Mosiah 19:1 - 19:5

Mosiah 19:1 And it came to pass that the army of the king returned, having searched in vain for the people of the Lord.

They were able to allude the police and they could not find them.

Mosiah 19:2 And now behold, the forces of the king were small, having been reduced, and there began to be a division among the remainder of the people.

The forces of the king were small because the king could not get many people to back his wishes. There was great division among the people over public policy.

Mosiah 19:3 And the lesser part began to breathe out threatenings against the king, and there began to be a great contention among them.

A small number of people began to threaten the king and that cause infighting among them.
[Reminds me of today’s events. A small number of liberals are trying to push through congress a health plan that very few like and it has caused much contention among the legislators as well as the electorate. Small numbers have taken to the streets to protest this legislation and many others feel cannot afforded them or that they are even necessary. Rather shows me that why the people’s business needs to be done by the people rather than by a small number of representatives, who think they know better than we all what we need. The people generally do what is right. Of course, as we will read later, when the people generally do wrong, they are ripe for destruction and are.]

Mosiah 19:4 And now there was a man among them whose name was Gideon, and he being a strong man and an enemy to the king, therefore he drew his sword, and swore in his wrath that he would slay the king.

One of their number was a man named Gideon. He was a strong man and angry enough at the king over his public policies to take a weapon and try to assassinate the king.

Mosiah 19:5 And it came to pass that he fought with the king; and when the king saw that he was about to overpower him, he fled and ran and got upon the tower which was near the temple.

Gideon actually gets into a fight with king Noah and almost over powers him. However, king Noah tries to escape by running to one of his watch towers near the Temple.