Alma also echoes Nephi in his relationship to the governance of his people. Alma's people wanted him to be king, as did Nephi's:
2 Ne. 5:18
18 And it came to pass that they would that I should be their king. But I, Nephi, was desirous that they should have no king; nevertheless, I did for them according to that which was in my power.
While Nephi dissembled, it does appear that he became king, or at least that he was so considered by his people, even if he didn't consider himself king. Thus Alma and Nephi share some of the same circumstances in beginning their colonies. These similarities are superficial, however. We see the difference in the declining of the kingship. For Nephi, it is a question of modesty only. For Alma, it is a much stronger reason. Alma declines not just for personal reasons, but for philosophical reasons.
Alma had experienced first hand an unrighteous king. He developed a dislike of the institution, not simply the person who might serve in it. This is an important distinction, because Alma will be influential in Zarahemla's abandonment of the kingship and implementation of the reign of the judges.
Part of his argument against kings comes from his interpretation of a commandment of the Lord: "for thus saith the Lord: Ye shall not esteem one flesh above another, or one man shall not think himself above another." This is the only place in our scriptures where this particular phrasing occurs, so we cannot tell whether or not Alma is citing precedent from a source lost to us, or setting it with a new revelation. Certainly the argument is an extrapolation. It would appear that the "commandment" was "ye shall not esteem one flesh above another, or one man shall not think himself above another." The final conclusion; "therefore I say unto you it is not expedient that ye should have a king" appears to be Alma's interpretation of the commandment.
Alma's argument here is interesting. He is dismissing kingship because it can lead to the presumption of personal superiority. In this he certainly has Noah as his model, for Nephi could not be faulted for this, nor could Benjamin (though Alma did not, nor could not, have known Benjamin). It is also possible that Alma took the Lamanite kings as models along with Noah. Certainly Noah exhibited the excesses of personal pride and position. Perhaps Alma was concerned with more than the person in the kingship, but with the potential for society itself to become stratified along economic lines as it had in Lehi-Nephi.
Alma is quick to point out that the problem is not inherent to the position of kingship, since a good man could be a good king (such as Nephi, Mosiah, Benjamin). However, the temptations of the position to stratification were too great, and when a bad man was king, the institution itself could be disastrous (as it had been with Noah).
Textual: The printer's manuscript and the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon begin this text with "And it came to pass that…." This phrase was removed from the 1837 edition to the present (Book of Mormon Critical Text. FARMS 1987. 2:474).