Nehor apparently sees his confrontation with Gideon as a battle of words, and when Nehor appears to lose that battle, he escalates the confrontation to a battle with a more deadly weapon.
We have in this brief description of the murder of Gideon some more information that is somewhat curious. The first item of interest is that Nehor is walking about with his “sword.” The sword is a military weapon, and would not have been part of the normal dress of those who were frequenting a city. However, if Nehor had traveled from another city, he might have such a weapon for protection.
What is now of interest is whether or not Gideon had a “sword.” No sword is mentioned, and rather than say that Gideon was slain outright, the text indicates that he gave a fair accounting of himself, but fell because he was “stricken with many years.” Gideon was a military man, and certainly knew the sword. In this case, however, the particulars of the sword may explain some of this encounter.
As has been noted earlier, the Mesoamerican “sword” might have been a macahuitl, or obsidian lined club. These were weapons of war that could certainly kill, but were used in later Mesoamerican combat as a means of capturing prisoners alive. Thus it is possible that a skilled man might be able to find a way to fend off some of the blows without being severely injured by the obsidian blades. Of course this may also be the original author’s means of defending Gideon’s honor after the fact, we cannot tell. If we assume that this is an accurate depiction of the conflict, however, it fits into the Mesoamerican context that a skillful unarmed man might withstand the attack with the Mesoamerican “sword” for some time without fatal injury.
Gideon falls because he is “stricken with years.” With how many years would Gideon have been “stricken”? Of course we cannot know, but we can create a ballpark. According to the chronology used in this commentary, Mosiah II takes the throne in 124BC. It was probably three years after that the expedition to find the Zeniffites was mounted. The reunion of the people of Zeniff (the group led by Alma and the group led by Limhi) could not have been prior to 121 BC, and was perhaps as late as 111 BC. Mosiah II dies in 92 BC which initiates the reign of the judges. Thus we have a frame for the life and death of Gideon. We know that he was a captain of the guard between 121 BC and the reunification at perhaps 111 BC. During that time he was probably already mature, given his position of importance. He died in the first year of the reign of the judges, which was the year following Mosiah II’s death, or in 91 BC. This gives Gideon some twenty years of life in Zarahemla before his murder.
While he might have been stricken with years, he was still able to hold off for a while, so we need not see him as entirely feeble. An age at his death of about 50 would have him as a captain at 30. Those ages are a comfortable guess.