It’s important to remember that the various books of the bible were composed at a time when not everyone was literate. That means that they weren’t simply meant to be read. Instead, they were written to be read aloud. Even chanted or sung, in some places.
Today, we would write a paragraph with an introduction, perhaps a supporting sentence or two, and a conclusion at the end. That would help to convey a concept to a reader. But, ancient biblical writers didn’t necessarily write that way.
Instead, they sometimes formatted their thoughts into what are called “chiasm.” A chiasmus is simply a textual structure with repeated phrases, sections, or concepts. A good example of a chiasmus is found in Gen. 6:22:
A – Thus did Noah
B – According to all that God commanded him
A’ – So he did.
As you can see, “So he did” simply repeats the concept of “Thus did Noah” and together they bracket the central subject of importance, “according to all that God commanded him.”
Chiasm can take the form, A – B – B’ – A’, A – B – A’ – B’, and so on. Structuring the text this way can help the reader to remember, or help a listener better understand. But, it can also give us clues to the intended meaning of a given text, when that intended meaning may otherwise be lost.
Let’s pick the famous Jewish saying called the “Shema – Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is ‘one.'” That’s actually at the center of a chiasmus spanning Deut. 6:1-9. I’ll summarize the concepts so the pattern is easier to see, like so:
A – These are the LAWS you must do to live in the LAND.
B – KEEP the LAWS, you and your CHILDREN.
C – HEAR and OBEY the LAWS.
D – Hear O Israel: the Lord our God is ‘one.’
D’ – LOVE the Lord with all of your HEART!
C’ – OBEY from the HEART!
B’ – TEACH the LAWS to your CHILDREN.
A’ – (Various things you must do to live in the LAND.)
So, it’s obvious that this is part of a chiastic pattern, but what’s not so obvious is what “the Lord is ‘one'” might mean, and why it’s at the center of this structure. But, let’s do a bit of deduction to see if we can work it out.
Notice that the commands from A through D are all external. In other words, these are things that God is telling us to keep, hear, obey, etc. In contrast, the commands from D’ through A’ are all a heartfelt reaction. Love God with all of your heart, obey from the heart, teach your children (from what’s in your heart), etc.
If that’s the case, then “the Lord is ‘one'” must be intended to provoke that heartfelt reaction! Right?
Far from being a commentary on how many Gods are in the Godhead, this means that the Lord is ‘one’…with Israel, His people! In other words, this is the marital covenant between God and Israel!
Think of A through D like God’s wedding vows to Israel, and D’ through A’ like Israel’s vows back to God. In ancient times, the priest would read A through D, and then the people would respond back by reciting D’ through A’.
Even the Jews today don’t understand that their famous Shema is actually part of the marital covenant between God and Israel. They’ve lost that knowledge. But, we’ve recovered it by looking at this textual structure, and inferring the correct meaning on the basis of that structure.
Now, chiasm aren’t just limited to individual verses. Even whole books of the bible can be arranged in a chiastic structure! The book of Ezekiel is an excellent example of this:
A – Eze. 1-11 – God’s presence departs from His defiled Temple
B – Eze. 12-23 – Oracles of destruction
C – Eze. 24 – Jerusalem besieged
D – Eze. 25-32 – Oracles concerning foreign nations
C’ – Eze. 33 – Jerusalem destroyed
B’ – Eze. 34-39 – Oracles of restoration
A’ – Eze. 40-48 – God’s presence returns to His restored Temple
One question should immediately come to mind, looking at this structure. Why in the heck are “oracles concerning foreign nations” in the center!? Why is that the most important subject of the entire book of Ezekiel?
That’s a subject for another article, but you get the idea. Understanding how the text of the bible is sometimes arranged into chiastic structures like these, is critically important in understanding what ideas the biblical authors intended to convey.