It never ceases to amaze me how consistently the wicked use religious language and motifs. As if the Nephites ever thought about the heavens or the throne of God! We can be sure that they will see neither of those things. In our day, we notice that those who care very little about God are the first to say phrases like, “Oh, my God!” Of course, they say this in situations which mock their Maker, never to importune at His feet in humble supplication. Yet this is the way of those who are without God in the world (Eph 2:12).
Furthermore, the Nephites are going to mock solemn oaths and make idle oaths. They are completely incapable of wiping out the Lamanites and avenging the deaths of all their brethren. Those who could not so much as make one hair black or white (3 Nephi 12:36) were convinced that they were strong enough to take on the entire Lamanite nation—making the mortal mistake of taking the offensive. Their hubris is amazing to us but disgusting to Mormon who decided he just couldn’t take it anymore.
Hugh Nibley
“And from that time on, Mormon says, I was through. Now here was their greatest general, the great hero, the one who had won the battles, etc. This was the ultimate folly, the last straw.” (Teachings From the Book of Mormon, Lecture 105, p. 201)
Jeffrey R. Holland
“It was a wrenching time for him because these were his people, and he loved them. Indeed, he loved them ’with all [his] heart.’…In such frustration and sorrow, Mormon stepped back from leading an army that would not repent, and he refused to go up against their enemies. At the Lord’s command, he stood as ‘an idle witness’ to his own generation while writing to a future generation the lessons his people had failed to learn.” (Christ and the New Covenant, p. 320)