According to Terrence Szink, the well-known title-of-liberty episode in Alma 46 of the Book of Mormon includes an example of Near Eastern and Old Testament oaths of allegiance called "simile oaths." It is interesting that the Book of Mormon first records that Moroni "rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it . . . and he fastened it upon a pole" (Alma 46:12, emphasis added). Later on, Mormon documents the following:
And now it came to pass that when Moroni had said these words he went forth, and also sent forth in all the parts of the land where there were dissensions, and gathered together all the people who were desirous to maintain their liberty, to stand against Amalickiah and those who had dissented, who were called Amalickiahites. (Alma 46:28, emphasis added)
We see a pattern here similar to Biblical examples. One such incident is reported in 1 Samuel 11. In this story, Jabesh-gilead, the same city that had earlier been destroyed for not complying with the oath requiring all Israel to send representatives to Mizpeh in time of need, was saved by an army gathered by that same oath. Amorites had attacked the city, and the Gileadites sent messengers to inform Saul of the situation. Upon hearing of Jabesh's plight, Saul "took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent" (1 Samuel 11:7). P. Kyle McCarter has suggested that in the original text the people themselves, not just their oxen, were to be the recipients of the potential punishment (1 Samuel, Anchor Bible, 203). Whatever the punishment, the Israelites gathered in great numbers and delivered Jabesh from the Amorites. . . .
That [the oath accompanying Moroni's Title of Liberty and similar banners "sent forth in all the parts of the land"] was taken just as seriously as the biblical one is demonstrated in the following verse: "Whomsoever of the Amalickiahites that would not enter into a covenant to support the cause of freedom, that they might maintain a free government, he [Moroni] caused to be put to death; and there were but few who denied the covenant of freedom" (Alma 46:35) [Terrence L. Szink, "An Oath of Allegiance in the Book of Mormon," in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, F.A.R.M.S., pp. 35-36, 41-43]