This passage stood out to me:
This is interesting to me for a few reasons:3 And now the name of the king of the Lamanites was , being called after the name of his father; and therefore he was called king Laman. And he was king over a numerous people.
4 And he appointed of the of Amulon in every land which was possessed by his people; and thus the of Nephi began to be taught among all the people of the Lamanites.
5 And they were a people friendly one with another; nevertheless they knew not God; neither did the brethren of Amulon teach them anything concerning the Lord their God, neither the law of Moses; nor did they teach them the words of Abinadi;
6 But they taught them that they should keep their record, and that they might write one to another.
7 And thus the Lamanites began to increase in riches, and began to one with another and wax great, and began to be a cunning and a wise people, as to the wisdom of the world, yea, a very cunning people, delighting in all manner of wickedness and plunder, except it were among their own brethren. (Mosiah 24)
- The fact that "the language of Nephi" was not already had among the Lamanites is a really strong indicator that other languages were spoken among these peoples.
- It seems one way Amulon "gain[ed] favor" in the eyes of the Lamanite king was by convincing him that literacy would lead to trade and wealth. This is perhaps more obvious to us than it might have been to Joseph Smith.
- This is one of several passages in the Book of Mormon that predicts extensive trade networks. This prediction holds up very well over time, among many others.