Teaching Tool of Chiastic Structure

The Teaching Tools of Scripture

The Scriptures, both Hebrew and Greek Testaments, contain chiastic structures from beginning to end. They are one of the thumbprints of God on His Word, that reveal a single divine author from beginning to end, as their beauty, elegance, logic, and symmetry is impossible for a human mind to create in the complexity that they are found in Scripture.

A chiastic structure is a narrative with a central point, which is the key point of the passage. The Spirit highlights that point by having the narrative around it zero in on it like an arrow. The way the narrative zeroes in on the central point is fascinating: let’s say there are four elements or ideas in a passage that leads up to the central point. Following the central point, the same elements or ideas will be repeated in some way, but in reverse order. This makes pairings, as the element immediately preceding the central point is paired by common theme, to the element immediately following the central point, and so on throughout the narrative.

There can be any number of elements or ideas. But that they repeat in reverse order around a central point is the key characteristic.

Notice that the Hebrew paragraph divisions help define the elements of the structure. You can see that besides the central point – that God’s creation was good, not one full of predation and death – the repeating elements then make matching pairs, which bring even more clarity to the text. In this case, the structure reveals that God first formed the universe, which was void, saw that its form was good, then filled the universe that He had prepared with life.

(Genesis 5:32-6:4, Sons of God explains the E.1 pair.) Sometimes a structure will force elements together as a pair, which do not at first glance seem to pair (such as the C pair above) because of the undeniable pairing of the surrounding elements. But how does the C pair pair? Simply this: What God’s children need, He provides. Adam needed a helper fit for him, and YHVH provided it. Noah needing saving from the wrath coming upon the earth, and YHVH instructed him in exactly what to do, even to the providing of building blueprints. Another commonality between the need of both Adam and Noah, was that neither of them knew what they lacked. YHVH provided for that too!

While at first glance it might not be evident how the matching elements pair, if we meditate on it a little bit, it becomes clear. And this invitation to dwell on the Scripture’s meaning, is one of the very great benefits of the Chiastic Structure teaching tool.

The A pair reveals that guarding the affections of our hearts is key to preserving the sanctity of YHVH’s worship, worshiping Him alone, and having no idols before Him. The B pair reveals that when we take an oath in the name of YHVH, keeping that oath preserves the sanctity of truth. We have done, or remained true, to what we said we would do. The C pair reveals that rest prevents us from stealing away our health. It also reveals that when we preserve the appointments YHVH has made with His creation, we have not stolen the Creator’s right or ownership of those appointments, and of His creation. The D pair commandments preserve the integrity of the family, and reveals that it is an act of obedience to YHVH’s authority to both honor parents and spouse as YHVH commands. The central axis reveals the absolute sanctity of life, and that ultimately, all the commandments have as their core motivation guarding both our spiritual and physical life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, and that of our neighbors.

There are complete structures that are one paragraph long, even one sentence long (as in this Genesis 3:16 structure), and others which are five, ten, or twenty chapters long, with smaller structures embedded within them. There are elegant and complex structures overlapping other completely different elegant and complex structures, meaning that they share portions of a narrative for their elements, without once disturbing the flow of the narrative, or the symmetry of the greater and lesser structures around them. There are single structures that encompass an entire book of the Bible, from beginning to end (as in this book of Romans structure). I believe the Hebrew Testament makes a single structure, as well as the Greek, as well as the entire Bible from Gen 1:1-Rev 22:21 (I am working on mapping it). The events of the life of Yeshua form a chiastic structure. Well, that would make sense if He is the Word of God made flesh, and the chiastic structure is a thumbprint of the Holy Spirit on the text of the Word of God.

The central point often isn’t what you might expect it to be, and sometimes, the matching pairs aren’t what you would expect them to be a first glance either. But God has a reason for making His central points and His matching pairs as He has. Often He is revealing something beautiful and amazing about Himself, about Messiah, or the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith. Sometimes He reveals prophetic pictures. At any rate, He is trying to help us understand Him.

There are thousands of Chiastic Structures posted on A Little Perspective. A search for “chiastic structure” or “chiasm” will bring them up. Start here:

Genesis 6:13-8:14, Chiastic Structure in Noah’s flood
Genesis Whole Book Chiastic Structure
Exodus 12:37-51, Moses Wrote about Messiah
Exodus 13:17-15:26, Chiastic Structure
Leviticus 23:26-32 {p} Chiastic Structure
Deuteronomy 6:4-11:25, First Commandment Chiastic Structure
Deuteronomy 14:1-21, Chiastic Structure
Psalm 113, Chiastic Structure
Psalm 119:1-176, Whole Psalm Chiastic Structure
Proverbs 3:19-35, Chiastic Structure
The Isaiah 58 Chiastic Structure and the Day of Atonement
Matthew 5-7, Sermon on the Mount Chiastic Structure
Luke 17, Expanded Chiastic Structure
Acts 27, And a snip from my Bible study journal: mapping Chiastic Structures
Chiastic Structure of the Seven Bowls of Wrath (Revelation)