever might have been causing Lamanite fear would have been dramatically altered in just two years. It is most likely that the assignation of fear as the reason for the lack of warfare in the first instance is a Nephite vanity that has managed to enter history only because we have the records from their viewpoint.
Chronological: The fifty sixth year of the reign of the judges would be approximately 39 BC in the correlation used in this commentary.