Carry_Your_Name
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Chiasm is a literary technique that arranges second half as the mirror image of the first half. This term comes from the Greek letter "chi", which looks like an X. It's a simple yet powerful tool to help organize the plot and structure the story, it strikes a dramatic and memorable contrast, and it creates a beautiful symmetry. When there's a loose end dropped in the first half, it's neatly tied up at its corresponding point in the second half; and at the end, the story goes right back to the beginning. Chiasm can be found in many common sayings:
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." - Benjamin Franklin
"All for one and one for all!" - Three Musketeers
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy
"Don't use a man you doubt, don't doubt the man you use." - Chinese idiom.
Chiasm is very common in the bible, both the OT and the NT, it's almost ubiquitous. Numerous verses, passages, chapters, sections or even entire books are written in chiastic structure, among which are Leviticus, Matthew, Revelation, 1 and 2 Samuels as a whole. A textbook case is the Flood story, which starts with Noah's family (Gen. 6:10) and ends with Noah's family (Gen. 9:18-19). Rabbis call it "menorah pattern". Menorah is the Jewish lampstand with seven branches, among which the tallest is right in the middle, it goes like ABC-D-CBA. The emphasis and the takeaway message is neither at the beginning or the end, but usually the D in the middle, just like the menorah. Case in point, in the middle of the Flood story, God remember Noah and shed his grace on him by subsiding the water (Gen. 8:1-2). Here are a few noticable examples:
Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” (Matt. 19:30)
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27)
He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matt. 10:39)
For he who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 14:11)
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matt. 6:24)
The most prominent and obvious passage example is Psalm 67. Verse 1 and 2 match 7 and 6, 3 and 5 are identical, and 4 is the longest. It's carefully and purposefully written in the shape of a menorah:
1 God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us.
2 That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.
3 Let the people praise You, O God, let all the peoples praise You;
4 Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For you shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations on earth.
5 Let the people praise You, O God, let all the peoples praise You;
6 Then the earth shall yield her increase, God, our own God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.
In conclusion, the purpose of discovering chiasm in the bible is to understand the text's literary structure and pinpoint the key message in the middle. It helps you see the bigger picture. Instead of plucking out individual verses out of context to make your own theological statement as you usually do, you read a complete chiastic passage as whole, and you analyze it as a whole, so you don't get lost.
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." - Benjamin Franklin
"All for one and one for all!" - Three Musketeers
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy
"Don't use a man you doubt, don't doubt the man you use." - Chinese idiom.
Chiasm is very common in the bible, both the OT and the NT, it's almost ubiquitous. Numerous verses, passages, chapters, sections or even entire books are written in chiastic structure, among which are Leviticus, Matthew, Revelation, 1 and 2 Samuels as a whole. A textbook case is the Flood story, which starts with Noah's family (Gen. 6:10) and ends with Noah's family (Gen. 9:18-19). Rabbis call it "menorah pattern". Menorah is the Jewish lampstand with seven branches, among which the tallest is right in the middle, it goes like ABC-D-CBA. The emphasis and the takeaway message is neither at the beginning or the end, but usually the D in the middle, just like the menorah. Case in point, in the middle of the Flood story, God remember Noah and shed his grace on him by subsiding the water (Gen. 8:1-2). Here are a few noticable examples:
Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” (Matt. 19:30)
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27)
He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matt. 10:39)
For he who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 14:11)
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matt. 6:24)
The most prominent and obvious passage example is Psalm 67. Verse 1 and 2 match 7 and 6, 3 and 5 are identical, and 4 is the longest. It's carefully and purposefully written in the shape of a menorah:
1 God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us.
2 That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.
3 Let the people praise You, O God, let all the peoples praise You;
4 Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For you shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations on earth.
5 Let the people praise You, O God, let all the peoples praise You;
6 Then the earth shall yield her increase, God, our own God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.
In conclusion, the purpose of discovering chiasm in the bible is to understand the text's literary structure and pinpoint the key message in the middle. It helps you see the bigger picture. Instead of plucking out individual verses out of context to make your own theological statement as you usually do, you read a complete chiastic passage as whole, and you analyze it as a whole, so you don't get lost.