1 AND it came to pass that the army of the king returned, having searched in vain for the people of the Lord. [ King Noah's army returns having not been able to find those who were hiding including Alma. ]

2 And now behold, the forces of the king were small, having been reduced, [ What was the cause of the reduction? conflict with Lamanite army's, or was the pay no longer good so that no one wanted to participate; those that were then left were those that were just too lazy to move on - and would rather stay and complain. Not the group that is going to give their life for you. Well with a large population they most likely had everything that they needed; they were pampered. Now they are having to work for some of what was just given them before. People usually do not like to work when they have not had to. ] and there began to be a division among the remainder of the people. [ What are the causes of such division? Remember the people had been caring a heavy burden to support King Noah and his lifestyle. with the army reduced, and maybe with complacency within it's ranks the people feel that they can talk more freely about how they feel about the King - once that get's started - look out it is hard to turn around. so what do we have here? The army is smaller in size, most likely less committed, and they people are beginning to rebell. ]

3 And the lesser part began to breathe out threatenings against the king, [ sounds like this has been going on for a bit and the contention seems to be building up steam. ] and there began to be a great contention among them.

[ This text seems to take the point of view of Gideon - so perhaps he kept as good records and it is what or parts of it are used by Mormon. vs 4-8. ]

4 And now there was a man among them whose name was Gideon, and he being a strong man and an enemy to the king, therefore he drew his sword, and swore in his wrath that he would slay the king. [ That is a pretty bold move if you are greatly outnumbered; however it appears that Gideon knew that either no one really cared enough to come to the kings aid; or he was a big enough cuss that no one was going to mess with Gideon. Either way we do not see anyone coing to the aid of the king. Was Gideon a leader at this point? Is that why no one rebells? we can see in vs 18-23 that he was a leader at that point. ]

5 And it came to pass that he fought with the king; and when the king saw that he was about to overpower him, he fled and ran and got upon the tower which was near the temple.

6 And Gideon pursued after him and was about to get upon the tower to slay the king, and the king cast his eyes round about towards the land of Shemlon, and behold, the army of the Lamanites were within the borders of the land.

7 And now the king cried out in the anguish of his soul, saying: Gideon, spare me, for the Lamanites are upon us, and they will destroy us; yea, they will destroy my people.

8 And now the king was not so much concerned about his people as he was about his own life; nevertheless, Gideon did spare his life.

9 And the king commanded the people that they should flee before the Lamanites, [ Not because he was really worried about them other than you cannot have a kingdom without someone to rule over. ] and he himself did go before them, [ He will not lead them to battle but he will certainly be the first one to abandon ship. Tells us more of his character. ] and they did flee into the wilderness, with their women and their children.

10 And it came to pass that the Lamanites did pursue them, and did overtake them, and began to slay them.

11 Now it came to pass that the king commanded them that all the men should leave their wives and their children, and flee before the Lamanites. [ The King does not want to be alone; to loose everything so it is better for him to at least have the men for his protection since the men cannot move fast enough with the women. He most likely convinced some that what was going to happen was inevitable ; but they could save themselves then revenge their deaths later vs 19. ]

12 Now there were many that would not leave them, but had rather stay and perish with them. [ The real men. ] And the rest left their wives and their children and fled.

13 And it came to pass that those who tarried with their wives and their children caused that their fair daughters should stand forth and plead with the Lamanites that they would not slay them.

14 And it came to pass that the Lamanites had compassion on them, for they were charmed with the beauty of their women.

15 Therefore the Lamanites did spare their lives, and took them captives and carried them back to the land of Nephi, and granted unto them that they might possess the land, under the conditions that they would deliver up king Noah into the hands of the Lamanites, and deliver up their property, even one half of all they possessed, one half of their gold, and their silver, and all their precious things, and thus they should pay tribute to the king of the Lamanites from year to year.

16 And now there was one of the sons of the king among those that were taken captive, whose name was Limhi.

17 And now Limhi [ Noah's son. ] was desirous that his father should not be destroyed; nevertheless, Limhi was not ignorant of the iniquities of his father, he himself being a just man.

[ This text seems to take the point of view of Gideon - so perhaps he kept as good records and it is what or parts of it are used by Mormon. vs 18. ]

18 And it came to pass that Gideon sent men into the wilderness secretly, to search for the king and those that were with him. And it came to pass that they met the people in the wilderness, [ I assume he is trying to say that they meet the wives and the children that had fled but were later left by King Noah and his men in their great hurry. So we have a couple of groups thise that never fled; men women and children; those men, women and children that fled; the King and his priests. ] all save the king and his priests. [ Because they had cared more for their own life and had gone further into the wilderness. ]

19 Now they had sworn in their hearts [ Did they make this commitment when and while they were fleeing or did they feel guilty later and then take that oath? ] that they would return to the land of Nephi, and if their wives and their children were slain, and also those that had tarried with them, that they would seek revenge, and also perish with them .

20 And the king commanded them that they should not return; and they were angry with the king, and caused that he should suffer, even unto death by fire. [ How long did this take to happen? Where the men upset at themselves maybe a little that they left their wives and children behind? Have you ever done something in haste only to quickly realize the mistake but it is too late to correct at the moment. Just as was prophesied by Abinidi in Mosiah 12:3. Interesting how Abinidi knew; how the Lord knew. For example the Lord knew how Gideon would act and Gideon could easily have killed King Noah on the tower, but did not - hence the prophecy was fulfilled of death by fire. ]

21 And they were about to take the priests also and put them to death, and they fled before them.

22 And it came to pass that they were about to return to the land of Nephi, and they met the men of Gideon. And the men of Gideon told them of all that had happened to their wives and their children; and that the Lamanites had granted unto them that they might possess the land by paying a tribute to the Lamanites of one half of all they possessed.

23 And the people told the men of Gideon that they had slain the king, and his priests had fled from them farther into the wilderness.

24 And it came to pass that after they had ended the ceremony, [ What is the ceremony? What are they celebrating? I assume it is the death of King Noah; there may have been some ritual and ceremony associated with death by burning; so since there was a ceremony in the death of Abinidi by fire so there was a same ceremony in the death of King Noah by fire. ] that they returned to the land of Nephi, rejoicing, because their wives and their children were not slain; and they told Gideon what they had done to the king.

25 And it came to pass that the king of the Lamanites made an oath unto them, [ The remaining people in the land of Nephi. ] that his people [ The Lamanites. ] should not slay them.

26 And also Limhi, being the son of the king, [ King Noah's son. ] having the kingdom conferred upon him by the people, made oath unto the king of the Lamanites that his people should pay tribute unto him, even one half of all they possessed. [ Pretty hefty amount. How much rebellion would take place today if you had to give up 1/2 of everything that you had to a new government? If that were to happen what feelings would you have toward the new government? ]

27 And it came to pass that Limhi began to establish the kingdom and to establish peace among his people.

28 And the king of the Lamanites set guards round about the land, that he might keep the people of Limhi in the land, [ Why would the King of the Lamanites do that? Pretty close to slavery right. The king of the Lamanites does not want his subjects walking off as every one that does he looses 1/2 of what they contribute. If the attitude was such I suppose that the strong members of society would be the first one's to strike out on their own. They would have the greatest chance of success in the wilderness. So it the strongest left, then the next strongest 2 things would have happened. 1. The strongest accounted for the greatest production (those who produced much more than they took out) hence they were the most desirable for the king to keep around 2. if enough strong were to leave only the week would remain as a result it could end up being a net loss for the king as he would have to put resources into taking care of those left instead of profitting from them. ] that they might not depart into the wilderness; and he did support his guards out of the tribute which he did receive from the Nephites.

29 And now king Limhi did have continual peace in his kingdom for the space of two years, that the Lamanites did not molest them nor seek to destroy them. [ Compare this with the remarks of the priests of King Noah in Mosiah 12:15 were they said they were strong and nothing like this would ever happen to them while they were refuting Abinidi. Since Abinidi was speaking for the Lord he knew what was going to happen and prophesied. ]