On this day, back in 1967, John W. Welch discovered chiasmus in the Book of Mormon. Book of Mormon Central has a number of useful articles on chiasmus:
Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon
In my blog post The Amazing Chiasmus in Alma 36 of the Book of Mormon, I reproduce something Ben McGuire wrote in response to the always deceptive and disingenuous Protestant apologist, Robert M. Bowman on the question of intentional chiasmus in the Book of Mormon.
My personal favourite instance of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon is that of Helaman 6:7-13. As Jeff Lindsay noted:
the
main features of this chiasm can be listed as follows:
A. "And behold, there was peace in
all the land" (6:7).
B. [Freedom of travel and trade in both lands is
discussed (6:7-8).]
C. "And it came to pass that they became
exceedingly rich, both the Lamanites and the Nephites;
D. and they did have an exceeding plenty of gold,
and of silver, and of all manner of precious metals,
both in the land south and in the land north" (6:9).
E. "Now the land south
F. was called Lehi, and
G. the land north
H. was called Mulek,
I. which was after the son of Zedekiah;
I'. for the Lord
H'. did bring Mulek
G'. into the land north,
F'. and Lehi
E'. into the land south" (6:10).
D'. "And behold, there was all manner of gold in
both these lands, and of silver, and of precious ore of
every kind;
C'. and there were also curious workmen, who did work all
kinds of ore and did refine it; and thus they did become rich"
(6:11).
B'. [Economic prosperity in both lands is
discussed (6:12-13).]
A'. "And thus the sixty and fourth year did pass away
in peace" (6:13).
Commentary on this passage
is given in Reexploring
the Book of Mormon, p. 231:
This composition is remarkable in
several ways. First, the report itself is beautifully executed. Words, phrases,
and ideas that appear in the first half are repeated with precision and balance
in the second half. This entry exhibits both fine quality and admirable length.
Second, since the chiasm encompasses
the entire report for the year, this unifying structure strongly suggests that
the account was written as a single literary unit that Mormon copied verbatim
from the Large Plates of Nephi into his abridgment. Apparently the contemporary
historian used chiasmus to record an extraordinary year in the annals of his
people. The report documents a great change that occurred during the
sixty-fourth year involving prosperity, free travel, and peace between both the
Nephites and Lamanites. Significant trade and peace treaties must have been
entered into in order for this kind of peace and prosperity to occur, since
before this time, restriction on travel was the norm in Nephite society, as is
evidenced by Mosiah 7:1; 8:7; 28:1; Alma 23:2; 50:25; and Helaman 4:12.
Official decrees of this type may be related to the misharum edicts
of the Near East that typically proclaimed freedom for slaves and granted
"equity" for the land. In addition to marking an unprecedented
turning point in Nephite history, using chiasmus would insure against additions
to or deletions from the text, since any alteration would be strikingly
apparent.
Third, and most remarkable, the
center of this chiasm involves two individual words. At the very apex, the
words "Zedekiah" and "Lord" stand parallel to each other,
which is intriguing since the Hebrew word for "Lord" constitutes the
theophoric suffix -yah at the end of the name
"Zedekiah." [The Hebrew name Zedekiah can mean "The Lord is
righteousness."]
The
chiasm in Helaman 6:7-13 is best understood by considering the Hebrew meaning
of Zedekiah, evidence that the chiasm was originally constructed in a language
with Hebrew origins or elements. Apparently, the poetical structure was well
preserved in the English translation. One may ask how many original chiasms in
the Book of Mormon were clouded by translation into English. Some chiastic
elements may have involved Hebraic word plays or relationships between pairs of
words with common roots or sounds. Such chiasms may not be translatable into
English.
While I do believe some LDS apologists tend to overplay the significance of there being genuine instances of intentional chiasmus in the Book of Mormon, it does evidence a very sophisticated literary knowledge and background of the authors of the text and is very important to exegeting various passages in the volume.
