Transcendent Touched

What is a chiasm

A chiasm (also called a chiasmus) is a literary device in which a sequence of ideas is presented and then repeated in reverse order. The result is a “mirror” effect as the ideas are “reflected” back in a passage. Each idea is connected to its “reflection” by a repeated word, often in a related form. The term chiasm comes from the Greek letter chi, which looks like our letter X. Chiastic pattern is also called “ring structure.” (from G What is a chiasm / chiastic structure in the Bible?, www.gotquestions.org/chiasm-chiastic.html)

The reason for writing with chiasms is to 1) use a structure that helps people remember the text and 2) to let readers know that a set of texts should be linked together in order to understand the fuller meaning of each section.

Chiasms occur all over the Bible.

It can happen in simple statements like, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27).
[NOTE: Strictly speaking, this statement is an antimetabole, where the same words are repeated exactly in reverse order – but some scholars consider an antimetabole to be a subcategory of a chiasm]

It can happen in passages such as in the story of Noah’s Ark
A: God’s command to Noah to build the ark and gather the animals (Genesis 6:14-22)
B: The floodwaters cover the earth, destroying all living creatures (Genesis 7:17-24)
C: The floodwaters recede and God remembers Noah, allowing him to leave the ark (Genesis 8:1-19)
B’: Noah and his family leave the ark and God promises to never destroy the earth with a flood again (Genesis 8:20-9:17)
A’: God’s command to Noah to be fruitful and multiply, and a sign of God’s covenant with Noah (Genesis 9:1-7)

It can happen is an entire book of the Bible. Example: Leviticus
A – Ritual 1-7
B – Priests 8-10
C – Purity 11-15
D – Day of Atonement 16
C’ – Purity 17-20
B’ – Priests 21-22
A’ – Ritual 23-27

The Bible’s story-line chiasm

There is even a chiastic structure visible in the story line of the Bible.

A – God formed an ordered universe of life and flourishing out of chaos, intending the universe to be a temple where he would rule with creatures who bore his image.
B — God began his rule with his image-bearers in a special garden, Eden. But his image-bearers were instructed to fill the earth so that God’s rule would extend, with them, to the entire earth.
C — The image-bearers rebelled, bringing increasing chaos and death to the world.
D —- The image-bearers continue to defy God’s desire and build a tower in Babel to make a name for themselves and God found it necessary to confuse their language to force them to spread through the earth and form nations.
E —– Out of the nations, God chooses one family through which He will form a new nation, Israel, through whom he will accomplish his goals.
F —— God raises a leader, Moses, to bring that chosen nation, Israel, out of captivity in Babylon. Moses serves as a prophet, priest and king for Israel, but fails to be the perfect human who can deliver the people from their sin.
G ——- Israel continues to rebel, even rejecting God as king so that they could be “like everybody else.” In the generations of Israel that follow. The continued rebellion causes God Israel to be brought into captivity and they live in exile for 70 years. No one like Moses arises.
G’ ——- After the time of exile, only a remnant of Israel returns to the promised land which is now controlled by foreigners. Even Jerusalem and its temple are only a remnant of what they were. People increasingly anticipate a political rescuer.
F’ —— God raises a rescuer like Moses, Jesus, to bring his chosen nation out of the captivity of sin. Moses serves as a prophet, priest and king for Israel and succeeds in being the perfect human who can deliver the people from their sin.
E’ —– Out of Israel, God creates a new spiritual Israel, through which he will accomplish his goals.
D’ —- At the celebration of Shavuot, Jews gather from throughout the world and the confusion of languages set in place at Babel is reversed.
C’ — Enabled by the Holy Spirit, the chosen nation is now sent to all the nations to bring the Kingdom of God and life and flourishing to the world.
B’ — The image-bearers continue the project of extending the life and flourishing of the Kingdom of Heaven to all the earth.
A’ – At the appointed time King Jesus will return to complete the ordered universe, by fully eradicating chaos and death and making the whole earth a place of only life and flourishing.