The topic of this section is the gathering of Israel, a topic that undoubtedly was close to the heart of the Nephites who saw themselves as part of scattered Israel. It is also possible that there were those in the congregation who had studied their scriptures and understood either Nephi or the original Zenos that appear to correlate the coming of the Messiah with the gathering:
1 Nephi 19:10-16
10 And the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos, which he spake concerning the three days of darkness, which should be a sign given of his death unto those who should inhabit the isles of the sea, more especially given unto those who are of the house of Israel.
11 For thus spake the prophet: The Lord God surely shall visit all the house of Israel at that day, some with his voice, because of their righteousness, unto their great joy and salvation, and others with the thunderings and the lightnings of his power, by tempest, by fire, and by smoke, and vapor of darkness, and by the opening of the earth, and by mountains which shall be carried up.
12 And all these things must surely come, saith the prophet Zenos. And the rocks of the earth must rend; and because of the groanings of the earth, many of the kings of the isles of the sea shall be wrought upon by the Spirit of God, to exclaim: The God of nature suffers.
13 And as for those who are at Jerusalem, saith the prophet, they shall be scourged by all people, because they crucify the God of Israel, and turn their hearts aside, rejecting signs and wonders, and the power and glory of the God of Israel.
14 And because they turn their hearts aside, saith the prophet, and have despised the Holy One of Israel, they shall wander in the flesh, and perish, and become a hiss and a byword, and be hated among all nations.
15 Nevertheless, when that day cometh, saith the prophet, that they no more turn aside their hearts against the Holy One of Israel, then will he remember the covenants which he made to their fathers.
16 Yea, then will he remember the isles of the sea; yea, and all the people who are of the house of Israel, will I gather in, saith the Lord, according to the words of the prophet Zenos, from the four quarters of the earth.
The prophecy clearly indicated that there would come a time of destruction, and then the Messiah would appear to those who were on the Isles of the Sea. As 1 Nephi 19:16 suggests, that would be the time of the gathering in. With such a prophetic background, it is no wonder that this was an issue of great concern to those assembled in Bountiful.
Reference: This verse alludes to Psalms:
Psalms 107:2-3
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
The language follows Psalms, but in this case it cannot be said with certainty that the verse specifically follows Psalms as the reference to the four cardinal directions is common. If there is a gathering, the gathering would be from the whole world, which is metaphorically indicated by the four directions.