The location of the city of Gideon, the second place where Alma takes his reformation movement, gives a couple of geographical points as well as a reminder of our historical incident. The city of Zarahemla is mentioned first in the book of Omni and repeatedly in the book of Mosiah. The river Sidon “ran by the land of Zarahemla” (Alma 2:15). Alma now gives its’ location as on the west side of the river since he went over on the east side to the city of Gideon (Alma 6:7; italics added). This is the second mention of the valley being named after Gideon who was slain by Nehor (see Alma 2:20), but we do not know when or why it was named after him. It was common to name their various locations “after the name of him who first possessed them” (Alma 8:7). The slaying of Gideon was discussed in chapter 1 of this work (Alma 1:9).
Alma earlier attributed his teaching to the spirit of revelation and after the holy order of God (Alma 5:44, 46–47). That the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus Christ is again confirmed in this passage (Alma 6:8).