Zeniff’s preparations thus deterred Lamanite retaliation for nine more years. Although it is possible to read this sentence as twenty-two years after the thirteen years mentioned in Mosiah 9:14, the Book of Mormon counts years from a major foundational event (such as establishing a new people), not lesser events in a given dynasty.
Zeniff’s ability to deter further aggression highlights the complications inherent in the first attack. It could not have been a highly organized assault or it would have taken the city of Shemlon, which would have offered more spoils than just the flocks on the south of the land of Shilom. Furthermore, Zeniffite retaliation did not set off another attack by the Lamanite city of Shemlon, indicating that the attack was somehow not considered to be directed to Shemlon. While there are many unanswered and unanswerable questions concerning the first attack, it seems that the Lamanite city of Shemlon did not consider itself directly threatened by the Zeniffite retaliation. However, according to Zeniffite records, Shemlon did use the Zeniffite retaliation to justify the attack described below.