“Mormon has most certainly omitted an important historical episode somewhere between the story of Abinadi and this point … .
“Yet this passage describes a king losing his authority. How has the unity of Noah’s people disintegrated into internal factionalism and a reduction of the army? Have unspecified battle losses caused the military reduction? It seems unlikely, since verse 6 specifies a Lamanite attack with no indication of any previous attack. Rather, the army seems to have dwindled through defections. In that case, it would be directly related to the internal dissension. Those who agreed with the dissenters are leaving Noah’s service” (Gardner, Second Witness, 3:346).