Exegesis or Eisegesis: Does Chiastic Analysis Help Us to Understand Leviticus 20?

Title

Exegesis or Eisegesis: Does Chiastic Analysis Help Us to Understand Leviticus 20?

Book Title

Chiasmus: The State of the Art

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Year of Publication

2020

Authors

Editors

Parry, Donald W. (Secondary), and Welch, John W. (Secondary)

Pagination

67–84

Publisher

BYU Studies/Book of Mormon Central

City

Provo, UT/Springville, UT

Terms of use

Items in the BMC Archive are made publicly available for non-commercial, private use. Inclusion within the BMC Archive does not imply endorsement. Items do not represent the official views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or of Book of Mormon Central.

Bibliographic Citation

Abstract

Jonathan Burnside, “Exegesis or Eisegesis: Does Chiastic Analysis Help Us to Understand Leviticus 20?” argues that a chiastic structure not only governs Lev 20 but reveals several complexities in the text. “In fact, Lev. 20 is characterized by a high degree of internal structure, even by the standards of biblical law.” The key to comprehending the chiastic structure of Lev 20 is to recognize the various penalties that are attached to proscribed acts, especially those of a sexual category. The penalties, introduced with various formulas, for example, “shall be put to death,” “shall be cut off,” plus others, are exacted by human agents (see vv. 2, 9–16, 27) or by God (see vv. 3–6, 17–21). The chiasm’s center in Lev 20 consists of verses 10–16, which sets forth six complex “binary oppositions,” such as adultery “outside family/inside family”; “heterosexual intercourse/ homosexual intercourse”; and prohibited sex “man initiates/woman initiates.” After explaining several purposes for the use of chiasmus in Lev 20, Burnside affirms that “all claims regarding the existence of chiasmus must overcome the charge that the argument is rather more a matter of eisegesis rather than exegesis.”

Table of Contents

Book

Chiasmus: The State of the Art
Parry, Donald W.

17 Chapters

Introduction
Parry, Donald W. | pp. 5–15
Chiasmus in the Book of Genesis
Rendsburg, Gary A. | pp. 17–34
Chiastic Structuring of the Genesis Flood Story: The Art of Using Chiasm as an Effective Compositional Tool for Combining Earlier Chiastic Narratives
Scott, Steven R. | pp. 35–65
Exegesis or Eisegesis: Does Chiastic Analysis Help Us to Understand Leviticus 20?
Burnside, Jonathan | pp. 67–84
At the Intersection of Scribal Training and Theological Profundity: Chiasm as an Editorial Technique in the Primeval History and Deuteronomy
Levinson, Bernard M. | pp. 85–16
Chiasmus in the Text of Isaiah: MT Isaiah versus the Great Isaiah Scroll
Parry, Donald W. | pp. 107–127
“With strong hand and with outstretched arm” (Deuteronomy 4:34); “With outstretched hand and with strong arm” (Jeremiah 21:5): Chiasmus in Deuteronomy and Jeremiah
Seely, David Rolph | pp. 129–150
Narrating Homicide Chiastically
Welch, John W. | pp. 151–176
Chiastic Structuring of Large Texts: 2 Nephi as a Case Study
Reynolds, Noel B. | pp. 177–192
Jesus and the Roman Centurion (Matthew 8:5–13): A Window to Chiasmus and Apostolic Pedagogy
Buckwalter, H. Douglas | pp. 193–205
Rethinking the Structure of the "Farewell Discourse" (John 13–17) through a Chiastic Lens
Brouwer, Wayne | pp. 193–205
From “Linguistic Turn” and Hebrews Scholarship to Anadiplosis Iterata: The Enigma of a Structure
Gelardini, Gabriella | pp. 231–256
Mirrored Poeticity: Chiastic Structuring in Mayan Languages
Hull, Kerry M. | pp. 257–288
Chiasmus Criteria in Review
Rappleye, Neal | pp. 289–309
Truth or Cherry Picking: A Statistical Approach to Chiastic Intentionality
Edwards, Boyd F. | pp. 311–317
The Roles of Words, Phrases, and Ideas in Macro-Chiasms
Ehat, Stephen Kent | pp. 319–342
Selected Bibliography on Chiasmus, 1980–2020
Rappleye, Neal | pp. 343–358
Chiasmus
Law of Moses

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