Culture: Moroni’s plan requires a Lamanite, in this case one of the former
Lamanite king’s servants, scapegoated as his murderer by Amalickiah. It is not
surprising to see someone so wronged picked up arms against the man (and now
that man’s brother) who had driven him from home and would have killed him.
The interesting point is that Moroni needed a Lamanite. What could a
Lamanite do that a non-Lamanite could not? For most readers, conditioned by
years of assumptions, the assumption is that he is darker skinned while
Nephites were “white.” However, this reason is unlikely, given the actual
working-out of the plan (v. 8).
First, Laman is not alone. Moroni has selected other men to go with him.
Moroni had searched for a Lamanite and found one. His companions, were,
therefore, not Lamanites. However, they approach with the one “true” Lamanite.
If skin color identified the one Lamanite, then his companions would obviously
be recognized on sight as Nephites. Furthermore, the Lamanite armies are being
led by a Nephite dissenter, and many of those in the city of Nephi who had
ejected the people of Ammon were also Nephite dissenters. Skin color may never
have been diagnostic, but at this point, it certainly cannot be the defining
difference.
However, according to the record, Laman does all of the talking, and the
guards immediately accept his announcement that he is a Lamanite. Thus, there
is a language difference between the two groups. Clearly, this difference is
not great, because Nephite dissenters easily assimilate into the Lamanite ranks.
However, there must be some differences, either in dialect or accent, so that
the target Lamanites identified Laman’s voice as soon as they heard it as truly “Lamanite.”
As long as his companions remained silent, this ruse would be sufficient. (Brant A. Gardner, Second Witness:
Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 6 vols. [Salt
Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2007], 696-67)
