Alma appears unable to greet the people of Gideon without comparing them to those of Zarahemla, with those in Zarahemla suffering in comparison. As Alma begins his discourse he explicitly states that he hopes that the people of Gideon are following in the way. That he contrasts their expected state of righteousness to the “awful dilemma” of Zarahemla only highlights the importance of the contentions that are developing in the land of Zarahemla. Alma’s current mission wasn’t taken lightly, but out of a perceived necessity.
Social: Who are these people of Gideon? The text does not tell us. We know that the valley of Gideon was named for Gideon the captain of the Royal Guard from the city of Lehi-Nephi:
Alma 2:20And it came to pass that when Alma could pursue the Amlicites no longer he caused that his people should pitch their tents in the valley of Gideon, the valley being called after that Gideon who was slain by the hand of Nehor with the sword; and in this valley the Nephites did pitch their tents for the night.
It is a safe assumption that the city of Gideon lay in the valley of Gideon, and that both were named for the slain hero. It is, of course, speculation that the land of Gideon (comprising the city and dependent lands) was settled by the displaced Limhites, but it would be a reasonable speculation. With the naming of the land for a man who would have been a hero to those people, we have a logical reason to believe that the people living there were those to whom the name and the man had meaning.
If this were true, that the people who emigrated with Limhi settled together and founded this city and land of Gideon, then perhaps we have a reason to understand why the people of Gideon might have avoided the same contentions as were found in Zarahemla. The foreign ideas that were being adopted into Zarahemla were certainly similar to those adopted by King Noah. The people of Limhi would have had a clear remembrance of their own struggles against precisely those same beliefs, and their deliverance from them by the hand of the Lord. If Gideon himself had been slain not that many years earlier, we may assume that there were many living in the land of Gideon were knew firsthand the effect to the influence of the “things of the world” on a people. Their deliverance by the hand of God would clearly still be impressed on their minds, and they would be much more resistant to similar cultural incursions, as opposed to those of Zarahemla who did not have to fight that same war (though that war is coming for those in Zarahemla).