The Five Rings to Combat Suffering: Pt. 2 - Ring Structure
Evidence within Scripture
When we see a deliberate literary structure, we know that there is an author.
When that structure contains masterpieces like Shakespear, we can deduct the high level of intelligence of that author.
When we see these perfectly precise stories, structures unfold in history over the course of generations it is a very telling sign about the intelligence of the author of history.
What is Ring Structure/Chiasms?
The term “chiasm” comes from the Greek letter chi, which looks like our letter X. 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 or idea, often in a related form.
The center of the chiasm highlights the main point that the author wants the reader to get.
The chiastic structure, the perfect ring, is actually called “ring structure” since it often creates a complete circle. This device is commonly found in ancient literature such as the Hebrew Bible.
Chiasms in Scripture
Exodus:
Exodus 24:1-11 uses a chiastic literary structure to highlight the covenant between God and His people. In a chiasm, the main point is also the center point of the chiasm. In this case, it’s the meeting of God with His people.
The book of Exodus is a literary masterpiece. You can divide it in half, and all of the pieces will have a parallel. You can divide it into thirds, and all of the pieces will have a parallel. You can divide it into four, and all of the pieces will have a parallel. And you can divide it into seven, and all of the pieces will have a parallel.
Revelation:
The climax of the first half is Revelation 13:11-18, which presents the image of the beast, the mark of the beast, the number of the beast and the death decree against those who refuse to submit to the Beast. This is the climax of Satan’s long war against God’s people, so we would expect the theme of the first half of the book to be Satan’s efforts to defeat God’s people.
The climax of the second half is Revelation 14:1-5, which presents Jesus as the Lamb with His victorious people in heaven. This represents God's ultimate victory over sin and Satan, which is the theme of the second half of the book.
The center of the chiasm points us to the main theme of Satan’s defeat by the lamb. Jesus defeats darkness and His church prevails against the dragon.
Leviticus:
Notice that the first and final chapters match. These both describe rituals, whether sacrifices and offerings (Lev 1-7) or festivals (Lev 23-25). The next chapters, moving inwards, are also parallel: they both address the ordination of the priesthood (Lev 8-10) and the moral requirements of the priests (Lev 21-22). Moving inwards we find ceremonial purity (Lev 11-15) and moral purity (Lev 17-20). This brings us to the final and central unit, the day of atonement, which finds no parallel within the book. This means that it is the centre of Leviticus itself. In fact, the Day of Atonement is the centre of the Torah, given that Leviticus is the central book (another chiastic structure).
Chiasms in History
The biblical stories fit into such a perfect symmetry with one another that the Bible appears to be written by the same author. So much so that I would have had a very hard time believing it wasn’t, if the events described, weren’t proven in history to have happened thousands of years apart.
For example, certain prophecies and promises were given to the nation of Israel. You know that they are given in certain time periods due to extra biblical-historical sources and even references to them celebrating certain holidays that pertain to those promises thousands of years prior to when the promises were fulfilled in history.
Why it Matters
Last week, we took a look at the detailed precision in the universe at large. Seeing this meticulous detail encourages us that the God in control of it is also capable of working together all of the minute details of our lives.
This week, I want to take a look at one other anomaly that can reinforce this same trust.
The amount of detail that went into creating these historical chiasms prove that nothing is out of place in your life.
God is involved in every detail, nothing is wasted. It is all being carefully knitted together into an epic story.
The Bible has a Built-In Commentary
If someone were to ask what one of the best commentaries on the bible was I would say the Bible itself. The purpose of these literary structures that were built into the text were to help give insight through parallel, opposites or connections. Often on one side of the chiasm, we might see symbolism that is defined by the story on the other side of the chiasm.
Some of these parallels are very obvious and others are up for debate. For example some people see a chiasm that would break exodus in a fifth way and parallel the burning bush with a quote from Moses that says I need to go see my brothers could they really still be alive. The thought behind this is “could someone endure that level of persecution and not be destroyed.” We learned earlier in the Torah that God promises Israel they will be an indestructible nation, but they have been under persecution and slavery for 400 hundred years. Moses utters almost the identical sentence when walking up to the burning bush. He says, “How can a bush be on fire and not be destroyed?” Since these sentences are on the opposite side of chiasm, it would appear as though the text is indicating the burning bush is a symbol of Israel itself.
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The original covenant with Abraham said that his offspring would be blessed to be a blessing. Anyone who blessed Israel would be blessed and anyone who cursed Israel would in turn be cursed.
“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
We then see a chiastic structure that puts the funeral procession of Jacob on the opposite side of a chiasm as when the army of Egypt was drowned in the Red Sea. The language used about the procession of Egyptians is almost identical until we get to the divergent clause where they take opposite endings.
In the time of Jacob and Joseph, the Pharaoh of Egypt had listened to God’s warning and blessed Israel, he had put Joseph second in charge of the Kingdom after Joseph interpreted his dream. He was therefore saved from a huge famine and all Egypt was blessed through Joseph (Jacob/Israel's son) So that when he passed away they honored him with this amazing procession hand in hand with the Israelites.
Many years later, the new Pharaoh of Egypt instead cursed the Israelites, enslaved them, and killed all their firstborn sons. In return, they reaped the opposite promise of the covenant that those who curse Israel will be cursed.
The Chiasm here is drawing our eye to a point we might have missed if we saw this as two disjointed stories. If we didn’t notice the parallels, we might have missed the meaning behind why one generation of Egypt was blessed and another cursed.