Zeniff’s posting of guards indicates both the military emergency and the relative size of Zeniff’s people at the time. Even though children might act as sentinels, guards are necessarily of fighting age and therefore also old enough to work the fields. To designate a cadre of guards for more than a short-term emergency implies the community’s ability to produce sufficient food even without the labor of these working-age males. This productivity, which probably allows Noah’s extravagance, seems to be confirmed in verses 4 and 5 below. The guards are probably more like roving patrols than large garrisons at fortified outposts (see v. 7).