According to Kent Brown, several similarities between the Israelite exodus and that of Limhi's group and Alma's group are immediately obvious. In all instances the captives escaped into the wilderness with flocks and herds (Exodus 12:32, 38; Mosiah 22:8, 10-11; 23:1; 24:18). Escaping with their livestock was no small matter, for according to David Daube, taking one's possessions was one of the rights of a slave when freed. (Exodus Pattern, pp. 48-61). Deuteronomy 15:16 makes it clear that the slave should have been happy under the master's rule. Because the Lamanites were harsh, in the view of the Mosaic code this aspect of the relationship was ruptured as well, justifying the Nephites' desertion.
It is also interesting that Limhi explicitly compares the Nephites to the captive Israelites in his impassioned speech at the temple in the city of Lehi-Nephi where he rehearses what God has done for His two peoples in the past, referring first to the events of the Exodus from Egypt and then to the events of Lehi's departure from Jerusalem:
"Lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God, in that God who was the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and also, that God who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, . . . And again, that same God has brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem, and has kept and preserved his people even until now. (Mosiah 7:19-20).
In Mosiah 8:1, Mormon notes that Limhi had said a good deal more on this occasion "and only a few of them have I written in this book." Incidentally, Limhi immediately quotes in succession three sayings of the Lord that are not part of Abinadi's recorded preaching, nor do they come from any known source (see Mosiah 7:29-31). Furthermore, the three passages all share a concern for "my people," a term familiar from the Exodus narrative that also denotes a covenant relationship (see Exodus 6:7; 8:20-21, 23; 9:13; 10:3-4; etc.) [S. Kent Brown, "The Exodus Pattern in the Book of Mormon," in BYU Studies, Summer 1990, pp. 113-114, 124]