Chiastic structures in the Bible

What is a chiastic structure?

A chiastic structure, or chiastic pattern, is a literary technique in narrative motifs and other textual passages. An example of chiastic structure would be two ideas, A and B, together with variants A’ and B’, being presented as A,B,B’,A’.

The Bible is full of chiastic structures.

Most often, the ones found in the Bible have a central element to them; A, B, C, B’, A’.

Here's an example:

Genesis 1:9-10 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

A: Let the waters be gathered
B: Let the dry land appear
C: And it was so
B’: Called the dry land earth
A’: Called the waters seas

The Bible's chiastic structures are layered like an onion, from verse to verse, chapter to chapter, book to book, testament to testament and even the over-arching message of the Bible.

Matthew 7:4-5 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

A: Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
B: Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye;
C: and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
D: Thou hypocrite,
C’: first cast out the beam out of thine own eye;
B’: and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote
A’: out of thy brother's eye.

Here's one that is from Genesis 1 and Revelation 22 (the first and last books and chapters of the Bible):

Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Revelation 22:16-19 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

A: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
B: And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
C: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
C’: I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
B’: And the spirit and the bride say, Come. ... let him take the water of life freely.
A’: God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book...

Looking for chiastic structures can be a fun way to study the Bible.

a reply to: Freth
Gene Kim delivered a teaching tonight relevant to your post. I love this man and most of what he teaches.

youtu.be...

a reply to: Illumimasontruth

Thank you for sharing. Watching it now.

originally posted by: Freth
Genesis and Revelation;
A: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
B: And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
C: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
C’: I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
B’: And the spirit and the bride say, Come. ... let him take the water of life freely.
A’: God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book...

Looking for chiastic structures can be a fun way to study the Bible.

We may add in here;
D The tree of life in the midst of the garden.
D The tree of life on either side of the river.

"Chiastic structure." New word for the day.

Well, there's another layer of coding - I expect there to be seven in all. I know of the ELS coding, the mathematical coding discovered by Ivan Panin...and the coding discovered by the "Code Gang." The latter you look up on the www, and it is wild stuff.

a reply to: DISRAELI

Good catch!

I actually dug a bit deeper last night. I posted on another forum, where I found more.

Here's that post:

Genesis and Revelation

In this thread, I'd like to show a chiastic structure from Genesis 1 and Revelation 22. First, let's look at the verses:

• Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
• Revelation 22:17-19 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.​

The chiastic structure:

• Genesis 1:1-2
  • God
    • Spirit, Water
    • ---
    • Spirit, Water
  • God
• Revelation 22:17-19

A Step Further

Now let's move forward in Genesis 1, starting with verse 3 and backward in Revelation 22 starting with verse 16 and see what we find.

• Genesis 1:3-5
  • And God said let there be light.
    • God divided light from darkness.
    • God called light day and darkness night.
    • ---
    • Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
    • For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
  • Jesus, the bright and morning star.
• Revelation 22:14-16

Is There More?

• Genesis 1:7-8 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
• Revelation 22:11-12 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

• Genesis 1:7-8
  • Waters Above Separated from Waters Below
  • ---
  • Obedience/Disobedience
• Revelation 22:11-12

And God called the firmament heaven.
One of the definitions of the word firmament found in Strong's H7549:
firmament (of valut of heaven supporting waters above).

• Genesis 1:1-8
  • God
    • Spirit, Water
      • Light Divided from Darkness
        • Waters Above, Waters Below
          • Firmament Supporting Waters Above (Obedience)
        • Obedience, Disobedience
      • Jesus, the Bright and Morning Star (Light of the World)
    • Spirit, Water
  • God
• Revelation 22:11-19

Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Genesis 1 and Revelation 22 are the first and last books and chapters of the 66 book canon.

Conclusion

Did God point to commandment keeping vs disobedience as a type of the creation account of Genesis 1 and tie it in with Revelation 22 as a chiastic structure?

There is plenty of scripture pointing to commandment keeping. We don't need a chiastic structure to further the point. Still, it's interesting.

a reply to: Freth
You are most welcome, and I hope you found it worth your precious time.

Your last post above really made me smile. Well done, and God bless!

Thank you for sharing this wonder with us.

I'm naturally quite a fan of architectural forms of expression.

I've much to catch up on the Bible, and this should be a fun tool for my adventure.


^_^

originally posted by: Freth
What is a chiastic structure?

A chiastic structure, or chiastic pattern, is a literary technique in narrative motifs and other textual passages. An example of chiastic structure would be two ideas, A and B, together with variants A’ and B’, being presented as A,B,B’,A’.

The Bible is full of chiastic structures.

Most often, the ones found in the Bible have a central element to them; A, B, C, B’, A’.

Here's an example:

Genesis 1:9-10 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

A: Let the waters be gathered
B: Let the dry land appear
C: And it was so
B’: Called the dry land earth
A’: Called the waters seas

The Bible's chiastic structures are layered like an onion, from verse to verse, chapter to chapter, book to book, testament to testament and even the over-arching message of the Bible.

Matthew 7:4-5 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

A: Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
B: Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye;
C: and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
D: Thou hypocrite,
C’: first cast out the beam out of thine own eye;
B’: and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote
A’: out of thy brother's eye.

Here's one that is from Genesis 1 and Revelation 22 (the first and last books and chapters of the Bible):

Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Revelation 22:16-19 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

A: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
B: And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
C: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
C’: I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
B’: And the spirit and the bride say, Come. ... let him take the water of life freely.
A’: God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book...

Looking for chiastic structures can be a fun way to study the Bible.

Its like speed reading, I used to think everyone read that way.....I have understood the world this way since I was 7 years old...I always just thought of it as linguistic pattern recognition.

Thank you for the responses.

The four hour window to edit my post expired. The definition of firmament is supposed to say "vault of heaven supporting waters above", not valut.

a reply to: Freth
The edit screen is too small. That's why I'm always talking about the Besat of Revelation.
For future reference, it says four hours, but the set time limit is 120 minutes.