The effectiveness of Moroni’s title of liberty gathering the people (v. 21) illustrates the love of freedom that is innate with man. The rending of the people’s garments as a covenant to not forsake the Lord (v. 21) also shows their love of the Lord and his religion. The people who were destroyed in “the land northward” (v. 22) refers to the remains of a great battle discovered by King Limhi’s men while looking for the land of Zarahemla (see Mosiah 8:7–8). These people whose remains were found in the north are known later in the Book of Mormon as the Jaredites, whose records were abridged by Moroni, son of Mormon. The abridgment is called the book of Ether (see p. 487 in the Book of Mormon).
Captain Moroni now follows another principle of good leadership. He applies the scriptures unto his people. The Nephites were a remnant of Joseph through Lehi he being of Manasseh and Ishmael being of Ephraim(Alma 46:23–24). The Latter-day Saints are also a remnant of Joseph through Ephraim. Therefore, the same passages of Genesis concerning Joseph , son of Jacob, should be applied to members of the Church today.
The account of Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the torn coat of his son Joseph comes from Genesis 37. However, Moroni gives a fuller account, preserving some of the language and prophecies made by Jacob at that time (Alma 46:26). That these words, taken from the plates of brass, were once a part of the Bible are sustained by other ancient records. Dr. Hugh Nibley has written:
In the tenth century of our era the greatest antiquarian of the Moslem world, Muhammad ibn-Ibrahim ath-Tha’labi, collected in Persia a great many old tales and legends about the prophets of Israel. After the fall of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews, many of the sectaries, such as those that once lived around the Dead Sea, moved East to be under the protection of the Persians. Thus groups of Jews representing various sects and shades of belief were scattered all over central Asia in the Middle Ages, and it is from such, no doubt, that Tha’labi gets his amazing fund of information, which is worthy to be set up beside the most enlightening volumes of Apocrypha. Among other things, Tha’labi tells a number of stories, which we have not found anywhere else, about Jacob and the garment of Joseph. In one, Joseph’s brethren bring his torn garment to their father as proof that he is dead, but Jacob after examining the garment, (“and there were in the garment of Joseph three marks or tokens when they brought it to his father”) declares that the way the cloth is torn shows him that their story is not true; “Behold, if the bear had eaten him he surely would have rent his garment, and since he would (naturally) have fled towards the gate, verily the garment should have been torn behind… .” But since this is not the case it may be that Joseph still lives. Another account is the case of “the vizier” Potiphar, who by examining the tears in Joseph’s garment knew that he was innocent and spared his life, “for he knew that if he (Joseph) had attacked his wife the tear would have been in front… .” So again his torn garment declared that Joseph should live.
Most significant is Tha’labi’s discussion of the two remnants of Joseph’s garment, from which we quote:
“And when Joseph had made himself known unto them (his brethren) he asked them about his father saying, ‘What did my father after (I left)?’ They answered, ‘He lost his eyesight (from weeping).’ Then he gave them his garment (qamis, long outer shirt). According to ad-Dahak that garment was of the weave (pattern, design) of Paradise, and the breath (spirit, odor) of Paradise was in it, so that it never decayed or in any way deteriorated (and that was) a sign (omen). And Joseph gave them that garment, and it was the very one that had belonged to Abraham, having already had a long history. And he said to them. ‘Go, take this garment of mine and place it upon the face of my father so he may have sight again, and return (to me) with all your families. And when they had put Egypt behind them and come to Canaan their father Jacob said, ‘Behold, I perceive the spirit (breath, odor) of Joseph, if you will not think me wandering in my mind and weakheaded from age… . (for) he knew that upon all the earth there was no spirit (breath, odor) of Paradise save in that garment alone… And as-Sadi says that Judah said to Joseph, ‘It was I who took the garment bedaubed with blood to Jacob, and reported to him that the bear had eaten Joseph; so give me this day thy garment that I might tell him that thou art living, that I might cause him to rejoice now as greatly as I caused him to sorrow then. And Ibn-Abbas says that Judah took the garment and went forth in great haste, panting with exertion and anxiety … and when he brought the garment he laid it upon his face, so that his sight returned to him. And ad-Dahak says that his sight returned after blindness, and his strength after weakness, and youth after age, and joy after sorrow.” (“then follows a dialogue between Jacob and the King of Death”).
Note here that there were two remnants of Joseph’s garment, one sent by Joseph to his father as a sign that he was still alive (since the garment had not decayed), and the other, torn and smeared with blood, brought by Judah to his father as a sign that Joseph was dead. Moroni actually quotes Jacob (“Now behold, this was the language of Jacob”). As saying: “Now behold, this giveth my soul sorrow; nevertheless, my soul hath joy in my son …” (Alma 46:25 f.) Compare this with Judah’s statement in the Old World account, that the undecayed garment caused Jacob as much joy as the bloody garment caused him sorrow. In both accounts Jacob is described as being near to death—hence Judah’s haste to reach him with the garment and make amends for the evil he had done.
Thus the Book of Mormon makes known these plain and precious things, and the ancient records quoted above by Brother Nibley add a second witness to the Book of Mormon account.
Captain Moroni’s word s again exemplify his leadership as he rallies his people to stand fast in the faith of Christ (v. 27). The people being gathered from all parts of the land again shows the basic love of freedom that is innate in humankind (v. 28).