Lesson 4: "The Things Which I Saw While I Was Carried Away in the Spirit"

8/3/2019 Lesson 4: "The Things Which I Saw While I Was Carried Away in the Spirit"

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Gospel Doctrine, Lesson 4: “The Things Which I Saw While I Was

Carried Away in the Spirit”, 1 Nephi 12-14

#1 Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, “The titles church of the devil and great

and abominable church are used to identify all churches or organizations of

whatever name or nature; whether political, philosophical, educational, eco-nomic, social, fraternal, civic, or religious; which are designed to take men on

a course that leads away from God and his laws and thus from salvation in the kingdom

of God” (Mormon Doctrine, 137-38)

#2 The Guide to the Scriptures defines the great and abominable church as, “Every ev

and worldly organization on earth that perverts the pure and perfect gospel and fights

against the Lamb of God.” (on-line LDS scripture dictionary, lds.org)

#3 Apostle B.H. Roberts wrote: “While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -

day Saints is established for the instruction of men; and it is one of God’s instr

mentalities for making known the truth ; yet he is not limited to that institution

for such purposes, neither in time nor place. God raises up wise men and proph

ets here and there among all the children of men, of their own tongue and nationality,

speaking to them through means that they can comprehend … All the great teachers ar

servants of God; among all nations and in all ages. They are inspired men, appointed to

instruct God’s children according to the conditions in the midst of which he finds them(Defense of the Faith and the Saints, 512-13)

#4 President Joseph F. Smith said, “Calvin, Luther, Melanchthon, and all re

formers, were inspired in thoughts, words, and actions to accomplish what

they did for the liberty, and advancement of the human race. They paved the

way for the more perfect gospel of truth to come.” ( Ensign, June 1979)

#5 President Gordon B. Hinckley invited those of other faiths to, “Bring all thegood you have with you, and let us add to it.”



Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon

by John W. Welch

(or the Book of Mormon does it again) New Era, February 1972

Instead of burying it deep in the academic journals, let’s put it out in the headlines— a new discovery has been mad

This particular discovery is not an archaeological one nor, strictly speaking, an historical one, but rather a unique tyof literary discovery that helps modern minds to understand the literature of the ancient Near East.

There has already been much discussion about this discovery in relation to the Bible, and now it is time that we con

sider it in relation to the Book of Mormon.

As a point of information, let me bring you up to date on what chiasmus is and when it was discovered in the Bible.now appears certain that the ancient Israelites not only had a unique message to give to the world, but they also had

unique way in which to write this message down. Chiasmus is one aspect of that way of writing, or, in other words,

one of the literary techniques present in the Bible, that has recently attracted the attention of erudite scholars.

Chiasmus was first noticed by a few nineteenth century pioneer theologians in Germany and England, but the idea h

to wait until the 1930s before it found an ardent exponent, Nils Lund, who was able to lay the principle before the

eyes of the world in a convincing way. But even at that, it was not until the decade of the 1960s, after much more habeen learned about the philology of early Semitic languages, that chiasmus was properly understood and unequivo-

cally acknowledged. Today, articles on the subject are quite common. What is it that has drawn this attention? To sethis for ourselves, we had best begin with an example of chiasmus, and a convenient one is to be found in Psalms 3

8, which reads (translating literally from the Hebrew):

7. Save me, O my God, for thou has smitten all my enemies on the cheek-bone;

8. The teeth of the wicked thou has broken; to Jehovah, the salvation.

What’s so odd about that? Well, a careful look at these verses reveals something that at first glance is not altogether

obvious: namely, that the words occur in a peculiar sequence. Everything gets said twice, and in the repetition every

thing gets said backwards, back to front, or in a reverse order. Consider what happens when we rewrite these verseby arranging them in the following way:

a Save me,

b O my God,

c for thou has smitten

d all my enemies

e on the cheekbone;

e The teeth

d of the wicked

c thou hast broken;

b to Jehovah,

a the salvation.

It now becomes quite clear to us that the repetition in these verses is not just a haphazard redundancy. It is an ordere

reversal of the original sequence of the psalmist’s thoughts.

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Scholars in fact find that many passages follow this same pattern of inverted repetition , and when they do they callthem chiastic. I think it would be fair to say that the discovery of this pattern, the discovery of chiasmus, had added

more insights into the nature of biblical literature than has any other single discovery of a comparable kind in mode

times.

Some chiasms are relatively straightforward, such as the example in Genesis 7:21-23 (translating literally from the

Hebrew):

a There died on the earth

b all birds,

c cattle,

d beasts and creeping things,

e man;

f all life

g died

g and was destroyed.

f Every living thing

e both man,

d creeping things,

c cattle,

b birds

a were destroyed from the earth.

Other chiasms, as we shall see, are much more complex.

It is also important for us to notice that chiasmus is not just a simple repetition; it also involves and intensification oan aspect of completion in the second half. Compare, for example, the more powerful ideas of Psalms 3:8 over 3:7:

strength of the teeth over the passive nature of the cheekbone; or getting broken vis-á-vis getting smitten; being

wicked instead of just being an enemy. Quite consistently, therefore, a shift can be seen to occur at the center of a c

asm so that the bigger, more powerful, or more intense ideas will appear in the second half of chiastic passages.

Chiasmus is not limited to short passages. It may also be used to give order, emphasis, and completeness to longer

passages, such as is the case in the 58th Psalm:

a Do ye indeed O gods speak righteousness? Do ye Judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? b Nay, in the heart ye work wickedness,Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth

c The wicked are estranged from the womb…

d Their poison is like the poison of a serpent…

e O God break their teeth in their mouth;

e the great teeth of the young lions break out O Jehovah.

d They shall melt away like waters, like a snail will melt as is goes along…

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c Abortions of a woman that have not beheld the sun…

b The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the

blood of the wicked.

a And men shall say, there is a reward for righteousness. Surely there is a God that judgeth the earth.

By comparing each emphasized word in the first half of this psalm with the corresponding emphasized word in thesecond half, you can see the interesting chiastic order and the contrasting intensifications that have been written into

this psalm. Chiasmus makes this poem harmonic, complete, and brilliant. No end is left untied. No thought is left un

balanced. And yet it flows freely and naturally from one point to the next and back again. To an ancient Israelite thi

was beautiful, this was metrical, this was inspirational.

A further phenomenon that we can see in the structure of the 58th Psalm is the importance of the chiastic turning

point . Notice how the short prayer at the center of this psalm is marked and spotlighted. The prayer is set in the cen

for the very purpose of showing how prayer to the Lord God can turn everything completely around. After the pray

the strength of the wicked melts away like the slime of a snail, while the requests of the righteous are granted.

Needless to say, the discovery of chiasmus has given us plenty to think about. It has led us to think about the nature

our sacred literature and to reevaluate the skill and deliberation with which it was written. By it many passages thatwere previously obscure have now become clear. Other places that once seemed disorganized have now regained th

original orderliness. Above all, we have learned once again that, if we are to judge the literature of another culture,

must not judge it according to our likes and dislikes. The fact that chiasmus was a unique and prevalent form of He

brew writing requires us to take it into account when we consider the literary accomplishments of ancient Israel.

Let us turn now to the Book of Mormon. What we would like to know is what the discovery of chiasmus should me

for us and our understanding of the Book of Mormon. Surely it would be spectacular if this long-forgotten aspect of

Hebrew literature were also to appear in the Book of Mormon. In a sense, we might even say that it ought to appear

the Book of Mormon, it being of Hebraic origins. Moreover, we have several specific reasons for expecting chiasmthere: for one thing, Nephi tells us that he is writing in the language of the Egyptians but “according to the learning

the Jews.” (1 Ne. 1:2) What could the phrase “learning of the Jews” better refer to , in this context, than to some particular Hebraic style of writing? And furthermore, with a little luck, the presence of chiasmus in the Book of Mormust might help to explain its repetitious, roundabout way of saying things, which has made it hard for many people

from Mark Twain on down to read and enjoy the Book of Mormon.

Thus, the presence of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon would reveal new ways in which the Book of Mormon is tr

to itself, true to its general cultural origins, and truly a remarkable piece of religious literature in its own right.

Opening the Book of Mormon itself, we find that it more than fulfills our expectations. It contains chiasms of all soand sizes. Some are long, some are short; some are poetical, some are practical; some are simple, some are elaborat

They all are artistic and meaningful. More often than not, the prophets of the Book of Mormon use chiasmus as a de

vice through which they can focus our attention upon the central idea of their message. This is done by placing the

central idea at the turning point of the chiasm. Significantly enough, the central idea of the majority of chiastic pas-sages in the Book of Mormon deals with the divinity of Jesus Christ and man’s direct relationship to him.

Consider first Mosiah 3:18-19:

..but men drink damnation to their own souls except

a they humble themselves

b and become as little children,

c and believe that salvation… is … in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord

Omnipotent3



d for the natural man

e is an enemy to God,

f and has been from the fall of Adam,

f and will be, forever and ever,

e unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,

d And puttteth off the natural man

c and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord,

b and becometh as a child,

a submissive, meek, humble … full of love …

The word order of this passage is undeniably chiastic. It is used here by King Benjamin to describe the turning arou

that occurs when one’s life is converted to God, when one puts off the natural man and grows from belief in Christ

sanctification through Christ.

Indeed we find that much of King Benjamin’s speech is built upon chiastic elements. Another easy-to-find chiasm i

at Mosiah 5:10-12. See if you can identify its six repeating elements! Clearly, the precise and intricate structure of t

great speech adds to it to make it a masterpiece of religious literature.

Key to Mosiah 5:10-12

a And now… whosoever shall not take upon him the name of Christ

b must becalled by some other name;

c therefore he findeth himself on the left hand of God.

d I would that ye should remember also, that this is the name…

e that never should be blotted out,

f except it be through transgression…

f therefore, take heed that ye do not transgress,

e that the name be not blotted out of your hearts…

d I would that ye should remember to retain the name…

c that ye are not found on the left hand of God,

b but that ye hear and know the voice by which ye shall be called,

a and also, the name by which he shall call you.

Another famous author of the Book of Mormon who creatively employed the principles of chiasmus to great advantage was Alma the Younger. It was Alma the Younger whose conversion to the Lord was so powerful and rich that

affected an entire generation at the time it happened and has since become one of the most inspirational stories re-

corded in the Book of Mormon.

Alma himself gives us two accounts of that miraculous conversion; the first is found in Mosiah 27:24-31. There we

read the words that he spoke extemporaneously immediately after he regained consciousness; they are not chiastic.4



The second account that Alma gives appears in Alma 36:1-30, at a time when Alma was an old man giving a blessinto his son Helaman. Alma had had a whole lifetime to reflect and collect his thoughts about that great turning point

his life. In harmony with the nature of that event, he chose to express his story in chiastic form. Just look at how it

turned out!

a My son, give ear to my words (1)

b Keep the commandments [and] ye shall prosper in the land (1)

c Captivity of our fathers — bondage (2)

d Surely God did deliver them (2)

e Trust in God (3)

f Support in trials, trouble, and afflictions (3)

g I know this not of myself but of God (4)

h Born of God (5)

i Seek no more to destroy the church of God (9)

j Fell to the earth (10)

k Limbs paralyzed (10)

l The agony of conversion: destroyed, torment, harrowed up, racked, the pains

hell, inexpressible horror, banished and extinct, the pains of a damned soul

m I remember … the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone fo

the sins of the world (11-16)

m I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me (17

l The joy of conversion: no more pain, what joy, marvelous light, exquisite,

nothing as sweet, singing and praising God, longing to be with God (19-22)

k limbs received their strength again (23)

j Stood upon my feet (23)

i Labored without ceasing to bring souls unto repentance (24)

h Many have been born of God (26)

g Knowledge is of God (26)

f Supported under trials and troubles, yea afflictions (27)

e Trust in him (27)

d He will still deliver me (27)

c Egypt — captivity (28-29)

b Keep the commandments and ye shall prosper in the land (30)

a This according to his word (30)

This is truly an amazing passage of scripture, both in its rich content and in its complex structure. Alma has skillful5



framed the story of his conversion with chiastic panels for the sole purpose of drawing our attention to the centralityof Jesus Christ in that conversion. Compared with any chiastic passage in Hebrew literature, Alma chapter 36 equal

or betters them all in terms of balance, rhythm, impact, and fluency in this artistic form.

Another passage in which Alma uses the chiastic form with unusual novelty and creativity is Alma 41:13-15. His tw

here is extremely clever and unequaled in Hebraic literature. See if you can follow him as he lists four pairs of term

and then pairs two lists of four terms and reverses their order at the same time! In all seriousness and in all respects

this is a great play on words.

Key to Alma 41:13-15

a My son … the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again

b evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish —

c¹ c² w¹ w² good for that which is good;

x¹ x² righteous for that which is righteous;

y¹ y² just for that which is just;

z¹ z² merciful for that which is

merciful

Therefore, my son, see that you are

c² z² merciful unto your brethr

y² deal justly,

x² judge righteously,

w² and do good continually; And if ye do all these things then shall ye re-

ceive your reward; yea,

c¹ z¹ ye shall have mercy restored unto

you again;

y¹ ye shall have justice restored unto you again;

x¹ ye shall have a righteous judgment restored unto you again;

w¹ and ye shall have good rewarded unto you again.

b For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored;

a therefore, the word restoration more fully condemneth the sinner, and justifieth him not at all

By far the most subtle use of chiasmus in any work is its role in creating the structural design behind longer passageand entire books. Consider briefly the outline of the First Book of Nephi and how the order of Nephi’s narration re-

volves around his vision of the Spirit of the Lord:

a Lehi’s dream leads him to prophesy warnings to the Jews (Ch 1)

b The departure from Jerusalem (Ch 2)

c Nephi accomplishes a great feat n obtaining the brass plates of 1 Ne. 3:7; the brothers are con

founded (1 Ne. 3-5)

d Ishmael joins the group with his daughters (Ch 7)6



e The tree of life (Ch 8)

f Lehi prophesies about the Old world and the coming of the Lamb (10)

g Nephi and the Spirit of the Lord (Ch 11)

f Nephi prophesies about the New World and the coming of the Lamb (C

12-14)

e The tree of life interpreted (Ch 15)d The sons of Lehi marry the daughters of Ishmael and Ishmael dies (Ch 16)

c Nephi accomplishes a great feat by building a ship of 1 Ne 17:3; the brothers are confounded

b The departure from the Old World (Ch 18)

a Nephi warns the Jews and quotes the prophecies of Isaiah (Ch 19-22)

More than ever before, we are now in a position to admire the purposeful and stunning unity of Nephi’s message. Tlong-neglected principle of chiasmus unfolds the fact that when Nephi revised the record of Lehi, Nephi’s mind wa

clearly organized and his heart was intent upon expressing the central importance of his great vision with the Spirit the Lord. He achieves this expression via chiasmus. By understanding this, we can point to the concerted power of

Nephi’s style, and we can get explicitly to the point of Nephi’s inspiration.

I suppose that the skeptics are going to argue against this analysis of First Nephi and claim that it is totally a contriv

and unnecessary way of explaining the text of First Nephi, for such is the standard argument against chiastic analys

of biblical passages. But in the case of the chiasms from the Book of Mormon, these objections can be tossed aside unconvincing, unsatisfactory, unimaginative, and unintelligent. Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon is both a necessa

and a natural way of explaining some things in the Book of Mormon that go unaccounted for otherwise.

Should we consider it contrived that Ishmael is mentioned only twice in the entire Book of Mormon and that these t

occurrences just happen to fall symmetrically around 1 Nephi 11? How else, except by chiasmus, can we explain th

postponed interpretation of the vision of the tree of life? One would expect the interpretation to follow immediatelyafter the dream, as most interpretative passages in the Book of Mormon do, and not several chapters later.

Are we to believe that the unruly brothers of Nephi really waited nine chapters to marry the daughters of Ishmael? A

we to neglect such specific parallels between the first half of Nephi and its second half — e.g. 3:7 and 17:3 — or

again the fact that Nephi is bound by cords once in chapter 5 and again in chapter 18? Or how are we to explain thefact that Nephi wrote two books (1 Nephi and 2 Nephi) instead of just running it all together into one, except by ref

ence to the individual structure of each book?

To answer any of these questions, chiasmus must be called into the discussion to explain the underlying structural o

ganization behind Nephi’s written record.

Fortunately, it is a perfectly natural thing to appeal to chiasmus in cases such as these. After all, if Lehi were the onwho was telling the story, he would have told it much differently. Would Lehi have spent so much time on the storyLaban and so little time on the vision that prompted him to get out of Jerusalem? Surely not. What we have in 1 Ne

is Nephi telling the story, and he does so in Nephi’s way of seeing things. Thus it is perfectly natural to find that

Nephi gives his autobiography a structure all its own, a structure that conveys by its very form a message of emphat

centrality and symmetrical contrasts about important events in Nephi’s life.

We would make similar comments about every chiastic passage in the Book of Mormon. Chiasmus is both a necess

and natural way of understanding Book of Mormon literature.

Time now for a few final evaluations of what we have learned about chiasmus in the Book of Mormon. In the first

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place, we have demonstrated the extensive existence of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon beyond any ossible doubtWe have no choice but to treat the Book of Mormon, especially its earliest sections, as chiastic literature that is cog

nate and congruent in its form with early Hebraic poesy.

Secondly, we may find that we want to put this knowledge to work in two ways: either as evidence for the truth of t

Book of Mormon or as a key to unlocking its deeper beauties and more profound meanings.

Taken as evidence of the Book of Mormon, chiasmus offers us a touchstone like we have rarely ever had before.

Scholars are saying things today like, “Where there is chiasmus, there is the influence of a Hebraic hand” And yetsuch a thing was totally unknown to Joseph Smith and universally unrecognized by the world until the present deca

While the Book of Mormon is richly chiastic, extensive structural chiasmus has yet to be found in any other literatu

in the world other than the Hebrew. Thus it seems that we are able to meet the demands of an exceptionally strong

conditional here: Chiasmus is in a literature if and only if its roots are Hebraic.

To cap it all, we can rule out the odd chance that Joseph Smith learned about chiasmus through scrutinously reading

the Bible on the simple grounds that the King James translation, which he used, obscures almost every chiastic form

tion possible. Either in an attempt to avoid redundant repetitions or to prevent awkward word orders, the King Jame

translators did a good job of leveling almost every chiasm in the Bible. Their “good style” was anathema to “good H

brew.”

But for spiritual enrichment, the greater use of chiasmus is to be found in the light that it shed upon the Book of Mo

mon itself. The religious wars of the 1970s will be fought against the specter of meaninglessness, and in this battle

chiasmus helps us to understand the rich meanings behind the messages of the prophets in the Book of Mormon. Chasmus helps us to appreciate the depths that are plumbed and the intricacies that are penetrated by the thoughts of m

like Nephi, King Benjamin, and Alma the Younger. It allows us to snatch up in a breath the subtle beauties of their

scintillating and inspired verse. Through chiasmus we come a giant step closer to the Spirit of and in the Book of M

mon.

But still, in this endeavor we only stand in front of an open door with plenty of room left ahead of us for learning anfeeling about the Book of Mormon. But from our present vantage point we can certainly feel justified, by many mut

ally self-reinforcing indications, in believing that we have here a viable door to enter, a profitable way to go, and a

rich meaning to pursue.

Some months ago, John announced in an academic journal the remarkable discovery that an ancient and highly spe

cialized Hebrew literary style could be found throughout the Book of Mormon. A world-famous, non-Mormon schol

called it the “most stunning information I’ve learned concerning the Book of Mormon.” John, presently a doctoral

student at England’s Oxford University, is a transplanted Californian via BYU.

Another excellent article by John W. Welch, Criteria for Identifying and Evaluating the Presence of

Chiasmus, 1995, can be found online at:

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=4&num=2&id=101

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LESSON OUTLINE

When I was in Jr. High School, I was taught how to write a basic essay properly. I’ll bet you were taught thesame way!

~How many paragraphs did your basic essay have to have? (5)~What was in the 1st paragraph? (Introduction)

~Near the end of that paragraph, usually was a _____? (topic sentence, or thesis statement, which outlinwhat you would be saying in the rest of your essay. For example, if I were writing about spaghetti, Imight say I’ll be discussing the noodles, the sauce and the cheese.)

~ So my next 3 paragraphs would be about? (noodles, sauce, and cheese)~And then the last paragraph is called? (concluding, where I summarize what I’ve said)

So this is a very recognizable way that we like to organize our thoughts on paper. It’s comfortable, and familiar

Did you know that ancient Hebrew writing has a very unique way of organizing its ideas?~ Who knows what it’s called? (chiasmus) ~And have they found chiasmus in any other writing throughout the world? (no)

Chiasmus was first noticed by a few 19th century German and British theologians, but it wasn’t until the 1930’sthat Nils Lund was able to expound on it in a convincing way. Even so, it wasn’t until the 1960’s that it was proerly understood and acknowledged as real.

Part of the difficulty lies in the King James translators. To the western way of thinking, chiasmus is vey repetitivand monotonous. So they pretty much translated it out! Do you remember how Mark Tain described the BookMormon? (“Chloroform in print”) Well, in the next few minutes I think you’ll see how beautiful and brilliant tancient Hebrew writing technique really is!

Discuss p. 2 of Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon, by John WelchThis is a very simple chiasmus. Often the focal point is a turning point, and the 2nd half contrasts with the first.According to John Welch, no more beautiful example can be found than that in Alma 36. Do you rememberwhat this chapter is about? (Alma the Younger is recounting his conversion story)

Discuss p. 5 Chiasmus can be used in 1 verse, 1 chapter, even a whole book. Have you ever wondered why there is a 1st and 2Nephi? Well, perhaps it’s because 1st Nephi is a chiasmus of Nephi’s autobiography!

Discuss pp. 6-7To me, the focal point, which John Welch interprets as “Nephi and the Spirit of the Lord” is actually Nephi’s cang as a prophet of God. Let’s read:

1Ne. 11:1-7

Let’s try out our new-found skill in identifying chiasmus, shall we?1 Ne. 13:16-19

a Gentiles/Powerb Battle

c Power of God with themc Power of God against enemies

b Battlea Gentiles/Power



Let’s go to Nephi’s vision now.~What time period does his vision cover? (1st coming to 2nd coming)~Was he able to record all of it? (no. See1 Ne., 14:25)~What were some of the events Nephi saw?

-Christ’s life (11:31-33)-Apostasy (11:34-35)-Battle between Lamanites & Nephites, 385 AD (12:19)

-Formation of a great and abominable church. (see 1 Ne. 13:4-5)~Is this a specific church? Is it even limited to a church in the literal sense of the word?

Quote #1 (Elder McConkie)Quote #2 (Guide to the Scriptures)

In verses 5-9, Nephi describes the motives of these apostate organizations:-Riches-Immorality-Worldly honor

~ How do we avoid the influences of the abominable church? (follow the prophet, Spirit)(Continuing with Nephi’s vision, what else did he see?)

-Christopher Columbus 1442 (13:12-13)- American settlers 1600’s (13:14-19)-Bible altered (13:24-29)

~How did Heavenly Father ensure that His words would be preserved to come forth in the Latter-days their purity? (Book of Mormon)

In Chapter 14 we learn the blessings promised to the faithful, and the cursings promised to all others. There aonly two forces in our world.

~What are they? (those loyal to Christ, and those opposed to Him)

Read 1 Ne.. 14:10~Does this mean that good and things of God are found only in his Church?Quotes # 3-5

~How do we withstand the influences of evil?Read 1 Ne.. 14:14

Bear testimony….

Documents

Lesson 4: "The Things Which I Saw While I Was Carried Away in the Spirit"