Bifids & Chiasms (I thought I knew the Bible till I bumped into Ellis Skoefield’s writings) unless you understand this you will not understand the way the Book Revelation is structured! Part 1 FROM Rev 10:6-7 and the Last Trumpet of 1Corinthians 15:52 we learned that time as a natural phenomenon would cease to exist at the end of Revelation 11:15. As a result, we will then be in timeless eternity. Revelation 11:15 The Seventh Trumpet—Christ’s Reign Foreseen 15 Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” But if time itself ends at Rev 11:15, what do we do with the rest of the book? The beasts of Rev 13 and 17 are obviously about the Christian Era so Revelation has to be repetitive. But if it is, how can we recognize what chapters are parallel to what other chapters? Are these repeats organized in a systematic way that we can prove? The answer is hidden in Hebrew poetry. Hebrew poetry is parallel in nature. A Hebrew poet would say something one way and then repeat the same idea later on in different words. These repeats could be a sentence, a paragraph, or even several chapters long. So how can we identify repetitive prophecies when we see them? By recognizing the Hebrew poetic style in which it was written. The most elegant of the Old Testament poets was Isaiah. In his book we spot one poetic style very quickly. Isaiah is divided into two almost equal parts, and these two parts are repetitive. (ISAIAH 1-33 is parallel to ISAIAH 34-66) Liberal scholars see this division and claim that the last half of Isaiah was not written by Isaiah at all. Disregard well-known Hebrew poetic forms they invent a shadow author they call deuteo-Isaiah. There is no historic or textual basis for their contention, and Rabbinical scholars have always attributed the whole book of Isaiah to Isaiah alone. REPETITION IS A VERY IMPORTANT BIBLICAL CODE USED BY MANY AUTHORS IN THE BIBLE! 1. Isaiah 1 through 33 is parallel to Isaiah 34 through 66, not just in a general sense, but in actual content. The last half of Isaiah contains a different description of the same subjects that are covered in the first half. Textual scholars call this type of repetition the bifidic form. 1st Half of Isaiah 2nd Half of Isaiah CHAPTERS CONTENT CHAPTERS 1-5 Ruin and Restoration 34-35 6-8 Biographical Information 36-40 9-12 Blessings and Judgments 41-45 13-23 About Gentile Nations 46-48 24-27 Redemption and Deliverance 49-55 28-31 Ethics and Sermons 56-59 32-33 Restoration of Israel 60-66 This form is not unique to Isaiah. The apocalyptic books are also bifidic and in Daniel the bifid is inescapable. Daniel 2:4 through Daniel 7:28 is written in high Syriac. The rest of Daniel is written in Hebrew. So why the two languages? Well, God is addressing two different audiences. The first half of Daniel is to and about the Gentiles who will rule the Holy Land into the distant future, while the second half is to and about the future of the Jews during that same time. Both halves of Daniel are about events that will take place during the same time, so the book is bifidic. In the Syriac half of Daniel, the chapters themselves form another kind parallelism -- a poetic stepladder. The Hebrew half does, too. These aren.t more bifids but a different poetic style altogether. Once again Isaiah has a simple example of this unique poetic form: Isaiah 55:8 .For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.. If we were to get those thoughts across in present-day English, we might say something like: .Your ways and thoughts aren.t anything like my ways and thoughts.. But in Hebrew poetry it.s written: My, your = your, My for a little verbal stepladder like this: Psalm 68:15-16King James Version (KJV) 15 The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. 16 Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever. Psalm 68:15-16 A. The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan. B. an high hill as the hill of Bashan. B. Why leap ye, ye high hills? A. this is the hill which God desireth to dwell... That AB=BA stepladder is called a Chiasm,3 pronounced kee-ahzum. Chiasms appear throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. What an author declares in the steps going up, he repeats in the steps going down. So why are chiasms important? In the above two-step AB=BA chiasm, there were not four concepts. There were two concepts about the same subject, repeated in different words. You can also have 3 Step Chiasms. If Daniel and Revelation are chiasmic, the various visions will be repetitive and parallel in a systematic way. Daniel will contain repeated visions about the time of Gentile control of the Holy Land while Revelation will contain repeated visions about the Christian Era. With chiasms, we can prove . . . Which chapters are repeats of each other! STEPLADDER IN DANIEL In Dan 12:4, the Lord commanded Daniel to seal his book; then just five verses later, God states that the book was sealed (Dan 12:9). Now, Daniel was a godly man who did as he was commanded. He couldn’t change what the Lord had inspired him to write, but nevertheless Daniel somehow sealed his prophecies between the time those two verses were written. He couldn’t modify the content of the visions, nor change the historic incidents, so what did he do? Daniel scrambled his prophecies, putting them out of chronological order. This is easy enough to prove because Daniel’s chapters can be dated. Now, let.’ see what that shuffling accomplished. Look at the below graph. It shows the chapters in the order they appear in the Bible. The chapters with the (*) are the ones that are out of sequence. DANIEL’S 1ST CHIASM PROPHECY SUBJECT A. Chapter.2, The Great Image, 4 Gentile Nations B. Chapter.3, The Fiery Furn, God’s People in Tribulation C. Chapter.4, Nebuchadnezzar Insane, Gentile King Judged C * Chapter.5, Belshazzar Killed, Gentile King Judged B. * Chapter.6, The Lion’s Den, God’s People in Tribulation A. Chapter.7, The Four Beasts, 4 Gentile Nations Chapter.8 * . . . . . . . . Chapter.5 was actually written here Chapter.9 * . . . . . . . . Chapter.6 was actually written here Chapter.10 Chapter 5 was actually written after 8, and Chapter 6 was written after 9. Look at the subject column to the right. In the order the subjects now appear, a three step chiasm has been formed. Isn’t that remarkable? Both chapters.6 and 9 were written in the 1st year of Darius. The dating of chapter.9 before 6 can be determined by the formal introductory address Daniel used to tell us of the new king. In chapter.9 the correct introductory form is used, while it is omitted in chapter.6. Since Daniel was a master of court protocol, it is unlikely that he would have made a mistake here. The dating of chapter.5 after 8 is evident from within the text itself. As an aside, the Lord has not permitted the author to fathom what the book means when it is put back into its correct chronological order. However, I sense there is a message there for someone. If Daniel had not put his book out of order, that ABC=CBA chiasm would not have been formed. I’m not even sure he knew what he was doing, but God knew. Something as complex as a chiasm doesn’t happen by accident, it was deliberate, but what does it mean? Well, chiasms are repetitive, so it shows us that Daniel’s visions are repetitive. When we stand back and view the 1st chiasm in its entirety, its message appears to be: During the time of the Gentiles there will be four major empires and their descendants ruling the Holy Land. During that time, God’s people will suffer great persecution, but in the end, God will judge those nations that have made His land a desolation and taken His people captive. DANIEL.S 2ND CHIASM The 1st chiasm was primarily to and about Gentile nations, while the second is about the future of the Jews after the fall of the Babylonian Empire. The second chiasm is a AB=BA, and its central message appears to be: SUBJECT A. Chapter .8, 2 Gentile Powers B. Chapter.9:24-26, Messiah dies in the Time of the Gentiles B. Chapter.9:26-27, The Time of the Gentiles A. Chapter.10-12, 2 Gentile Powers After the Jews return from captivity, there will be two major empires, and their descendants, who will rule the Holy Land into the distant future. During that same time Messiah will come to earth and be killed. The temple will be desolated, but in the end, the destroyer will go to final judgment. Now that we understand the pattern, let’s go to Revelation. You will have to wait for post number 2 on Bifids & Chiasms and the Book of Revelation.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 17:17:18 +0000