Growing up, I had two distinct views of the Bible. On the one hand, it was a book full of stories. It had lots of mythical narratives like Noah’s Ark and many good moral stories like Jesus letting kids sit on his lap. On the other hand, the Bible was a book with a lot of rules and instructions on how to be good. “Honor your father and mother.” “Love is patient. Love is kind.”

What I didn’t have was a view of the Bible as one big masterpiece of interwoven art. 

I started to get some inklings of that view of the Bible in college, but it really came into view for me as I listened to the Bible Project podcast in my post-grad years. 

I think one of the reasons it felt so non-artistic for most of my life is the way we talk about the authors of Scripture. We love to emphasize that these were mostly normal people, inspired by God (in some form– the details are a bit hazy there). Normal people, in my experience, are not generally masters of the written word. As a professional writer, I am not yet a master of the written word. So how would I expect a random shepherd or poor fisherman to weave language into poetry or perfectly hearken back to all the relevant stories with keywords and catch phrases to subtly make his point? But Dr. Tim Mackie of Bible Project really emphasizes how being steeped in the Hebrew Scriptures, along with Divine inspiration, allowed these authors to form and craft these writings into gorgeous art, and he draws out the forms, shapes, and callbacks for the "Average Joe" listening to all the podcasts. If God is the Creator and Initiator of beauty, it's shouldn't be a surprise that the book that reveals His character and plan for redemption would be so beautiful and masterful, too!

Hebrew Literary Genius

Indeed, one of the greatest (in my humble opinion) of the literary tools of the Bible is the use of chiasm. It’s a classic style of Hebrew writing. Chiasm, or writing in chiastic structure, is when a writer knits the structure of a sentence, story, or letter into a balanced mirror with the main point at the center. When you’re raised on chiastic writing, the main point is glaring. But for those of us in the modern West who have never heard of chiasm, sometimes it feels like the writers really buried the lead. 

You can think of chiasm in two ways. First, think of it in the terms of a poetic scheme (ABCBA) with the main point being "C." Second, think of it like how we are taught in America to write an introductory paragraph: hook, context, thesis statement. We end with the thesis statement to make our point. They put it in the center like a sandwich.

See for Yourself

Let’s look at some examples. As you’re reading, look for mirrored words and phrases. Notice in the center what is not repeated. It’s likely the main point!

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

A: all who are weary and burdened
B: I will give you rest
C: take my yoke and learn from me
D: I am gentle and humble in heart
C: you will find rest for your souls
B: my yoke is easy
A: my burden is light

In this beautiful invitation from Jesus, the main point is His character.  He is gentle and humble in heart. So we should learn from Him and in Him we will find rest. 

So the chiasm is not necessarily the same number of words or syllables on either side of the center. Rather, it’s that the ideas and phrases are mirrored. And there are times it’s more balanced in the original Hebrew. But I thank God for the translators working masterfully to help us see the chiasm from the original languages now in English, even as things don’t usually translate easily 1:1. 

Let’s try another!

Matthew 8:14-15

“When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.”

A: Jesus came and saw
B: Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed
C: with a fever
D: Jesus touched her hand
C: the fever left her
B: she got up
A: and began to wait on Jesus

The “A” in this one is perhaps less obvious because the phrases aren’t a match. But notice the mirrored idea. In the beginning, Jesus came and saw her need. In the end, she comes to Him and sees His needs. Her need is healing. His may have been hunger or thirst. Regardless, it all hinged on Jesus doing something scandalous and touching a sick woman. As a non-chiastic sidenote: If you read the Bible, the incredible nature of Jesus is that instead of being contaminated and ceremonially unclean by touching sickness and death, Jesus passes on His purity and cleanses her!

You try! 

Romans 10:9-10

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

What repeated words and ideas do you see?

What’s the chiastic center– the main point?

Chiasm on a Bigger Scale

The first time I learned about chiasm was in a college course called “The English Bible” where my professor, in a secular university, pointed out that the chiastic center of Mark 8 is Peter declaring Jesus as the Messiah. It was a cool moment. 

Even bigger than chapters, you can find chiasm written into whole letters of the Bible like the book of Romans. One scholar argues the central point of Paul’s chiastic letter to the Roman Church is Romans 6:14, “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” While I haven’t personally done the work of breaking down the letter, that verse certainly tracks as the primary theme in the letter. 

Carmen Imes, a scholar specializing in the book of Exodus, argues the entire Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) is a giant chiasm pointing to Israel’s time at Mt. Sinai. This, of course, is the initiation of the people of Israel into a covenant relationship with the God of the Universe– so, yeah, a pretty big moment. It would make sense for that to be a chiastic center.

Chiasms are everywhere on small and large scales. And as you learn to pay attention to repeating words– a great tool in all Bible study–, you will likely start to notice chiasms. When I discover one on my own, I always feel really accomplished since it just isn’t a default way of reading for my American literary mind. 

 

Have you found other chiasms in Scripture? Throw them in the comments!