"Now it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their chief captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness) some one that had the spirit of revelation and also prophecy; therefore, this Gidgiddoni was a great prophet among them, as also was the chief judge.
Now the people said unto Gidgiddoni: Pray unto the Lord, and let us go up upon the mountains and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the robbers and destroy them in their own lands.
But Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord forbid; for if we should go up against them the Lord would deliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us; therefore as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands."
3 Nephi 3:19-21
I love the idea of leaders being prophets as well, which I think goes along with some of the main ideas in the chapter as wel as the idea of defending rather than attacking. A lot of the idea here is strength in unity... if they gather together, and are righteous, the Lord can deliver them, but fracturing, or losing that unified advantage can definitely kill them.
The overall story is interesting too, because it is two supposedly unified groups... the good guys are gathered together for their survival against the bad guys who live by stealing from others. The bad guys are having a hard time surviving because they don't have easy prey... which goes back to the idea of not just unity, but unity in righteousness under a righteous leader. The bad guys lose here because they are evil and predatory, and the good guys win because they are good, and they are listening to God. Today, let's make sure we're the good guys... not preying on others, but prepared, united, and above all, righteous. Willing to listen to God and his prophets and conduct ourselves accordingly.
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