“Alma2’s similarity to Saul/Paul is clear in the physical incapacity that resulted from the visitation (Acts 9:8). Contrary to Saul, however, Alma2 is completely debilitated. His companions are functional, able to carry him to assistance. Saul was only blind, but Alma2 was dumb and so weak that he was ‘carried helpless.’ That he was ‘laid’ before his father indicates that he was too weak even to sit. This physical weakness apparently resulted from a spiritual struggle, which he recounts later. Perhaps he was so preoccupied with the internal that his body was unable to cope with the external. Whatever the cause, his condition clearly stemmed from his experience with the angel” (Gardner, Second Witness, 3:454).