Alma 55

Ammoron’s response brought Moroni to a rage. The Lamanites phony pretense for war was not honest, and everyone knew it.

“I will not exchange prisoners with Ammoron unless he ends the hostilities,” Moroni insisted. “I will not give him more power than he already has. I know where the Lamanites imprison our people. Since Ammoron won’t meet my conditions, we will fight until the Lamanites beg for peace.”

Moroni searched among his men for a converted Lamanite who was descended from Laman. They found a man named Laman3, who had once been a servant to the Lamanite king that Amalickiah had killed. Moroni hatched a plot using Laman3 and a few of his fellow soldiers to pose as escaped Lamanite prisoners.

The Nephite prisoners were held in the former Nephite city of Gid. When Laman and his band approached Gid, they told the guards not to worry. “We have narrowly escaped from the Nephites,” they said. “And look here, we have also stolen some of their wine and brought it with us.”

Hearing this, the Lamanites guards were delighted, and ready to have their share of the wine. But Laman was sly. “We should save the wine for later, when we go to battle,” he said, which only made the guards want it more.

“We want it now. We’ll be given plenty when the time for battle is upon us,” the guards responded.

“Whatever you want,” said Laman. The wine was good, and also very strong. The guards drank freely of it. Soon they were drunk. When the drunken guards had fallen asleep, Laman returned to Moroni and told him about what had happened. It was all according to Moroni’s plan. Nephites silently entered the prison while the guards slept, and armed the Nephite prisoners inside. Moroni’s soldiers and the armed prisoners could have easily killed all the sleeping Lamanites, but this was not their wish. Moroni did not like killing if it could be avoided.

With the Nephite prisoners armed and loose inside the city, they were able to surround the Lamanites inside while Moroni surrounded the entire city with his army. When the Lamanites awakened in the morning they found themselves surrounded, inside and out.

Under the circumstances, the Lamanites saw that resistance was futile. The Lamanite commanders came forward, threw down their weapons, and begged for mercy. This had been Moroni’s wish. So the Nephite prisoners were freed to join Moroni’s army, and more Lamanite soldiers were now imprisoned. As he had done before, Moroni set the Lamanite prisoners to work strengthening the fortifications around the city of Gid.

This surprise attack and deliverance became a turning point for the Nephites. They became victorious in their successive battles to protect their rights and freedoms. The Lamanites attempted various tricks to entice the Nephites into ruin, but had no success. The Nephites owed their success to their renewed faith in God, and were not easily led astray. Moroni was vigilant in detecting any schemes designed to entrap them.

At the end of the 29 th year of elected judges, Moroni judged that it was about time to attack the Lamanite stronghold in the city of Morianton. Preparations for the attack began. [63 BC]