“These years were some of the darkest in Nephite history. Owing to their great pride and iniquity the Lord left the people to themselves, and they became weak like unto the Lamanites, man for man. When war was commenced, the latter being much the more numerous, carried everything before them. … Zarahemla, with its hallowed associations, its glorious temples, where the daily sacrifice was unceasingly offered, its proud palaces, its luxurious homes, its Courts of Justice, where the Chief Judge sat in the magnificence of almost kingly authority to administer the law—Zarahemla, their Queen City, the seat of their government, the center of their civilization, the home of the High Priesthood, was in the hands of their … foes” (Reynolds and Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 5:223–24).