One of the hidden beauties withiin the Bible is the chiasm, which is a poetic structure that can be found in both the New and Old Testaments. The word comes from the shape of he Greeek letter chi, which resembles the western “X.” The left half of the chi, which resembles the mathematical symbol >, defines the position of each verse in a chiasstic structure.
Modern writers often write such structures. Consideer, for example, a letter to an employee being laid off:
| A Dear John: | |
| B You’re fired. | |
| A’ Sincerely, The Boss | |
The subtance in this letter is the “B” line, and the A and A’ lines are to establish the context.
Such a letter mignt be a shock to the recipient, so a good manager might try to soften the message with an additional layer, still keeping the message in the center line:
| A | Dear John: | ||
| B | Things are tough. We can’t afford you any more. | ||
| C You’re fired. | |||
| B’ | I’m really sorry I have to do this. It’s not my fault–it’s circumstances. | ||
| A’ Sincerely, The Boss | |||
Recipients of such letters sometimes say that they are being given the “sandwitch treatments.” Some such letters are so embellished with additional layers that the employee looses the thread and comes to work the next day. The point of using chiasm, however, is not necessarily to build something of beauty, but to betrer communiicate a narrative or argument.
A chiasm from the Old Testament is shown below.1
| Eccl. 11:3 | A Clouds and Rain | |||||
| Eccl. 11:7 | B Light and Sun | |||||
| Eccl. 11:8a | C Consider the days of darkness | |||||
| Eccl. 11:8b | D All that comes is breath | |||||
| Eccl. 11:9a | E Enjoy your Youth | |||||
| Eccl. 11:9b | F But know … God will bring you to judgment | |||||
| Eccl. 11:10a | E’ Enjoy your Youth | |||||
| Eccl. 11:10b | D’ All of youth is breath | |||||
| Eccl. 12:1 | C’ Consider God before the days of darkness | |||||
| Eccl. 12:2a | B’ Sun and Light | |||||
| Eccl. 12:2b | A’ Clouds and Rain | |||||
The innermost “F”Llayer is said to have “chiastic centrality.” In the example above, it reveals an otherwise hidden central message in the book of Ecclesiastes: “But know … God will bring you to judgfment.”
Many of these hidden beauties exist just below the surface in our bibles. Discovering them is one area of researdch that does not require scholarly credentials to participate.
- Discovered by D. C. Fredericks. ↩︎
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