A Little Study of the 7 Thunders

But now that we know about some of the literary devices used in Scripture, we can, of course, study further. Especially if we want to understand more deeply. This is especially true when it comes to prophecy. They seem to be especially cloudy and mysterious.

Let's dig a little deeper.

As we learned, there are many "literary devices" that were used in the Scriptures. With our study of Revelation this becomes extremely important. So much of it appears symbolic and even strange. Learning some of the ways that book is organized will help us to see it more clearly.

There are multiple "literary devices" used and hopefully, since you are now looking for them, you will recognize these structures. Now, one of the most popular "literary devices" in Scripture is the Chiasmus. This is used quite a bit in Revelation. Chiasma (plural) are actually kind of simple, but very different from modern English writing styles.

We typically, in a story,

• start with introductions,
• then there's a conflict
• followed by its resolution,
• and finally there's the moral, the lesson, the main reason for that story.

A Chiasmus, on the other hand, kind of changes the whole order of things. But it does it in a way that helps to remember it. And remembering is an important part of the Scriptures.

So what is a Chiasmus? To keep this "Little Study" more or less little, I'll give a brief descriptions. But I would suggest looking up the definition and studying it in detail if you are interested.

A Chiasmus is like a pyramid with steps up and then steps down. More often than not the number of steps is odd, so that there is a single "top" step. Also the most common number of steps is seven. So three steps up, then the top, and then three steps down. Now what's special about these steps (and what helps us remember them) is that the each step up resembles or mirrors in some way the matching step down. And, the middle step tells us the moral, the lesson, the main reason for the chiasmus. All the parts are important, but the middle step stands out in some way.

Yeah, that's way different from the way we would normally read and interpret any story.

Here's a simple (okay, stupid) little example of a chiasmus (but it does go up and then down...):

1. Jill went up the hill
2. With Jack by her side full of pride
3. With an empty pail
4. To fetch some precious Water
5. They filled the pail
6. But Jack fell down and broke his crown
7. And Jill came tumbling after.

So, what's the moral of the story? We would assume it's about them falling down the hill since that's how it ends. But with the chiasmus, it's clear that "To fetch some precious Water" is the most important part. And we can see that steps 1 and 7 match talking about Jill. Steps 2 and 6 match talking about Jack. Steps 3 and 5 match talking about the pail. And that leaves step 4 with the moral about the precious Water.

Okay, I admit, that's kind of a stupid example. Hopefully I will rewrite this section...

But I hope it makes it clear how a chiasmus works and how to recognize them.

It's important to remember that the Scriptures used all sorts of different "literary devices" and sometimes it was just simple direct language. So you won't find chiasma in every part, and even some chiasma are not based on 7. The key is to be aware and open to poetic structures in Scripture - they can help to clarify what's important.

Fortunately for our study of Revelation, the Apostle John has really helped us out. He clearly numbers a lot of them. 7 Letters, 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets, 7 Vials, etc. Of course, it's actually the Lord that clearly numbered everything for us. The Revelation is from Jesus, John just shares it with us.