Rhetorical: Limhi begins to recount his people’s history. This is not because they do not know it, but because that history frames current events. When Limhi recounts the arrival of his people in the land of Nephi, he has Zeniff be “over-zealous” and “deceived.” These are surely not the words that Zeniff uses to describe his negotiations as we will see in Zeniff’s account. In the current context, however, Limhi is accounting for their current situation by appealing to the sins of their fathers.
This separation between the sins of the fathers that have led to bondage and the righteousness of his current people under bondage will allow Limhi to encourage that faith to remove them from bondage. It is also possible that the recounting of the deception of the Lamanites is given to reiterate the difficulties inherit in remaining in the land of Nephi, and preparing his people psychologically for the eventual move to Zarahemla.
Geographical: Sorenson presumes that the City of Nephi (pre-Zarahemla) and the City of Lehi-Nephi are the same, and places them both at the archaeological site of Kaminaljuyu (Sorenson 1985, p. 169). While he is able to make the geography fit, it is also possible that there is a difference between Lehi-Nephi and Nephi proper.
When Zeniff returns to the land of his fathers, he does not return specifically to the city of his fathers. While “lands” were attached to cities as dependent areas, it is also possible that “lands” may be a generic area. Particularly since Sorenson suggests that a reason for the return of Zeniff might have been arable land (Sorenson 1985, p. 161), Zeniff’s intentions my have been more upon land than city.
The reason for questioning the conclusion that Lehi-Nephi and Nephi were the same place comes from our history of Mosiah I and the City of Nephi. When Mosiah fled, he did not bring all of the Nephites with him. In the relatively short time that Zeniff and his people were gone, we cannot assume that all of the lineal Nephites would have vanished from the area. Zeniff makes no indication that he meets any kin. His negotiations are with a Lamanite king (to whom the city of Nephi is subservient, however it might be correlated with Lehi-Nephi). With the relative dominance and richness of Kaminaljuyu at this point it time, it would seem rather odd that it would be voluntarily abandoned to a small group of people who would be seen as dissenters by the remaining lineal Nephites in the city. Politically, a smaller village of Lehi-Nephi in the land of Nephi makes more sense in the text than a correlation with the previous city of Nephi.
Mosiah 7:22
22 And all this he did, for the sole purpose of bringing this people into subjection or into bondage. And behold, we at this time do pay tribute to the king of the Lamanites, to the amount of one half of our corn, and our barley, and even all our grain of every kind, and one half of the increase of our flocks and our herds; and even one half of all we have or possess the king of the Lamanites doth exact of us, or our lives.
Historical: Limhi specifically mentions “tribute” as the mechanism of the transfer of goods to the Lamanite king. As has been previously noted, this is the general model of Mesoamerican political conflicts. Military actions and political alliances were made such that dependencies were made between towns and villages and the larger, more powerful, cities. Tribute was exacted which created a flow of goods into the larger city, and increased its wealth. The Codex Mendoza is a post-conquest codex that is a tribute record for the city of Tenochtitlan. It describes the types of goods that are sent to the capital city of the Mexica.
In the case of Tenochtitlan, the tribute is in luxury items, not specifically foodstuffs. For the Limhites, however, it may be that their current value is in food production rather than the creation of luxury items. While such things were clearly created for king Noah, the current state of the people may not allow for the time nor materials for such excess creation of luxury items.
The extreme tribute of the Limhites (half of their produce) would appear to be related to their past “crimes” in the eyes of the Lamanites, for the tribute is enforceable by forfeiture of life. This is a military threat that clearly may be carried out. Where the people of Zeniff had been able to withstand Lamanite military actions, the current Limhites are not sufficiently strong to resist, and indeed, and kept in a position where military rebellion is not possible. This is a more extreme version of tribute than is seen in most cases in later Mesoamerican history, and is probably punishment on top of tribute.