From the higher perspective of the Lord’s dealings with His people over the generations, a consistent pattern emerges: He moves and scatters both the righteous and the wicked according to His far-reaching plan to maximize the blessings of redemption for the greatest number of souls. Thus we have seen the influence of His merciful hand in removing Lehi and his family from the dangers of impending bondage in Jerusalem (where the wicked were to be scattered by the Babylonians) to the security of the promised land. And yet, only a generation later, Nephi and his faithful few are again removed from the peril of unrighteous fraternity to the safety of a refuge where they could live in peace “after the manner of happiness” (2 Nephi 5:27). Not many generations hence we see the first Mosiah and his people again warned of the Lord to flee the wrath of their enemies (see Omni 1:12). Thus he and his righteous group are led from the land of Nephi northward to Zarahemla, where they come upon yet another group (the Mulekites) who have likewise been guided by the hand of the Lord to a place of safety. In turn, this new group has come upon the last survivor of yet an earlier nation (the Jaredites) who had followed the Lord’s counsel in removing themselves from the scattering associated with the Tower of Babel (see Omni 1:20–22).
The principle of scattering is part of the Lord’s agenda for His people, just as the principle of gathering is an instrument of strategic restoration for building, strengthening, and enlarging the tent of Zion. Thus it should not surprise us to see this divine process of diaspora (dispersion) and recovery played out multiple times as evidence of the Lord’s infinite love and concern for His sons and daughters. It is only three years into the reign of the second Mosiah (son of King Benjamin) that the persistent “teasings” of the people (see Mosiah 7:1) induce him to yield to their request to organize an expeditionary force to locate the missing group of explorers who had traveled southward to investigate the land of their inheritance (Nephi-Lehi) from whence the first Mosiah has emigrated. As a result, Ammon and his group wander some forty days in the wilderness before coming upon the residue of the earlier expeditionary group, now led by Limhi.
Limhi and his people, as it turns out, are in bondage to the Lamanites because of the iniquity that has crept in among them through the materialistic pride and lascivious living of the previous King Noah and his so-called priests. We are shown the joy of Limhi and his people upon the arrival of Ammon, in whom they see the answer to their prayers for deliverance. It is a chronic pattern described once again by the ancient prophet-historians for the benefit of modern readers: sin and depravity lead to bondage; repentance and righteous obedience lead to liberty.