Culture:The description “not half so numerous” is the beginnings of the group—or the children (certainly not all of them) who had been too small to retain vivid memories of Benjamin’s covenant. However, the movement did not remain small. “Dissensions among the brethren” means internal problems among believers, many of whom began to follow this different religion movement, begun by some among the children’s generation.
What, among the beliefs of the children, is so attractive? If this movement is following the traditional historic process, religious apostasy also included wealth, visible trappings, and social distinctions. This division is not a simple ideological difference of opinion, but a foundational struggle over the type of society the Nephites would have with a significant number envying and enjoying the lifestyle of the “others”—those who are generically labeled “Lamanites” in the Book of Mormon even if they were not literal descendants of Laman.