Redaction: Mormon is giving his evaluation (not the Noahites’) of this military aftermath. He is painting a picture of a people in apostasy, whom Abinadi will call to repentance. Thus, Mormon sees in these events the reason why Yahweh called Abinadi, who is unquestionably the main focus, with Alma, of this narrative. At this point, Mormon is explaining the wickedness of Noah and his people. Their sins include the “pride of their hearts.” They have achieved a victory, but ascribe it to their own strength and forget Yahweh. Even worse, they “did delight in blood, and the shedding of the blood of their brethren.”
Without Mormon’s source text, this reconstruction is conjectural, of course. However, if Mormon knew that these Nephite armies were attacking numerically inferior hamlets, he may have well understood the hollowness of the “victory.” Not only did it fail to target the actual marauders, but it was simply a blood payment for “crimes” against the Noahites. Thus, Mormon would have been justified in seeing their main motivation as “delight in blood” rather than self-defense.
Culture: On a social level, this passage gives us even more information. Mormon notes that the claim of the people is that: “their fifty could stand against thousands of the Lamanites.” Even making allowances for the bellicose hubris, it seems apparent that the Noahites are a significantly smaller population than the Lamanites.
Furthermore, the Noahites saw their military victory as a contest against the political body of the Lamanites, not just against marauding bands. The focus of the conflict is now changing. The Lamanite raiders had picked off isolated and easy targets in the field, but the Noahites are proclaiming a “victory” against the whole Lamanite kingdom. This shift from individuals to a generalized target provides further support for the scenario of a Noahite attack against settlements under Lamanite political control. It also explains the escalation of the conflict into the major offensive that later drives Noah and his court into the wilderness.