Chiasms are everywhere in the Bible, yet “chiasm” is a word I had never heard before the age of 40. What’s up with Bible teachers? So, if you’re like I was, and totally unaware of these cool things, a chiasm is an occurrence of literary symmetry. Not only are these the way the entire Bible is constructed, you’ll always find them working at multiple levels. And they are not merely cool: they show us the shape of the work of God.¹For an introduction to chiasms in the Bible, see Reading the Bible in 3D.

Here’s the chiastic structure of Genesis 46-50 according to my friend Eric Greene. It makes me think that there are six similar structures which precede it. How would Genesis then be chiastic? Well, it begins and ends with a young man who is put in charge of the food, doesn’t it? Thus, part of the significance of Joseph is his submission to God, his faithfulness as a better Adam who humbled himself and was exalted that he might be a blessing to all nations. The “multiple levels” thingy should be dawning on you right about now. The Bible is amazing.

You might also notice that the structure of this journey of Jacob (Israel the man) is a microcosm of Israel the nation’s journey from Canaan to Egypt and back again. Moreoever, we can see the subject matter of the first seven books of the Bible recapitulated (or pre-capitulated) as deep structure:

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The Falling Architecture of Luke 12:49 – 13:35

An online friend noticed that the tower of Siloam in Luke 13:4 killed eighteen people, and only a few paragraphs later, in 13:11, the bent-over woman had been disabled for eighteen years. Is this a coincidence? Not likely.

I think this repeated number is a clue to the literary structure of this part of Luke’s gospel. If we see a “double witness” like this, very often the identical points are indicators that we are near the centre of a symmetrical arrangement. If we see two flags on the beach, the lifeguard should be somewhere in the middle.

Tracing the subject matter both backwards and forwards from this centre seems to give the following outline, which is as grand as it is profound. It begins with a five-fold Covenant and ends with a seven-fold Creation. The Covenant scroll is opened by the worthy Lamb. The middle points all seem to be “three-level” houses, like the primeval world, the ark of Noah, the Tabernacle and the Temples. Eighteen is 6+6+6, that is, a triune failure in Garden (Adam), Land (Cain) and World (Sons of God). At Passover we have allusions to the sins of Adam and Cain, and at Atonement the Great Flood. The instances of eighteen appear at the Bronze Altar (earth) and at the Incense Altar (heaven), with Israel as the mediator between them as the light of the Lampstand obscured by unfaithfulness, or, in Old Testament terms, harlotry.

SABBATH – Rest disturbed
No Peace on the Land – De-Creation/Ark

PASSOVER – End of the Old Creation
Not Peace But Division – Division/Veil
3 – World (family divided – Noah and family)
2 – Land (harvest times – Cain and Abel)
1 – Garden (theft and the accuser – Adam)

FIRSTFRUITS – Bloodied House
Repent or Perish – Ascension/Altar+Table
Pilate’s human sacrifices (un-Altar)
6+6+6 men slain by falling tower (un-ascension)
Adam dies for all three domains.

PENTECOST – Hearts Revealed
The Barren Fig Tree – Testing/Lampstand
3 years – Pentecost to Holocaust – Spirit

TRUMPETS – Resurrected House
The Upright Woman – Maturity/Incense Altar
6+6+6 woman in bondage – Eve rises and enters into rest

ATONEMENT – Days of Noah – Beginning of the New Creation
High Priest and Mediating Animals
1 – The Mustard Seed in the Garden (Adam shelters Eve: Priest)
2 – The Leaven in the Land (Eve brings forth righteous sons: Priest and King)
3 – The Narrow Door (Righteous sons safe behind the door: Priest, King and Prophet)

BOOTHS – INGATHERING – Rest Removed
The lament over Jerusalem – the Tabernacle destroyed

This last stanza seems to work through the Ten Words. Also, the reference to Herod as a fox might be because the Idumeans (Edomites) were descendants of Esau. He was thus red, hairy, unclean, and a conniving predator.

AERIAL VIEW

If that’s all too much, here’s how this passage represents the entire story of Christ and the Church in the first century:

Breathtaking! It would be interesting to see where this structure fits in the shape of the entire Gospel.

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[1] This Herod is the Tetrarch under whom John the Baptist was martyred.
[2] The placement of the falling tower ties this passage to the tower of Babel, a false “ascension” to the heavens, and thus to the Herodian “Babylon” of the Revelation.
[3] See the chapter on the sacrificial meaning of “binding and loosing” in God’s Kitchen.

“It takes on form like clay under a seal…” (Job 38:14)

Read The Secret before you read this post.

Typology is the science of recognizing the shape of one thing stamped upon, into, something else. In itself, this is not an exact science by any means, and is prone to abuse. Thankfully, the Bible doesn’t simply give us isolated “indentations”; it gives them to us in sequences. Sequences of ideas, like sequences of musical notes, are exact, even if our identification of them is not yet as refined as we would like.

[This post has been refined and included in Sweet Counsel: Essays to Brighten the Eyes.]

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Holistic Impression

On the shape of biblical language, John Breck writes:

How are we to read the Bible?

The question invites a reply that expresses an attitude: we should read it with respect, with devotion, with curiosity, perhaps even with awe. Certainly these are appropriate responses. Our concern in this present study, however, is not with attitudes but with the approach we use.

Should we read Scripture the same way we read a newspaper? Or a novel? Or a poem? Or is there some other approach by which we can sound the depths of the biblical message, to perceive what the Church’s spiritual elders called its “theandric” quality, its inner nature as a work of both human intention and divine inspiration?

To answer this question, we will concentrate on another which is still more basic: what is the “shape” of biblical language? Given the fact that the meaning of a literary text is expressed by semantic and syntactic relationships — that is, by the “form” of the passage — we want to ask about the specific principles of composition that biblical writers drew upon in order to convey their message. That inquiry defines the purpose of this book. For once we understand those principles, then we will be able to read the Scriptures appropriately. We will read them as they were intended to be read (and heard) by the biblical authors themselves, rather than through the lens of our own arbitrary presuppositions.

The author of a novel usually adopts the traditional narrative or story form of expression: providing a setting, introducing characters, developing the plot, working toward a climax, and ending with a conclusion that draws the elements of the story together into a coherent whole. The movement of narrative or story telling is basically horizontal or chronological, proceeding in a line from past to future. “Flashbacks” may add interest and detail to the story, but they still conform to the thematic development from beginning to end, from first word to last. We are so accustomed to this pattern that any deviation from it tends to confuse us. Poetry, both metric and free, is the despair of many people today, primarily because they have never acquired a sense for reading a poem as something other than narrative. Yet a good poem expresses meaning not so much through linear development of theme as through what we might call “holistic impression.” It speaks in thought-images that focus from a variety of perspectives upon the specific aspect of reality and experience the poet seeks to evoke. Every phrase, every line, every strophe is structured so as to impress a particular comprehensive truth upon the mind and the heart of the reader. In addition, poetry possesses a “self-referential” quality which enables each word or phrase to illumine every other. However much it may “tell a story,” its basic movement is concentric rather than linear, flowing from and about, as well as toward, its central theme. Like the petals of a flower, the language of a poem unfolds from, yet leads the eye back to, its vital core.

Prose and poetry can express their message in a variety of ways. While any meaningful passage conforms to some degree to the laws of narrative, the ultimate sense of an author’s work is not necessarily expressed by its conclusion. A “whodunit,” of course, must adhere to the linear principle of narrative flow, in order to preserve suspense until the end. Other more noble forms of literature, on the other hand, often convey their meaning as a poem does, by repeatedly reflecting the author’s primary theme with a variety of images and nuances. As we shall discover, it is also true of much of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, whether they were composed as poetic pieces (psalms, hymns, prophetic oracles) or as narratives (most of the Pentateuch, Gospels, and Epistles).

Excerpt from “New Directions in Biblical Criticism,” chapter one of John Breck, The Shape of Biblical Language, Chiasmus in the Scriptures and Beyond. Available from www.biblicalhorizons.com

Bible Mind Map

“A mind map is a diagram used to visually outline information. A mind map is often created around a single word or text, placed in the center, to which associated ideas, words and concepts are added. Major categories radiate from a central node, and lesser categories are sub-branches of larger branches. Categories can represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items related to a central key word or idea.” (Wikipedia)

The Bible is constructed organically. (See Tree and Forest.) Its complete shape was in the mind of God when the first word was spoken as a seed. As one traces the trunk, branches and twigs (or arteries, veins and capillaries) one develops a mental map of the entire body of Scripture. I believe the identification of these structures solves many theological debates. Intelligent people throw proof texts at one another without any regard to literary structure. But literary structure is what identifies the context of those very texts.

Since I can remember, I have always “seen” music as I listened to it. Apparently, this is called synaesthesia. Different sounds have different shapes and colours. As I’ve studied the Bible, without doing it deliberately I have developed a “mind map” that helps me find my way around. I can see how one “fractal” shape fits within another, which is why I often state weird things on here and expect everybody to see them as obviously as I do. It’s why I follow Augustine’s breakdown of the Ten Commandments rather than the one we are familiar with. I’ve had to modify a few things, but only in minor ways. I tried to describe its “shape and sound” for somebody recently. It was a lot of fun:

Every part of the Bible has an external shape and an internal movement. I see it in 3D. It resembles a whole lot of ziggurats, or cogwheels, or millwheels, or floating staircases, of different sizes inside a big one, and they all fit together like they are alive and grew that way, and they are all slowly rotating, each one carrying you through its cycle to the next, cycles within cycles — like a musical scale being played at different speeds and in different registers all at once. And each step in each cycle is a different material and has a different character, smell and musical pitch, but they are always in the same order. And all the events and types attached to each step (Creation day, Feast, natural material — gold, wood, bronze, blood, ivory, silver, perfume, water, light — movement up or down or through or over or under or into or out-of, opening and closing, silences, sounds and people) are struggling to describe that step, and growing out of it. But they all relate, and they are all the outworking of the shape of the Trinity and the mission of the Son for the Bride. And revolving together they sound like all music ever, playing at once but in perfect harmony. I can’t hear the music, I can only see it, but it’s deafening. Escher would have died trying to draw it. From a distance it’s a roughly globe-shaped cloud of metallic stars, or fiery knives or military shields, a nebula of carefully networked images arranged in waves, and the possible thought-connections between its parts are overwhelming, infinite. And though they are all the same shape, each piece reflects every other piece in a unique way. And it’s moving. It’s a vehicle. But when I’m reading the Bible, I know whereabouts I am inside it because it’s more fleshy, natural, and flattened out, linear, with the step patterns as a sort of 3D holographic map. But it’s still a map of visual progressions. If I discover a new connection when comparing similar structures I feel like Someone’s been there before and deliberately arranged it.

ART: Still from Allures (1961), 16mm film by Jordan Belson. Read about it here.

God Has You Covered

Parsing Psalms means consulting the Hebrew for the word order. This one was quite difficult, once again because English translations mess with things, and also because the Hebrew author likes to play with the matrix structures to make a point. I find I have to redo sections and keep shaking it up until it all falls into place. Is this sentence part of the previous stanza or the beginning of a new one? Or does this stanza have one line that gets expanded into its own pattern to make a point?

The good thing is that once it shakes out, there are some beautiful surprises. One of the gems in this Psalm is the sentence concerning the sun and the moon. In English it is simply two lines (a parallelism), but in Hebrew it is chiastic. Wonderful.

PSALM 121

SABBATH – Creation
Song of Ascents. (Creation/Initiation – Ark)
…..I lift up my eyes (Division/Hierarchy – Veil)
……….to the mountains— (Ascension – Altar)
……………From whence comes my help? (Testing)
……….My help comes (Maturity)
…..from the Lord, (Conquest/Oath)
Who made heaven and earth. (Glorification/Shekinah)

The structure of the first stanza seems to focus on the Creation as a Tabernacle. The author might be away from the tent but he is never away from God. He’s just in a bigger tent.

PASSOVER – Division
He will not allow
…..to be moved your foot;
……….He shall not slumber who keeps you
……………Behold, (Lampstand – eyes opened)
……….He shall neither slumber nor sleep
…..Who keeps Israel
The Lord is your keeper;

Once we perceive that this second stanza has a “Passover” theme, the subject matter makes more sense. The mention of the “foot” at the Exodus step is ironic. It is interesting that “slumber” appears at both Altar steps (Adamic protection at the Bronze Altar and Evian resurrection at the Incense Altar). Israel as Prince Adam is at Day 6 and God is the shelter of Booths on Day 7.

FIRSTFRUITS – Ascension
The Lord (Creation)
…..is your shade (Division)
……….and your right hand. (Ascension)

This stanza has only three lines. The song is an “ascent” and the Ascension stanza finishes at Ascension (step 3). The Lord begins the stanza as “Transcendent” source, the shade is the veil of delegation (the Passover night) and the “right hand man” is the Ascended Isaac/Joseph/Daniel/Christ who is worthy to open the Covenant scroll.

PENTECOST - Testing
By day, (Transcendence)
…..the sun (Hierarchy – Bridegroom)
……….Nor shall smite (Ethics)
…..the moon (Oath – Bride)
by night. (Succession)

Now, I did wonder if this was an expanded “Testing” line for the previous stanza, but that would mess up the rest of the Psalm. Notice the movement from day to night, from waking to rest; the chiastic matching of sun and moon as Covenant head and body (Law given as Light, Law received as reflected Light), and the smiting of the Law as the Covenant Ethics, fire from heaven, at the centre. The apostles are not consumed but enlightened.

TRUMPETS – Maturity
The Lord (Transcendence)
…..shall protect [you] (Hierarchy)
……….from all evil; (Ethics)
…..He shall keep (Sanctions/Oath)
your life. (Succession)

This is the “bridal” stanza, the resurrection body. “Protect and keep” harken back to Adam’s ministry. Notice that “life” appears at Succession. This is the same structure that undergirds the book of Revelation – with the dragon and the woman at the very centre. The seven churches are the new Hierarchy and the martyred saints have the oath, the testimony, of Jesus.

ATONEMENT – Conquest
The Lord
…..will guard
……….your going [out]

BOOTHS/INGATHERING – Glorification
……….your coming [in]
…..for this [time],
for evermore.

This one I’m not sure what to do with. It looks like a single stanza with the centre missing (a common practice) but then the author might also be saying that God has the saint covered at Atonement (the Day of Coverings) and also at the Feast of Ingathering. The last six lines would then be the “Jewish” ministry and the “Gentile” guests, the “there and back again” of all Christian mission. The two feasts are linked in that Israel tastes death at Atonement, then serves the wine to the world at Booths. It is Communion (restricted table) and the Love Feast (unrestricted tables), the Head and the Body.

Finally, notice that every stanza concerns “covering.” This is the second of the “Psalms of Ascent” so it may be relevant to the order of this group of songs as a unit.

From a recent facebook post by Rick Capezza (reproduced with his permission):

I’m trying to figure out the structure of the miracles of the two daughters in Mark. I looked in a half dozen commentaries for structures, but found nothing. I have yet to try a hierarchical structure, but I took a quick shot at a chiasm using Eric [Pyle]‘s KAYAK tool. [1]

I don’t ever do this, and I don’t think the chiastic structure works all that well. But since y’all are structure pros, I thought I’d see what you all have come up with. My structure doesn’t highlight some of the key aspects of the text (physicians/Jesus, life/death, faith, table fellowship, touch) and no one else I’ve seen has developed any chiasm (or any structure) on the passage, so I am inclined to say that the structure isn’t there. But again I could just be sorely missing the divisions.The current center makes little sense to me, but I got pretty stuck in the middle 5 verses. I’d love some feedback and/or some alternative structures.

The Two Daughters
Mark 5:21-42

Some comments from me (FWIW):

It’s Jesus with His burning Lampstand eyes who is bang smack in the middle, watching over Israel. Rick commented that this explains the repeated use of the word “daughter.” Jesus is looking for the true bride amongst a harlotrous nation. In the blood, there are shades of Ezekiel 16.

The flow of the structure is bloody, too. The passage begins with Jairus’ daughter, but salvation has to come first to the Jew.

Concerning the Jew, the structure works from the silent, bloody Tabernacle of Moses (death) to the singing, Jew-Gentile Tabernacle of David (i.e. the woman only speaks after she is healed).

I reckon both halves follow the matrix, plus the entire passage does as well (the atonement of the Jew brings life to the Gentile world). A line-by-line analysis would also be interesting.

With the Lampstand at the centre, the Tabernacle structure has the disciples unknowingly playing the “Herodian” accusers, putting Jesus on the Altar. He takes their curses and only gives blessing (sort of like Balaam!).

The “ascension” [nearbringing] of the Firstfruits Lamb causes the flow of Israel’s blood to stop. As Elisha, he heals the miscarriages of the Herodian Jericho. But then, he must also set the bears on the children of the other woman, Jezebel.

But Rick’s chiasm shows the mirrored events in detail. It’s amazing how all this is going on at once. Beautiful.

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[1] Yes, you guessed right: Xiasm software!

Psalm 33

If you feel spiritually barren, that is a good thing. It is because you are, and because God has shown it to you. However, a barren heart cannot praise God. So often we rock up to church with empty hearts and attempt to feel “worshipful.” Well, we are commanded to worship, but must we draw water from dry wells?

The spiritual can only follow the death of the natural. I think it was George Mueller who said that reading the Bible beforehand helped him to pray. Every act by the saints, including the “Acts” of the Apostles, is in fact a response to the Word and an act of the Spirit. Attempting to whip up the crowd into a fleshly frenzy is flogging a dead horse. We all need to hear and meditate on the Word first, then our praise will be the most natural thing in the world. The song of the Bride is always a response to the Word of the Bridegroom. [1]

Psalm 33 is the first psalm to mention musical instruments for praise. It begins with a command to praise and reasons to fear God (forming) but continues with reasons to praise God (filling), because if we fear Him, we have nothing else to fear.

A first glance at the Psalm shows the matrix order of its general subject matter. We have:

Praise

…..Righteousness / Waters

…..…..Counsel of the Lord

…..…..…..God’s eyes

…..…..Armies

…..Deliverance for the Faithful

Hope for the Future [2]

After defining the basic thematic structure, it’s a matter of observing the flow of each of these seven sections. The authors seem to use repeated key words to make “Covenant pattern” allusions. This strategy really shines in the Psalms.

What is really interesting is the way that each line has to have a double reference. For instance, line 5 of stanza one has to be a combination of Maturity within a “house” of Creation. My favourite example of this is when Isaiah needs a “Pentecost” within a “Trumpets.” What does he do? He refers to the battle of Midian, a military reference with flaming torches. How smart is that?

Praise:
Initiation – Word – Light – Day 1. Cycles often begin with a command or someone speaking. It focusses on the Lord (Transcendence)

TRANSCENDENCE (Sabbath)
Rejoice in the LORD,
…..O you righteous!
……….[For] praise from the upright is beautiful.
……………Praise the LORD with the harp;
……….Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
…..Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.

Notice the “upright” at Ascension and “ten strings” at Maturity. At Conquest/Atonement, there is a new song. The Day of Coverings made everything new. This corresponds with the angels in Revelation 5 and the redeemed Jews in Revelation 14.

“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation…”

Righteousness / Waters:
This is a combination of the chosen Hierarchy and the waters of Day 2. The Lord also gathered the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan into heaps, but it goes back to the “waters above” being “kept in store” for Noah’s day of wrath.

In the structure of the Psalm, it’s the opening of the Red Sea. But within the stanza itself, it is the opening of the Veil for the people of God on the Day of Atonement, followed by their ministry to the nations. This is played out in history as the dividing and plundering/gathering of the Gentiles into the house of God as a crystal city at the feast of Booths.

HIERARCHY (Passover)
For the word of the LORD [is] right,
…..And all His work [is done] in truth.
……….He loves righteousness and justice;
……….The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
……………By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
……….And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
…..He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap;
He lays up the deep in storehouses.

The next three steps are the Ethics of the Covenant. I’d expect to find symbols relating to 1) The Law given 2) the Law opened 3) the Law received

Counsel of the Lord: the Lord speaks. The Land rises up on Day 3. Notice the double hit on Ascension for Altar and Table (Land and Firstfruits) and also the mention of generations at Succession (Glorification). As the Ascension stanza, we have a reference to “standing” at Ascension (the Covenant Head) and also at Conquest, where the now-vindicated Mediator stands qualified before God with His bride.

ETHICS 1 (Firstfruits)
Let all the Land fear the LORD;
…..Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
……….For He spoke, and it was [done;]
……….He commanded, and it stood fast.
……………The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
……….He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
…..The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.

God’s eyes: the Lord sees and considers.
He watches over men as the Lampstand.

ETHICS 2 (Pentecost)
Blessed [is] the nation whose God [is] the LORD,
…..The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.
……….The LORD looks from heaven;
……………He sees all the sons of men.
……….From the place of His dwelling He looks
……….On all the inhabitants of the Land;
…..He fashions their hearts individually;
He considers all their works.

The “hearts” are those of the men who face God as Mediators, the Land of Israel.

Armies: Here, trust in military strength is an ungodly replacement for the Law.

ETHICS 3 (Trumpets)
No king [is] saved
…..by the multitude of an army;
……….A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
…..A horse [is] a vain hope for safety;
Neither shall it deliver [any] by its great strength.

Notice that line 5 of stanza 1 had a military allusion (fives and tens are military numbers). So the rest of the Psalm is actually a “germination” of the seed of stanza 1.

It is interesting that this stanza and those following only seem to have five lines. These are the “Bridal” stanzas, and they are Covenant scrolls that are yet unopened, un-”filled.” This is a song of an Israel which fears God and is waiting on Him for resurrection.

Deliverance for the Faithful: The theme here is Mediation, Mercy, and the Day of Atonement. There is usually a reference to blood. Here it seems to be deliverance from famine, which Jordan observes was a judgment from God for the shedding of innocent blood. This is the Covenant Sanctions.

SANCTIONS (Atonement)
Behold, the eye of the LORD
…..[is] on those who fear Him,
……….On those who hope in His mercy,
…..To deliver their soul from death,
And to keep them alive in famine.

Hope for the Future:
Succession is the “future orientation” of the faithful.

SUCCESSION (Glorification)
Our soul waits for the LORD;
…..He [is] our help and our shield.
……….For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
…..Because we have trusted in His holy name.
Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You.

This final stanza moves from the Covenant Head, the Lord, to the Covenant Body, the people. Israel has plenty to praise God for, but the architecture of the Psalm contains another subtle message: Israel was to be a clean house awaiting the Shekinah. She had not yet been filled, but she had the promises of God, and they were enough of a reason to praise Him.

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[1] In the Lord’s service, Praise appears at Ascension, but this follows the Confession and Absolution at Division. So we certainly have something to sing about.

[2] This analysis resulted from a discussion which included John Barach questioning why I arranged these verses in a “chiastic” pattern when there are no obvious “mirror matches” in the layouts. That is a very good question! The answer is that the underlying matrix structures are chiastic.

This is not an exact science, but it is far more exact than the analysis of any other poetry I’m aware of. The authors have an existing chiastic trellis and the vines they come up with to grow on it are amazing. The vines aren’t necessarily chiastic, but laying the text out like this is a simple way of identifying what is going on for those familiar with the pattern.

ART: Firmament by Estelle Carraz-Bernabei

My friend Pastor Albert Garlando has internalized the matrix. He spotted one without even looking for it.

“Found a dominion/chiasm pattern all by myself… Best part was, wasn’t actually looking for one until I started to think about my [sermon] outline.”

I’ve modified the central points slightly, but here’s the one he found in Galatians 5:16-26:

A. Creation – v.16
(command to be Light)

…..B. Division – v.17
…..(firstborn, flesh vs. Spirit)

……….C. Ascension – v.18
……….(the Spirit replaces the Law of Moses)

……………D. Testing – vv. 19-21
……………(harlotry in wilderness: works of the flesh)

……….C’. Maturity – vv.22-23
……….(fruits of the Spirit – the Law of Christ)

…..B’. Conquest – v.24
…..(the flesh crucified – Atonement)

A’. Glorification – v.25
(Shekinah-people)

Albert observes:

“I got all school-kid excited like you know, huh, when you lay it out like this you can see how the crucifixion/atonement is the solution to the war between Spirit and the flesh. Plus the pivot point being a Covenant issue of whether you are in or out of the kingdom determines whether you go on to maturity/fruitful-faithfulness etc. It’s a great tool!”

Psalm 11 seems a simple one to break down. As usual, once the structure is parsed, the author’s allusions are allowed to shine. The odd progression of the subject matter of the song suddenly makes sense. Now, remember we are dealing with poetry. All those silly rules you learnt at Bible college don’t apply. But all those good rules you learnt in English class do apply. The context is the Covenant, and Covenant breakers, and all the allusions are drawn from the history of the Covenant so far. It all takes place inside the tent of God and the Land of God, because that is where judgment begins.

Genesis – Creation – Day 1 – Sabbath
In the LORD (Transcendence)
…..I put my trust; (Hierarchy)
……….How can you say to my soul, (Ethics)
…..“Flee as a bird (Sanctions)
to your mountain”? (Continuity)

Five lines is an unopened Covenant scroll. The allusion is to the book of Genesis, God’s mountain and the Spirit-Word returning with the author’s soul to the sanctuary, i.e. not void. The mountain is at Tabernacles. In Adam’s Testing cycle, he was at last exiled from this mountain.

Exodus – Division – Day 2 – Passover
For look! (Word)
…..The wicked (Bad hierarchy)
……….bend their bow, (Covenant rainbow)
……………They make ready their arrow (death at foot of the mountain)
………. on the string, (Warrior bride)
…..That they may shoot secretly (from behind the Firmament/Veil)
at the upright in heart. (God’s true Man is the mountain)

Leviticus – Ascension – Day 3 – Firstfruits
If the foundations (Source)
…..are destroyed, (by Delegated Sons of God; Pass-over)
……….What can the righteous do? (Ethics)
…..The LORD is in (Sanctions – blessings/curses; pass-through)
His holy temple, (Tabernacles – on the mount)

Usually, the pattern at Ascension is heaven above, Land below, under the Land, the three level Temple. But this reversal does ascend. The order is failed Government, helpless Sacrament, but everlasting Word. The tent down here might be destroyed, but the real house of God stands firm.

Numbers – Testing – Day 4 – Pentecost (rulers above, rulers below)
The LORD’s throne (Transcendence)
…..is in heaven; (Hierarchy)
……….His eyes behold, (Ethics)
…..His eyelids test (Sanctions)
the sons of men. (Continuity)

Again, we have a closed scroll, which is odd for Day 4, which usually has seven lights. The seven lights here are the seven flaming eyes of God, the Lampstand. But the seven-fold pattern is inherent in it anyway. Sanctions corresponds to Atonement, the Day of Coverings, so the author refers to eyelids. How brilliant is that. It means God “winks at” the sins of the righteous (first goat: blessing), but he doesn’t overlook the sins of the wicked (second goat, second death – cursing). And then for the Continuity step we have “the sons of men.” It all makes sense with The Covenant Key.

Deuteronomy – Maturity – Day 5 – Trumpets
The LORD
…..tests
……….the righteous,
……………But the wicked
……….and the one
…..who loves violence
His soul hates.

The Law is repeated. “Second Law”

Joshua – Conquest – Day 6 – Atonement
Upon the wicked
…..He will rain coals;
……….Fire and brimstone
……………and a burning wind
……….Shall be the portion
…..of their cup.

Well, this one really ought to blow you away. In the beginning, or “at the head” (which is how the Bible begins) we have the heads of the wicked. They are a false “Ark,” lawless men.

The waters above at step 2 are coals, which is also the “Exodus” step of this stanza. Also, remember that coals from the Altar were taken to set fire to cities that were entirely under the ban, “devoted” to God. This is an allusion to Jericho.

Fire and brimstone, at step 3 (Day 3), concern the four-cornered Altar-Land, which has broken the Covnenant and become a spiritual Sodom. Instead of fragrant smoke there is a stench in God’s nostrils as she burns.

The burning wind is, of course, at the centre, where the Spirit always is. He is the holy fire that incinerates the rulers who refused to rule over sin (Day 4 – Testing).

The portion mirrors the Land in the chiasm. Quite often we will see the Land at step 3 and those ON the Land (the “swarms/tribes/hosts” of God) at step 5. The first is the bronze altar and the second the golden altar (incense). In Joshua, the Land was divided into portions.

Now, and this is the serious part, the Conquest of the seven-fold pattern corresponds to the Sanctions of the five-fold pattern. The cup is the cup of blessing or cursing for the Bride of God (a la Numbers 5). In the Covenant pattern, this is where Israel swears to keep God’s commandments. They take the oath, the “Amen.” But when God comes a-calling for the Adam/High Priest, the cup tests him. He is made to eat (or in this case drink) his words. This is the point at which Herodian Israel is forced to drink the cup in the Revelation, which follows exactly the same pattern as Psalm 11.

Finally, notice that this stanza is a 666. The Sabbath rest is missing (as it is in Revelation 13). For calf-worshippers, who are made to to drink the calf, there is no Covenant continuity, no glorification. Instead of being metal men like Jesus, their gold eats them up from the inside, and they are slain with the Levitical sword.

Judges – Glorification – Day 7 – Tabernacles
For the LORD
…..is righteous,
……….He loves
……………righteousness;
……….His countenance
…..beholds
the upright.

The Day of the Lord is the Day of Adam as a wise judge. The pattern is completed in God’s Man, the 7.

(I think it’s pretty funny that the best way to find chiasms in Scripture is using the Return Key.)

or Raising Up the Temple

An analysis of the literary structure of Day 5 of Creation and passages that are apparently parallel.
Here are links to Days 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Day 5 contains some surprises. It mirrors Day 3 in the chiasm:

1
…..2
……….3
……………4
……….5
…..6
7

and yet Day 5 fills the space created on Day 2:

Forming the spaces
1
…..2
……….3

Filling the spaces
4
…..5
……….6

Stanza 1

As with Day 3, it contains 2 stanzas (or cycles). What is really surprising is that I can only get this first stanza to fit the Creation pattern if I run it BACKWARDS. Sure, the water of 2 and 6 is still mirrored, and the Lord is at 1 and 7, but 3 and 5 are very different.

Then God said, (Day of the Lord)
…..“Let the waters abound (Laver – Mediators)
……….with an abundance
……….of living creatures, (Incense – Swarms/Clouds)
……………and let birds fly (Lampstand – Heavenly Rulers)
……….above the [Land] (Altar – Land above Gentile Sea)
……….across the face (Table of Facebread – Grain and Fruit)*
…..of the firmament (Veil – Firmament)
of the heavens.” (Ark – In the beginning)

*Notice that the Altar and Land are a self-contained unit, and so their order is not swapped, even though the whole process runs backwards. The plants still follow the ascension of the Land as glorified Adamic soil.

Now, the Creation pattern only runs backwards when God is deconstructing the world (or its microcosmic tent or Temple). But we are in the brief time before sin entered through Adam. What is going on here?

If you look carefully, you can see that the stanza works its way up from the deep, through the fish, out of the water to the birds, up to the sky and then into heaven. Day 5 is Step 5, and Step 5 is the resurrection of the body. It seems that the Author is communicating resurrection as both creating something new, and also a turning back of time.

Step 3 is the Ascension of the Covenant Head to receive the two stone witnesses of the Law. Step 5 is those stone Laws written on two tablets of flesh, the Covenant Body as Two Witnesses. The Law is written on resurrected hearts, and unlike the silent Head (silent as a Lamb), they speak and sing. It is the difference between Sinai and Deuteronomy.

This step is also military; it is ten plagues, or two witnesses marching 5 abreast. It is ten backward steps of the scorching sun of Day 4 on the stairway of Ahaz as a witness to the promise of healing:

(2 Kings 2:8-11)

(Creation – Day 1)
Hezekiah had asked Isaiah,

…..(Division – Day 2)**
…..“What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me

……….(Ascension – Day 3)
……….and that I will go up to the temple of the LORD
……….on the third day from now?”

……………(Testing – Day 4 – Pentecost – Law opened)
……………Isaiah answered,
………………..“This is the LORD’s sign
…………………….to you
………………..that the LORD will do
……………what he has promised:

……….(Maturity – Day 5 – Two Witnesses)
……….Shall the shadow go forward ten steps,
……….or shall it go back ten steps?”

…..(Conquest – Day 6 – Day of Coverings, open Veil
…..Man divides morning and evening at Atonement)
…..“It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,”
…..said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”

(Glorification – Day 7 – Rest and Shelter)
Then the prophet Isaiah
…..called upon the LORD,
……….and the LORD
……………made the shadow (death defeated)
……….go back the ten steps (Day 5)
…..it had gone down
on the stairway of Ahaz.

**Division is Sanctification, a setting apart of God’s man.

Stanza 2

So God created great sea creatures (Genesis)***
…..and every living thing that moves, (Exodus)
……….(Land rulers and Sea rulers divided – Leviticus)
……….with which the waters abounded,
………. according to their kind,
……….and every winged bird
………. according to its kind.
………………..(Numbers – Judgment of Body)
………………..And God saw that [it was] good.
……………(Deuteronomy – Blessings/Curses upon Body)
……………And God blessed them, saying,
……………“Be fruitful and multiply,
…..(Joshua – a new body of Jew and Gentile)
…..and fill the waters in the seas,
…..and let birds multiply on the [Land].”
(Judges – rulers in the Land)
So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

***Only three created things are described as wonderful: the heavens and earth, the great sea creatures, and Man. Here, the sea creatures are “at the head” of the stanza as wonderful.

I can only surmise that Day 5 has two stanzas because the first forms the “Bridal” Covenant Body and the second fills it, which is exactly what we see in Ezekiel 37, just before the Conquest of Haman and Persia in Ezekiel 38 and 39. So Day 5 is a microcosm of the entire week as a whole, and also in its two parts. Wheels within wheels indeed.

Throughout the Bible, there are good swarms and bad swarms, good armies and bad armies, fragrant smoke and sulphur, at “Day 5.” One is the offspring of the Incense Altar, and the other is the offspring of the Altar of the Abyss. In Revelation, the Judaizers are described as this offspring, a smoke from the abyss that turns into locusts that devour. But what does Jesus do later in the book for the martyred Firstfruits church? He turns back time for the faithful, the “two witnesses” church which is also an army from the east (literally, from the Sunrise). In fact, for all those who died at the hands of Cainites under the Old Covenant, Jesus restored the years that the locust had eaten. He brought about The End of Shadows.