The Ancient Poetic Pattern
Poetic Parallelism
Throughout Isaiah’s writings, and consistent with the writings of the ancient Hebrew prophets, are found parallel poetic patterns called chiasmus. These poetic patterns are used to create a depth of meaning comparing and contrasting themes, ideas, concepts, and symbols. They can be simple or complex, but I find them very intriguing, enlightening, and beautiful. Understanding chiasms will greatly enhance your ability to understand Isaiah, as well as other Hebrew prophets.
What Is Chiasmus
Chiasmus or chiasm is a poetic form of parallelism often used in ancient writing, not only among the Hebrew culture, but through ancient Mesopotamia. The patterns are found throughout the Old Testament. Many writers in the New Testament also used this form of poetic parallelism. In fact, some of the Book of Mormon authors also use this pattern, which makes sense since they originated from Jerusalem. There is also sporadic use of chiasms found within the Doctrine & Covenants.
The internet has a profusion of explanation on what chiasmus means. A simple internet search will produce scores of hits. William Ramey explained it this way:
“An important ancient technique of organizing material was by reverse parallelism. Today, this structural form is called chiasmus (pronunciation: ki-AZ-mus). The term chiasmus (also sometimes spelled as chiasm), is derived from a Greek verb that means to mark with two lines crossing like an ‘X’ (chi, the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet). Chiasmus is also known as antimetabole, epanodos, inverted parallelism, reverse parallelism, syntactical inversion, thought inversion, and turn around.” [1]
In our modern culture and literature, we often think of things linearly or sequentially. We use bullet points or outlines in consecutive order, first this and then that, as if we were telling a story. It is often difficult for us to understand the reverse parallel pattern because it does not follow a sequential formula. “A fundamental principle in chiasmus is not to think linear, but concentric. Western culture has been trained to think differently than the literary patterns laid down both in the ancient Near Eastern and the Greco-Roman civilizations. Chiasmus also shows up in ancient Sanskrit, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian texts. It appears in ancient Chinese writings, including the Analects of Confucius.” [2]
When you begin to understand chiasmus patterns and begin to find them in scripture, a wonderful new vista of understanding and meaning unfolds. It feels like reading the scriptures for the first time, where ideas and concepts come to the surface that were unseen before.
“One of the wonderful, complex and favoured word patterns used in literature is called the chiasm, or chiastic structure…. In Hebrew it is called an atbash (אתבש) structure because the aleph is mirrored by the tav (first and last letters of the aleph-bet) and the bet is mirrored by the shin (second and second last letters of the aleph-bet)…. The Bible is littered with chiasms, but one which has always interested me is the fact that Torah is, in itself, a chiasm.” [3]
There are many sources on the internet or elsewhere that can explain chiasmus much better than I can. One of my favorite websites for understanding and viewing chiastic patterns throughout the Old and New Testaments is the Chiasmus Exchange.
Example of Chiasmus
Chismtic patterns found herein follow a very basic pattern for ease of reference using colors, underlines, and an A/B/A’ pattern, where A and A’ are the parallel comparisons and B is the climax or center. The following is an example from the second chapter in Isaiah:
- A The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
- B And it shall come to pass in the last days — when the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains
- C and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it —
- B’ many people shall go and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths;
- B And it shall come to pass in the last days — when the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains
- A’ for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Final Note
There are many rules defining real or true chiastic patterns. I do not claim that the chiasms I find and share follow all (or any) of those rules or that they would “qualify” as a true chiasm based on official guidelines. And honestly, I don’t really care. All the chasms I outline are meaningful to me in helping me understand and expound upon Isaiah’s words. I follow the belief that chiasms are more artistic then scientific, and my wife would tell you that I find it difficult to follow rules anyway. I also do not claim that the chiasms used herein were discovered by me. They are a compilation of mine or others research.