Sidney Sperry comments: “It is possible that the writer was attempting to imply that Alma had been translated, even as Moses was translated by the Lord. It will be remembered that on the Mount of Transfiguration Moses appeared with Elias (Elijah); according to the Prophet Joseph Smith, they conferred keys that were necessary for Peter, James and John to have in their future work. It may be reasonably inferred, therefore, that Moses appeared as a translated being, not as a spirit.”
The interpretation that Moses was translated appears to rest on Deuteronomy 34:6: “he [the Lord] buried him [Moses].” But if buried, then Moses was obviously dead. However, the conclusion of Deuteronomy 34:6, “but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day,” suggests that he did not have an earthly burial. This verse in the Book of Mormon appears to follow that interpretation because it notes that Alma might have been “buried by the hand of the Lord, as was Moses.”
There was more than one tradition of Moses’s death. The Masoretic text from which our current Old Testament is translated reads: “he buried him,” which appears to be the version behind the Nephite scriptures. However, the Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls read: “they buried him.” This variant makes it appear that Moses’s death was more normal.