These verses both look back and look forward. Verses 15 and 16 look back to the previous hundred years and emphasize the similarity in the righteous conditions of the land. In the first hundred years there was no contention (verse 13) and in the beginning of the second hundred years there is no contention (verse 15). The close repetition of these two declarations of a lack of contention would be out of place if they were to be taken as dated historical events, for they would appear to be both applicable to the time period around the 100 year mark. They are not intended to be historical, however, but rather generic. They apply to the time-block, not just the time period near when they are mentioned.
Verse 16 emphasizes the basic ethical goodness of the people. This echoes the righteousness of verses 2-5, although the specifics are different. The specific catalog begins to shift the focus from mirroring the past to presaging the future. What is most telling in verse 16-17 is a particular set of phrases:
“lyings, nor murders”
“ robbers, nor murderers”
These are phrases that Mormon has previously tied to descriptions of the Gadianton robbers, and it is therefore significant that Mormon reintroduces them in verse 42. In the “perfect” first two hundred years Mormon tells us that there were no “Gadiantons” with these negations of the Gadianton-traits. This is intended to create a contrast with the second two hundred years which will see the resurgence of the Gadiantons and their role in the final destruction of the Nephites.
A similar pivotal statement is that:
“neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.”
The fundamental division of the Book of Mormon has been between Nephite and Lamanite. In the politically charged definition from Jacob the brother of Nephi we remember that Lamanite was a collective label for “enemy:”
Jacob 1:14
14 But I, Jacob, shall not hereafter distinguish them by these names, but I shall call them Lamanites that seek to destroy the people of Nephi, and those who are friendly to Nephi I shall call Nephites, or the people of Nephi, according to the reigns of the kings.
The statement that there were no Lamanites “nor any manner of –ites,” not only stresses the unity of these “perfect” two hundred years, but it presages the dissolution of that society in the second two hundred years. During the coming time period, this unity will dissolve, and the divisions will arise again.