Alma and Amulek as Types of Christ, Part 3

Alma and Amulek, like the Savior, showed poise amid provocation, "And the Judge smote them again upon their cheeks, and asked: What say ye for yourselves?...And it came to pass that Alma and Amulek answered him nothing" (Alma 14:15,17). Before Herod, the Savior likewise said nothing, "He [Herod] questioned with him in many words; but [Jesus] answered him nothing" (Luke 23:9). After Alma and Amulek's refusal to speak, the chief judge "smote them again, and delivered them to the officers to be cast into prison" (Alma 14:17). Jesus faced a similar experience, "And when [Pilate] had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified" (Matt. 27:26). The Savior was delivered unto crucifixion and the prison of death, which prison He would overcome and destroy. "And when [Alma and Amulek] had been cast into prison three days" (Alma 14:18) their incarceration was interrupted by more questioning from lawyers, judges, and church leaders. Unlike Alma and Amulek, the Savior rose and was freed from His prison, from the grave, on the third day (John 19:40-42; 20:1,9; Luke 24:46). Alma and Amulek, again like the Savior (see Mark 15:3), did not respond to the questions of the disingenuous and wicked civic and religious leaders (see Alma 14:18-19).

Many people "came forth also, and smote them" (Alma 14:20), just as the Savior was repeatedly smitten. Again, Alma and Amulek were mocked by those asking them why they did not save themselves. Alma and Amulek were further abused, "And many such things did they say unto [Alma and Amulek], gnashing their teeth upon them, and spitting upon them, and saying: How shall we look when we are damned?" (Alma 14:21). The Savior experienced all these same abuses. "The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth [meaning that they insulted the Savior and gnashed their teeth at Him]" (Matt 27:44). The High Priest and others "spit in [Jesus'] face, and buffeted him; and other smote him with the palms of their hands, Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?" (Matt. 26:67-68).

Alma and Amulek spent more days in prison suffering mocking and derision. Their captors "did withhold food from them that they might hunger, and water that they might thirst; and they also did take from them their clothes that they were naked" (Alma 14:22). The Savior suffered similar thirst, "After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth" (John 19:28-29; see also Mark 15:36). [This also leads to an interesting aside about prophecies. The Savior knew the scriptures about Himself: "They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink" (Psalm 69:21) and He acted upon this knowledge to fulfill this prophecy. Prophecies often require effort to be fulfilled - they are not usually independent of human action. The other thing we learn from the scripture in Psalm 69 is that the Savior also was hungry and probably was offered something very unpleasant to eat, even though it is not mentioned in the Gospels. This further strengthens the relationship between Alma and Amulek's sufferings and the Savior's because Alma and Amulek were denied food and drink]. Also like Alma and Amulek, the Savior was stripped of His clothing: "Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part" (John 19:23). Alma and Amulek, once stripped of clothing, "were bound with strong cords, and confined in prison" (Alma 14:22). The Savior, once crucified, likewise was bound with the cords of death and confined in the prison of the grave.