Moroni and Moronihah are paired here just as we saw them in 3 Nephi 8:9-10. Once again we have the reverse parallelism of the sinking into water and rising up of the earth. Since this voice from heaven would have come before the writing of 3 Nephi 8, we may be certain that this symbolic linking happened first here, and was then repeated in Nephi’s account. It would appear that it was this imagery that Nephi was preserving, as he does not follow with any of the rest of the catalogue that is given here.
“That Great City Moroni Have I Caused to Be Sunk in the Depths of the Sea”
The theme of paralleled opposing destructions that was set in verses four and five is now repeated for a larger number of cities. The basic parallel is a city going down into water, and of a land coming up to bury a city. Both of these directional actions are unusual and unexpected. Water might rise up in flood, but we do not expect cities to go down into water. We might go dig down into earth to bury something, but the earth does not rise up to bury anything. The emphasis on these two unexpected “directions” tells us that these examples are representative of a larger purpose. That larger purpose lies in the very incongruity of the directions. This is not “natural,” and therefore it must come at the hand of an “unnatural” being – or from God. The message is that God is behind these destructions.
Of course we also reference the inhabitants, and when they are referenced it is to their “wickedness and abominations.” Thus God is doing the destroying, and is destroying more than cities, He is destroying the wicked. This is precisely what is supposed to happen when the Messiah comes. These events become declarative proof that it is indeed the Messiah who is here.