Omni 1:26 - 1:30

Omni 1:26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.

We are encouraged to come to Christ. Live as He did, serve as He did, and love as He did. His life style is the only one that brings real and true happiness. He is the only one that can truly show us the options that exist for us after life is over. Come to Him and offer all you abilities, talents and time to Him. He will show you how to put them to the proper use. Prayer and fasting will bring this knowledge to you and give you the strength to endure the opposition you will run into until life is over.
[Christ and His Gospel is the only way that brings us nearer to God than by any other way. There is no philosophy or manner of government that will bring about the utopia that many have sought in this life. As long as folks reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ and think they can do this on their own, they will only come under the domination of satan and his legions. There is either Christ or satan, period. You are either under the influence of the Holy Ghost or under the influence of satan. There is no neutral. And if you are under the influence of satan you end up having to dominate with force your philosophy and you will have to eliminate your enemies as they will fight you for dominance of their views. It is interesting that neither competing views are good so it comes down to the wicked fighting against the wicked for power. And on and on it goes and as been going since the beginning. Christ’s Gospel is the only one that brings the peace we all want but we have to acknowledge it and live it. We have to say Christ knows best and after six thousand years of trying it on our own, we need to surrender our will to Christ and will now follow his leadership.]

Omni 1:27 And now I would speak somewhat concerning a certain number who went up into the wilderness to return to the land of Nephi; for there was a large number who were desirous to possess the land of their inheritance.

Amaleki wants to end his writing by giving a brief account of a group of people who wanted to return to the land of Nephi and live there again. Many had not forgotten their hometown and look upon the land of Nephi with fondness.
[Wonder if the land of Zarahemla was not a very good place to live and the land of Nephi being in the mountains may have been a more pleasing place to live.]

Omni 1:28 Wherefore, they went up into the wilderness. And their leader being a strong and mighty man, and a stiffnecked man, wherefore he caused a contention among them; and they were all slain, save fifty, in the wilderness, and they returned again to the land of Zarahemla.

The leader of this group was not a very righteous man and there was disputes among the group about this enterprise. The conflict was so bad that they battled each other until there was only 50 left and they returned to Zarahemla.
[One can only wonder at the thoughts of the people of Zarahemla when this group returned with only a fraction of the number they left with. I wonder how many the original group started with, but apparently the leader of the group was one of the survivors.]

Omni 1:29 And it came to pass that they also took others to a considerable number, and took their journey again into the wilderness.

This man was persistent and started out with another very large group of settlers.

Omni 1:30 And I, Amaleki, had a brother, who also went with them; and I have not since known concerning them. And I am about to lie down in my grave; and these plates are full. And I make an end of my speaking.

As to the fate of this second group Amaleki as no intelligence. A brother of his went with the group and no one has heard from them since they left. Amaleki tells us the plates are now full and ends his record.
[I know that the record of this group will come up later in The Book of Mormon, but I wonder why Amaleki mentions it here since he would not know that it would come to our knowledge in our day? Maybe he was hoping that some one in the future would find out and record their adventures in the record of the Nephites.]