I recently discovered a chiastic poem in the Book of Mormon that in my mind comes close to perfection. It may have been General Mormon’s favorite, and as an economist, it’s definitely mine. I explain why below.

Many of you are likely very familiar with chiasmus, the ancient form of poetry that Jack W. Welch, professor of law and religion at BYU, discovered in the Book of Mormon while on his mission to Germany in 1967.

His discovery of a hidden, or at least previously unknown, form of poetry in the Book of Mormon has increased my faith and testimony that the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God and I expect that it has done and could do the same for many non-specialist readers

For those who are new to this rhetorical structure, simply put, a chiasmus is a pattern of words or ideas stated once and then stated again but in reverse order.

The standard pattern of a centralized chiasmus is:

A

B

C (central theme or focal point)

B

A

Classic examples are found in the Bible: “Who sheds the blood of a man, by a man shall his blood be shed . . .  ” (Genesis 9:6); or “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath ” (Mark 2:27)

Most chiasms have a “climactic centrality,” that is, the structure of the poem points to a central theme in the middle. For instance, the Psalmist writes, “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the
snare is broken, and we are escaped.” (Psalms 124:7) Here the Psalmist is urging us (the soul) to escape the clutches of Satan, even as a bird escapes the snare of the fowler or the hunter (the central word).

Professor Welch, and subsequently many others, have found numerous examples of simple and complex chiastic poems in the Book of Mormon. Welch’s first discovery started with Mosiah 3:18-19, which he shows is in the exact center of King Benjamin’s Discourse. Welch tells his story here: The Discovery of Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon: Forty Years Later.

Many readers of the Book of Mormon find chapter 36 of Alma to be their favorite. The central figure in this compelling account of Alma’s conversion experience is Jesus Christ our Savior, placed clearly in the middle of the chapter (see verses 18-19). Welch famously calls this detailed and moving account a “masterpiece” of chiasmus.

A Libertarian Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon

As an economist, I’ve always been a big fan of Helaman 6, verses 7-13. Through a series of dramatic miracles in Helaman chapter 5, the wayward Lamanites hear the voice of the Lord, repent of their sins, and are converted. As a result, Mormon records that in the 64^th year of judges, there is peace, prosperity and liberty between both camps.

In seven short verses in Helaman 6, Mormon describes a time of peace, open borders, free trade, and incredible material success by all in this joint community of men and women.

Mormon is so impressed with this short period of righteous happiness that he presents it in the form of a chiastic poem, a real “gem,” as Jack Welch calls it, “one of the finest examples” in the Book of Mormon.

According to Welch, the chiasmus “is beautifully executed. Words, phrases, and ideas that appear in the first half are repeated with precision and balance in the second half.” He notes that “since the chiasm encompasses the entire report for the year, this unifying structure strongly suggests that the account was written as a single literary unit that Mormon copied verbatim from the Large Plates of Nephi into his abridgment.” Whether it was Helaman, son of Helaman, Mormon himself, or another scribe, who originally composed the chiasm, it is remarkable to see an annual report of an extraordinary year celebrated in poetry. The report documents a great change that occurred during the sixty‐fourth year involving prosperity, free travel, and peace between both the Nephites and Lamanites. For this reason, I call it the “free market” chiasmus.

The highlighted words show the pattern: peace, land, rich, gold and silver, land south, Lehi, land north, Mulek . . .  leading up to the key word LORD . . .  and then going in reverse, Mulek, land north, Lehi, land south, gold and silver, rich, land and peace!

Here’s the sequence, starting in verse 7 and ending in verse 13:

There was peace in all the land

They became exceedingly rich

They did have exceeding plenty of gold and silver

Now the land south was called Lehi

And the land north was called Mulek

For the LORD

Did bring Mulek in the land north

And Lehi into the land south.

And there was all manner of gold and silver

And thus they did become rich.

And they were exceedingly strong in the land . . .  in peace.

Another Amazing Discovery!

I did some more digging and made a potentially significant discovery. Being a bit of a numerologist, I noticed something peculiar about Helaman 6: 7-13. I noticed that the word “LORD” was approximately in the middle of the chiasmus, so I decided to see by how much. I counted the words in the chiasmus and discovered that there are exactly 145 words before “LORD” (the central theme in verse 10) and exactly 145 words after “LORD.” When I counted the words in Helaman 6:7-13 in Royal Skousen’s Book of Mormon, the Earliest Text, I came up with 146 words before LORD and 146 words after Lord.

So even in the original manuscript, did Mormon cleverly come up with the PERFECT chiasmus?

Coincidence or deliberate? You decide. While a translation can obviously diverge from the original number of words in a document, mathematicians point out that there is a high degree of chance that the number of words before and after a central word in a chiasmus will be close. In any case, counting the English words does show there is a balance in the chiasm and it is a fun exercise. The Book of Mormon is indeed a marvelous work and a wonder.