These verses describe what happens when people do not turn their backs on God even though they must live among those who have. They are, in a way, a practical illustration of Lehi’s dream of the iron rod versus the great and spacious building (1 Nephi 8). We see that there is a momentary cost to true discipleship, the “suffering [of] all manner of afflictions for Christ’s sake,” but the rewards are everlasting.
Divisions of responsibility and labor were introduced into this society, which before had been a theocratic monarchy.