The people were commanded to gather near the temple. This is most likely a standard practice for public declarations. We have already seen Benjamin do it, and we will see Mosiah do the same. Limhi addresses his people. In both verses 18 and 19 he tells the people to “lift up your heads.” Firstly they lift their heads to be comforted, and then they rejoice. This is a reference to their difficulties with the bondage to the Lamanites.
Limhi sees Ammon and his brethren as their salvation, and it is a salvation that will require, or perhaps enable, an exodus from the land of Nephi to the land of Zarahemla. Limhi likens this salvation to Jehovah’s saving Israel from Egypt. He expects Jehovah’s hand to provide perhaps miraculous intervention, noting that Israel passed through the Red Sea on dry land. Limhi declares “that same God has brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem, and has kept and preserved his people even until now.” Jehovah has watched over His covenant people, and Jehovah continues to watch over this branch of Israel. However, just as Israel wandered forty years to learn to repent of their sins and perhaps to learn Egyptian practices, so the Limhites have had to suffer for their sins. They have been in bondage to Lamanites, rather than to Egyptians. Nevertheless, that same God will save them.