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Home»Articles»Examining the Chiastic Structure of the Word of Wisdom
Articles February 2, 20158 Mins Read

Examining the Chiastic Structure of the Word of Wisdom

Back when I was studying the Word of Wisdom in-depth, I became aware of potential patterns in the text. I began to wonder if D&C 89 was structured in a chiastic form. I printed out a copy and began marking it up.

To my delight, I began to find certain themes repeating themselves in opposite directions off of a central theme. As I analyzed the structure, I decided to try to boil it down to certain themes or principles and I found 3 that appear to be represented strongly in the text: temporal salvation, spiritual blessings, and stewardship over creation.

Theme & Color Key

Temporal Salvation
Health, strength, wellness, energy

Spiritual Blessings
Revelation, clarity, blessings for obedience

Stewardship Over Creation
Respect for life, proper use, peace.
Flesh ordained for use when there is a legitimate need.


Potential Chiastic Structure

The following structure attempts to illustrate parallels with color codes in an attempt to see a bit of the structure based on the three core principles that I am focusing on in the text. It appears that the chiasm centers on the principle of stewardship over creation while building on physical and spiritual blessings. This was quite unexpected and has some interesting implications.

I’m only indenting part of this chiasm because of the limited horizontal space on my blog.

>>>>>>>

A) benefit

-B) the council of high priests, assembled in Kirtland, and the church, and also the saints in Zion

–C) God

—D) salvation

—-E) promise

—–F) weak…weakest

——G) revelation

——-H) strong drink

——–I) sacraments

———J) grape of the vine

———-K) is not good for man

———–L) to be used with judgment and skill

————M) not for the body or belly

————-N) all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

————–O) herb in the season thereof

—————P) fruit in the season thereof

—————-Q) thanksgiving.

—————–R) Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man

—————-Q) thanksgiving

—————P) they are to be used sparingly

————–O) they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.

————-N) All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts

————M) for man…for the beasts…the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals

———–L) for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.

———-K) is good for the food of man

———J) fruit of the vine

——–I) wheat for man

——-H) mild drinks

——G) great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

—–F) weary…faint

—-E) promise

—D) destroying

–C) angel

-B) the children of Israel

A) slay

Alternate Chiastic Structure

This alternate chiastic structure was proposed by D. Lynn Johnson in his paper Hidden Treasures in the Word of Wisdom which you can download here. I don’t agree with some of his commentary in the full document regarding certain verses being nullified by refrigeration (I’ll leave that for you to decide) but I find the way that he structured the verses below very interesting.

>>>>>>>

A Word of Wisdom, for the benefit of the council of high priests, assembled in Kirtland, and the church, and also the saints in Zion– to be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom,

A1) showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days–

A2) Given for a principle with promise,

B1) adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints.

B2) Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation– That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments before him. And, behold, this should be wine, yea, pure wine of the grape of the vine, of your own make. And, again, strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies. And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill. And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.

C) And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man– Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.

D1) Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly; and it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used,

D2) only in times of

D3) winter, or of cold, or famine.

E) All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life,

D1 not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth; and these hath God made for the use of man

D2 only in times of

D3 famine and excess of hunger.

C All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground– nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain.

B1 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings,

B2 walking in obedience to the commandments,

A1 shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; and shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; and shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

A2 And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.


Thematic analysis

The following thematic analysis attempts to focus on the themes as they appear in the context of the entire revelation and all the verses.

>>>>>>>

1 A Word of Wisdom, for the benefit of the council of high priests, assembled in Kirtland, and the church, and also the saints in Zion—
 
2 To be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom, showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days—

3 Given for a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints.

4 Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation—

5 That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments before him.

6 And, behold, this should be wine, yea, pure wine of the grape of the vine, of your own make.

7 And, again, strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies.
 
8 And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill.
 
9 And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.

10 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.

12 Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;
 
13 And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.

14 All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth;
 
15 And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.

16 All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—

17 Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain.

18 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;

19 And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

20 And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.
 
21 And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.


Questions

So what does this all mean? What other patterns are there that we can discover? Why do some revelations and sermons follow this kind of structure, it is a coincidence, or is there something about the inspiration that ‘completes the circle’ when it comes to ideas?

Chiasmus Doctrine & Covenants Word of Wisdom
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Steve Reed

I created oneClimbs as a place to organize my thoughts and share my observations with anyone who might find the information useful. Though I may speak passionately or convincingly in some of this content, PLEASE don't simply take my word alone on anything. Always seek the truth of all things through study and prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.

6 Comments

  1. Terry Hermansen on April 2, 2022 7:45 am

    Good work! Discovering the chiasmus in the word of wisdom helped me to go vegetarian. Now I’m vegan and I can run and not be weary so… I feel like I’m on the right track.

    Thanks!

    Reply
  2. Richard J. Nobbe III on February 3, 2015 6:25 am

    Yeah….so you seem to have a lot of time on your hands! (That’s not a rebuke – I’m just insanely jealous!)

    Reply
    • oneclimbs on February 3, 2015 8:17 am

      Hahaha, not so fast there, Rick, I started working on this back in 2013. I have a whole library of things I find here and there and every now and then I take a few minutes, search through old things I find interesting at the time and add to them. When I find something that is pretty close to being ready to publish I do a little more work on it and share it here. It’s like the old saying about eating an elephant, it’s one bite at a time ;-)

      Reply
      • Richard J. Nobbe III on February 3, 2015 9:49 am

        ; ) I thought you were just taking dictation.

        Reply
    • oneclimbs on February 3, 2015 8:34 am

      I collect quotes, essays, articles, thoughts, impressions, etc and put them all in Evernote. One of my notebooks is called “Spiritual” and there are over 200 notes in there covering various topics. I also have seven full notebooks of spiritual impressions, revelation and general light and truth that I’ve collected.

      As of today, oneClimbs has over 300 published posts, 4 scheduled and 62 drafts. I collect things until I find something of value, then it becomes a draft here on the blog. Some drafts go back to 2012, they aren’t finished yet, more information needs to be collected. When a draft is finished, I schedule it to publish in a few days. Often I’ll finish off several drafts at once and then set them to publish across several weeks. So while it appears that I’m posting every few days a lot of what you see is actually automated, the blog is publishing on it’s own, I just keep the hopper full.

      So that’s how the sausage is made, it’s a long, ongoing process, like a big garden where everything is growing and some things mature and bear fruit faster than others. I’m in no rush, there is no end goal to work toward so I might as well savor deeply what I have at the moment.

      Reply
      • Richard J. Nobbe III on February 3, 2015 9:50 am

        Just make sure you eat that sausage sparingly.

        Reply
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