Mormon knew his record would come forth in the latter days (see v. 13). What did he say are the general purposes for the record’s latter-day appearance? (see vv. 14–15). Compare Mormon’s intentions with those of Moroni as recorded on the title page of the Book of Mormon.
Hugh W. Nibley adds the following possible insight into what the Nephite society may have been like at this time:
“The Nephites foolishly took the offensive and as a result lost both the land and the city of Desolation, ‘And the remainder did flee and join the inhabitants of the city of Teancum… .’ (Morm. 4:3) This makes it clear that we are still reading only of Mormon’s band of Nephites, and not a history of the whole nation, for the people of Teancum, which was ‘… in the borders by the seashore … near the city Desolation’ (Morm. 4:3) had up to then taken no part in the fighting. It must always be borne in mind that by this time the Nephite people had become broken up into ‘tribes, ’ each living by itself and following its own tribal laws. (Hel. 7:2–4, 11.) So what Mormon gives us is only a sampling of the sort of thing that was going on… .
“… Here you have a clear picture of Nephite society. Separate ‘lands’ living their own lives, now in this last crisis terribly reluctant to move and join the swelling host in the retreat to the north. Those who refused to pull up stakes were one by one completely wiped out by the Lamanites. This was no planned migration but a forced evacuation, like dozens of such we read about in the grim and terrible times of the ‘Invasion of the Barbarians’ that destroyed the classic civilizations of the Old World. In this case Mormon’s people were only part of the general and gradual evacuation of the whole land”
(An Approach to the Book of Mormon, pp. 361–62).