According to Kent Brown, it is possible, indeed, to see Alma the elder as a type of Moses. The parallels are intriguing. Each was a member of a royal court and was forced to flee because of an injustice. Each led his people from the clutches of enslaving overlords. Each led them through the wilderness to the land from which their ancestors had originated. Moreover, each gave the law to his people and placed them under covenants to obey the Lord. The terms of the covenant are rehearsed in Mosiah 18:8-10; the sign of the covenant consisted of baptism (18:12-16); the name of the covenant people was "the church of God, or the church of Christ" (18:17); and the terms of the new law, including the priesthood offices are outlined in 18:18-28).
In addition, because of Alma's unusual spiritual gifts, he was commissioned by King Mosiah, whom he had never met prior to his arrival in Zarahemla, to lead and direct the affairs of the church there, even superseding in position and authority those priests who surrounded Mosiah and who were obviously in positions to influence and make policy (see Mosiah 27:1). Moses, too, was placed by the Lord at the head of his people who had been served by other priests. [S. Kent Brown, "The Exodus Pattern," in BYU Studies, Vol. 30 No. 3 (Summer, 1990), pp. 114-115,124]