Rhetoric: Alma uses his experience as a bridge to his listeners’ experience. Alma was in bondage; they were in bondage. Alma was influenced by King Noah; they were “oppressed by king Noah.” The connection here is entirely spiritual. For at least some of the time, the people willingly followed Noah. Mosiah 11:7 at least implies that they began to accept Noah’s methods. They rejoiced in defeating the Lamanites, which they would have interpreted as divine approval of Noah’s ways (Mosiah 11:17–19).
But the bondage that concerns Alma is not Noah’s burdensome taxes (Mosiah 11:3) but the burden of iniquity that he caused them to bear. Because he was king, they were “brought into iniquity.” Alma is talking about spiritual evil, not political nor economic. In the end, Alma’s major argument against kingship is the danger of a king who turns away from Yahweh and leads his people astray.