Chiasmus in the book of joel

To celebrate this 50th anniversary, throughout july and august book of mormon central will publish one knowhy each week that discusses chiasmus and its significance and value to understanding the bible, the book of mormon, and other ancient literatures. The overriding theme of the book of joel is the day of the lord, a day of gods wrath and judgment. Watch our overview video on the book of joel, which breaks down the literary design of the book and its flow of thought. The book of joel presents difficult historical, critical and interpretative problems. Top literary structures of the bible book of joel pericope literary structure chiasm, chiasmus of book of joel chiastic structure and concentric structure and parallel of each pericope 1lamentation over the ruin of the country joel 1. The discovery of chiasmus in the book of mormon is one of the most significant scholarly contributions to understanding and appreciating the nephite record. Since the middle of the 20th century, scholars have greatly emphasized the unity of the. This paper presentation is an update from previous paper presentation the expansion of the historical schema of deuteronomists in the book of joel.

Chiasmus excerpt narrative criticism of the new testament. Interpretation and structure in joel asbury theological seminary. The book of joel mentions four types of locusts that would destroy the agriculture of israel. This repetition emphasizes important ideas and words, in addition.

The book relates nothing about joel except his name and that of his father. This structure serves to enhance the poetic beauty. Perhaps welch could have strengthened his premise by demonstrating that the parallel members in the book of mormon. Key words, alliteration and refrains hint at its effective oral communication. This chiastic structure emerged from his studies of the book. Examples of chiasmus can be found in the book of mormon. Chiasmus or or chiasmus as it may also be pronounced is named after chi, the ancient greek word for the letter x. A summary, synopsis or recap is a shortened version of the original.

Romans chiastic structure biblical chiasm exchange. An example of this structure is idea a and idea b, followed by idea b and idea a. After a superscription ascribing the prophecy to joel son of pethuel, the book may be broken down into the. The jewish canon lumps all together as the twelve and divides joel into four chapters. It is written like a lengthy poem, with the use of imagery, parallelism, repetition and colonlike sentences. A chiasmus also referred to as a chiasm is a literary device in which ideas are presented and then subsequently repeated or inverted in a symmetrical mirrorlike structure. Definitions and examples of chiastic structure in the bible by joel ryan and more articles about bible and wiki on. Such simple examples of chiasmus are well known in english speech. Several european publications in the 1700s and 1800s discussed the symmetric arrangement of scripture, the most notable being john jebb and thomas boys. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the.

A chiastic outline of the book of revelation was proposed by nils wilhelm lund, in 1942. After attending a lecture in which the presence of a compositional feature called chiasmus in matthew was mentioned as an example of its hebraic style, welch began looking for chiasmus while he was reading the book of mormon in german. Welch discovered the presence of chiasmus on august 16, 1967 while on his mission in germany, and since that time, chiasmus has served as a profound witness for the beauty and complexity of the book of mormon. From tony robinson the chiastic structure of the book of romans bce. Most modern students of the bible believe the locusts were real insects that destroyed the crops, leaving the people hungry. The result is a mirror effect as the ideas are reflected back in a passage.

A chiasm also called a chiasmus is a literary device in which a sequence of ideas is presented and then repeated in reverse order. Book of joel, second of 12 old testament books that bear the names of the minor prophets. But when an injured woman turns up at her door, things start to change. Journal of translation and textlinguistics, occasional papers in translation and textlinguistics 24 1988. Joel is referred to only once in the new testament acts 2. Chiasmus in the scriptures biblical chiasm exchange. Book of mormon commentary alma 36 page 2 of 12 chiasmus sometimes called an inverted parallelism, is a hebrew literary form where words or ideas are arranged in a certain order and then repeated in reverse order.

Chiasmus refers to a sequence of elements of a sentence or verse, paragraph, chapter or even book which are then repeated and developed but in reverse. This was pointed out to me through correspondence with joel wingo, a teacher at calvary chapel bible college murietta who has been teaching job for a number of years now. The book of joel opens with the telling of an impending locust swarm and its consequences. In chiastic pattern joel brings the eschatological judgment on all the nations 4. The structure of joel evangelical theological society. A chiasm otherwise known as chiasmus is a literary device that presents a series of ideas, and then repeats them in opposite order. Joel reflects on the day of the lord and how true repentance will bring about the great restoration hoped for in the other prophetic books. This was pointed out to me through correspondence with joel wingo, a teacher.

All of this points to a date of approximately 835 bc or soon after, making joel one of the earliest writing prophets, as well as a contemporary of the prophet elisha. Communicating effectively, powerfully, and persuasively is importantand chiasmus accomplishes those things in a few ways. On the chiastic structure of revelation creation concept. The book of joel accounts for justice over evil in a form thats unique to the other old testament prophets. However, this little book is like an atom bombit is not very big, but it sure is potent and powerful. The term indicates the short length of the text in relation to longer prophetic texts known as the major prophets. This year marks 50 years since the discovery of chiasmus in the book of mormon on august 16, 1967. God compares the past to the future in the book of joel.

Chiasmus can breck, the shape of biblical language, 28. What is the book of joel about and how does it apply to us today. Faq top literary structure of the bible book of joel 1 literary structure chiasmus, chiasm of book of joel chiasmus and concentric structure of whole text. The book of joel is part of the jewish tanakh, and also the old testament of the christian bible. The book of joel also makes ample mention of priests, temple rituals, and nations, such as phoenicia, philistia, egypt, and edom, that were prominent in the late ninth century bc. The basis for the early date stems from joel s parallel themes with the prophets isaiah, ezekiel, zechariah and amos. Background of chiasms adapted from joshuas spiritual warfare. Unlike the other books, joel tells us a story about a terrible plague of locusts that seems to.

This is the day in which god reveals his attributes of wrath, power and holiness, and it is a terrifying day to his enemies. Du rand, j a plot and point of view in the gospel of john. In order to assess the significance of chiasmus in the book of mormon, we examined all of the chiasms in the book that have been proposed by welch and parry and have calculated l for those involving at least five chiastic elements satisfying rule 2. Pdf understanding the structure of the book of joel in. Published metrical sequences and climax in the poetry of joel. Faith is a recent college graduate, returned to her home town. Scholarly estimates of the period of joel have ranged from the ninth century b. The term indicates the short length of the text in relation to longer prophetic texts known as the major prophets content. One very intriguing possibility is the idea of the book itself being a chiasm. By the millions ravenous locusts will swoop over israel, gorging themselves on every plant in sight. Essays by south african new testament scholars presented to bru. The structure of the book of joel lena lee kerux 7. Book of joel overview insight for living ministries.

In the first chapter, the day of the lord is experienced historically by the plague of locusts upon the land. How did biblical and ancient near eastern authors use. Literary structure chiasm, chiasmus of book of joel. Indeed, the presence of chiasmus in the book of mormon may be evidence of joseph smiths own literary style and genius. The compositional strategy, structure, and peak of the book hebrews are heavily debated. This is my second time reading this verse and it just sticks out so much to me. Book of mormonevidenceshebraismschiasmus fairmormon. Parashat beshalach op sabbat shirah radio israel on chiasmus in the scriptures subscribe to blog via email enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. It is hard to pinpoint when the book of joel was recorded. Literary structure chiasmus, chiasm of book of joel. Although commonly used in poetry, music lyrics, and childrens literature, chiasmus is also seen throughout the bible to clarify and emphasize key ideas or themes. Several theories are based on the books of amos or isaiah quoting the book of joel, which would suggest the book of joel was written before the book of amos or the book of isaiah.

Chiasm was used as a literary device in the ancient world, in babylonia, israel, greece, and rome. Joel describes them destroying wheat and barley crops, stripping trees down to their bark, ruining grape vines so no wine offerings could be made to the lord. The book of joel presents the student of the ot with difficult historical. Blieses analysis on the metrical sequences and climax found within the book. Chiasmus in the book of mormon book of mormon central. Allen for doing a similar thing in defense of chiastic structures allen had. The book of joel is part of the hebrew bible, one of twelve prophetic books known as the twelve minor prophets. The book of joel predicts a great locust plague that will devastate the land of judah, a plague that will be a harbinger of an even more dreadful day of yahweh that judah will face if it does nor repent. Some believe it was written as early as 850 bce and others believe it was written after the exile as late as the 5 th century bce. The books overall arrangement, comprising a sevenpart modified chiasmus, is similar to that of several other prophetic books. They claim that such findings support claims of hebrew origins in the text on the basis that.

Chiasmus in pauline writings the significance of the. If this was the only sort of chiasmus to be found in the book of mormon, then it would be weak evidence, at best, of any sort of ancient origin for the text. Chiastic structure and concentric structure and parallel of each pericope. Joel summary we have detailed a brief summary of the book of joel for bible study or sunday school lessons. Chiastic structure in the book of joel discuss the truth. Joseph smith building auditorium brigham young university provo, ut 84604 the wednesday evening chiasmus jubilee will feature guest speakers, musical numbers, and special presentations on chiasmus in the book of mormon. Literary structure chiasm, chiasmus of each pericopes of book of joel. In a south african perspective on the new testament. The book of jonah is a remarkable story perhaps best known for the stubbornness of a prophet, the great fish that swallows and then regurgitates jonah, the conversion of the whole city of nineveh, and the rapid growth and death of a gourd. In august 1967, fifty years ago this month, john welch was a young latterday saint on his mission in germany. Discovering and exploring reverse parallelism in the bible. The greek septuagint lxx, and latin vulgate versions follow the hebrew masoretic text, titling this book after joel the prophet, the recipient of the message from god 1. Biblical chiasmus discovering and exploring reverse parallelism. Select one of the links above to view examples of chiasmus in various books of the book of mormon.