Alma 36 Chiasmus: Evidence for the Truth of the Book of Mormon

Dear Readers,

There are plenty pieces of evidence that suggest that the Book of Mormon is an authentic record, or at least an impressive work of literature. I'll write about one today.

Alma Chapter 36 is one giant chiasmus.

What's a chiasmus? It's a form of ancient poetry that is often found in the Bible. I'll write a chiasmus now.

The weather is staggering.
It makes me think of times past.
Human brains really are extraordinary.
I review my strong memories.
and the weather is astounding.

The poetic features of this poem isn't rhyme or onomatopoeia or anything, it's the structure. The first line is about the weather. The second line is about remembering. The third line is the peak of the poem. Then the poem starts heading back to where it began. The fourth line is again about remembering, and the final line is about the weather.

To put it more succinctly, the poem follows this pattern:

A
B
C
B
A

One of the great things about this poem is that, unlike other poetic devices such as rhyme, it survives the translation process. Well, most of the time it survives the translation process.

OK, now that we understand the structure of a chiasmus, let's look at some real live examples from the Bible, not just silly ones that I make up.

Copied and pasted from Wikipedia:

The ancient Hebrew and Greek texts of the Old and New Testaments are rich in chiasmus. Many of these have become lost in translation, but hundreds of others remain. The following examples are indented to show the parallel structure of the text.

A "But many that are first
B shall be last;
B¹ and the last
A¹ shall be first." Jesus (Bible: Matthew 19:30.)

A "Do not give what is holy to dogs,
B and do not throw your pearls before swine,
B¹ lest they (the pigs) trample them under their feet,
A¹ and (the dogs) turn and tear you to pieces." Jesus (Bible: Matthew 7:6.)

A "Make the heart of this people fat,
B and make their ears heavy,
C and shut their eyes;
C¹ lest they see with their eyes,
B¹ and hear with their ears,
A¹ and understand with their heart, and convert [return], and be healed." (Bible: Isaiah 6:10)

A "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
B to the house of the God of Jacob
C …and we will walk in his paths…
D And he shall judge among the nations…
E they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
E¹ and their spears into pruninghooks:
D¹ nation shall not lift up sword against nation…
B¹ O house of Jacob,
A¹ come ye,
C¹ and let us walk in the light of the Lord" (Bible: Isaiah 2:3-5)
(Note: in this example, C¹ does not fall where it is expected to fall; it follows A¹.)

A Remember
B Jesus Christ
C raised from the dead
D descended from David. This is my gospel
E for which I am suffering
F even to the point of being chained like a criminal
F¹ But God's word is not chained
E¹ Therefore I endure everything
D¹ for the sake of the elect, that they too
C¹ may obtain the salvation that is in
B¹ Christ Jesus
A¹ with eternal glory.
(Bible: 2 Timothy 2:8-10)

And then there’s a bigger chiasmus found in the Flood Story, in Genesis. That one is written about on this website.

Well, it turns out that the Book of Mormon, like the Bible, is chock-full of chiasmuses! And the biggest one is in Alma chapter 36. That one is written about in detail here.

What are the chances that this giant, elegant chiasmus happened by chance? Very slim. I would think that for this uncanny word arrangement to occur, the author had to do it intentionally. I don't think a giant chiasmus like Alma 36 could come out by happenstance.

So then, doubters of the Book of Mormon might say that Joseph Smith intentionally wrote Alma 36 that way. Doubters would also say that Joseph Smith intentionally put in all those other chiasmuses, too. But if he did, why did he never bring it up? Why did he never present it as evidence of his prophetic calling? Why did nobody in the church discover it until recently?

Alma 36 doesn't exactly prove the Book of Mormon true, but it pretty much proves the Book of Mormon true. That's what I think.

Sincerely,
Telemoonfa

P.S. I'm reminded yet again that the only real way to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon is reading it, searching it, pondering it, and praying about it as Moroni asks readers to do in Moroni 10: 3 - 5.