“They Did Commence the Work of Death”

Brant Gardner

A fierce series of battles now begins. Even though this is a very serious Lamanite invasion, Mormon treats the subject tersely, without the complexity of detail we saw at the end of Alma. The difference in the description of the battles is not because Mormon is no longer interested in war, but because he is not currently interested in the personalities involved in the war. The details at the end of Alma served to highlight the great men Moroni and Helaman.  In this battle there is no personal story that Mormon deems important, so we have the more terse account of the conflict. The import of these battles is the aftermath, not the human interest during the conflict.

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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