Why was Moroni so concerned about the Gentiles mocking “the placement of our words”? After examining the excellent Hebrew poetry of the earlier writers (such as King Benjamin and Alma), it is no wonder he was concerned about the placement of his words. He had directly quoted such brilliant poetic writing.
C.S. Lewis, referring to Hebrew use of parallelism said,
It is (according to one’s point of view) either a wonderful piece of luck or a wise provision of God’s, that poetry which was to be turned into all languages should have as its chief formal characteristic one that does not disappear (as mere metre does) in translation.
I think we have plenty of reasons to believe that Moroni had very high personal standards. Maybe he expected a little too much of himself, and maybe he was worried about every little detail, but he had given attention to so many details here. Normally, by the time we get to the Book of Ether, we tend to rush through it. Reading it from the perspective of Moroni, we realize that just before Moroni wrote his last chapters in this book, he had spent a great deal of time saturated in these important records. They come to life a lot better and we notice a lot more when we look at the book of Ether from his perspective.
After making apologies for his writing skills, which were considerable even so, Moroni gave his classic promise that if people will come unto the Lord, he “will show unto them their weakness,” which he has given them “that they may be humble; … then I will make weak things become strong unto them” (12:27).
In the end, Moroni expressed a sincere, powerful testimony of the truthfulness of all his words, and in particular of his knowledge of the Savior. Expecting to meet all of us, his readers, someday “before the judgment-seat of Christ” (12:38), he added, “And then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he hath talked with me face to face, and that he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things” (12:39), following that with a request that we also “seek Jesus” (12:41)
C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms (San Diego, CA: Harvest Books/Harcourt, Brace and Company: 1958), 4–5.