BIBLICAL BOOKENDS

Most people in reading the Bible do not pay much attention to the care taken by the authors (and divine Author) to utilize various literary techniques in order to emphasize certain points. One such technique that is ubiquitous in both the Old and New Testaments goes by the technical term of inclusio. An inclusio is formed by utilizing the same phrase, key word, or concept at both the beginning and end of a given passage. It can be used to encapsulate everything from the entire Bible, a whole book of the Bible, or a section within a book of the Bible. Here are a random few examples so that you will get the concept and be able to better recognize it when you run across this phenomenon in your reading.

Genesis 1-3 and Revelation 21-22

Beginning with the largest inclusio of all, let us consider the first two chapters of Genesis and the last two chapters of Revelation together. In doing so, one can see not only some similar themes and images, but also detect a purposeful reversal or further development of other themes. For example,

    Genesis describes the creation of heaven and earth while in Revelation it is the New Creation.

    The seas are restrained in their sphere in Genesis, but abolished entirely in Revelation.

    In both cases, mankind has unrestricted access to the very presence of God.

    Precious stones, including gold, are mentioned as being in one particular location in Genesis 2:11-12 while gold and jewels are so common in the New Jerusalem that it is used to pave the streets and build the buildings.

    There is a river flowing out of Eden as well as one flowing from the throne of God.

    Eating of the tree in the garden leads to death while the leaves of the tree in the New Jerusalem can be used for healing.

    Night is created in Genesis, but it has no place in the New Creation.

    The sun provides light in Genesis, but God himself is the light in Revelation.

And I am sure that there many more similarities and reversals one could find between these two passages that bookend the Bible.

Paul's Letters

Moving down to smaller literary units, we come to the individual books of the Bible. One prime example is found in most of the epistles of Paul. As you have no doubt realized, Paul's characteristic greeting to his audience at the start of his correspondences is “Grace and peace.” It has been pointed out that the Greek word for grace is quite similar to the one for “hail,” a typical Roman greeting. But the Greek word for “peace” is the equivalent of the Hebrew greeting of shalom. So Paul combines concepts from the two worlds in which he lives.

More pertinently to the subject is a famous observation made by a prominent theologian years ago and one which continues to be quoted by pastors today: “When Paul mentions grace and peace together, grace always comes first since the whole Christian life begins with it and peace follows later.” It turns out that whoever said that was only partially correct. At the beginning of his letters, Paul does list grace before peace, but when those two words appear at the end of a letter, which they often do, that order is reversed so that we have the inclusio: “grace and peace”............“peace and grace.” Thus, I would amend the quote to state instead that grace is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega, of our faith. I should note that in some cases, one may have to look a little in the text to find “peace” at the end of a letter since it is sometimes separated from “grace” a little. For example, I Thessalonians lists “peace” at 5:23 and “grace” at 5:28.

This reversed word order is typical of many such bookends in the Bible. The first such example is actually found in Genesis 1-2. The creation story begins with God creating “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1 and ends at 2:4 with the summary statement that God made “the earth and the heavens.” This is a literary tip-off to tell the reader that the creation story is over. I won't try to tackle the difficult problem of the rest of Genesis 2: Is it a recap of Genesis 1 or a second creation? But one thing should be clear, the present division between chapters 1 and 2 was put in the wrong place.

The next smaller examples of an inclusio are those which act as markers to indicate the demarcation points for passages within a book, such as the Genesis 1-2 illustration above. Sometimes these passages can consist of several chapters, while in other cases they may help to identify smaller literary units within a given chapter. First, I will describe a rather long unit.

The whole complicated story of David being on the run from King Saul begins in earnest in I Samuel 21 after Jonathan has informed him that his father is definitely after his life. In the following chapter, Saul has 85 priests of the LORD and their families killed because one of their number had aided in David's escape. The chase continues right up to Saul's ignoble death recounted in I Samuel 31. As a perfect pair of bookends for this extended passage in the Bible, one can see the following:

    A. Saul sits under a tamarisk tree. (I Sam. 22:6)

            B. He orders his guards to kill all the priests with the sword, but they refuse. (22:17)

                C. As an alternative, he has Doeg the Edomite carry out the killing. (22:18)

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            B. The wounded Saul orders his sword bearer to kill him, but he refuses. (21:4)

                 C'. As an alternative, Saul falls on his own sword and kills himself. (21:5)

    A'. Saul's body is buried under a tamarisk tree. (21:13)

The above similarities are no coincidence since the Hebrew word translated “tamarisk tree” only appears in these two places in the whole Old Testament. This pointed arrangement has the effect of reminding the reader that although God's judgment for man's evil acts appears to be delayed at times, it is nonetheless certain.

And the inclusio technique appears within the poetry sections as well. As an example, I opened my Bible at random and came to the extended poem Joel 1:1-2:29. It begins after an introductory verse in 1:2 with a double reference to “in your days” and “in the days of your ancestors.” This covers the present and past experiences of the nation of Israel, respectively. But then it ends in 2:29 with mention of “in those days,” referring to the distant future. And everything in between describes what will happen in the intervening time period.

As a final example, this time taken from the Gospels, Matthew's account begins with the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah. It is introduced by reference first to Jesus the Messiah, then David, and finally Abraham. And the genealogy section concludes in 1:17 with the same names given in the reverse, but chronologically correct, order of Abraham, David, and finally the Messiah. So one first looks back on the distinguished ancestry of Jesus which helps to prove his credentials as the Messiah (as in v. 1) and then views these names in the other direction, indicating that God's plan to bring a Savior began with the choosing of Abraham in the first place (v. 17).

At this point I will leave you with a homework assignment. Since I began this short essay with an example from I Thessalonians, I will conclude with that letter as a sort of inclusio for my thoughts. See if you can find any possible examples of inclusio within I Thess. 1-2 or an inclusio for chapter 5. Happy hunting!