Tag Archives: 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 20:15-18

JLB  This may seem like a strange centre but I think the point is that they still had to go to the battle, and trust that the LORD would help them.

F. (14) Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation; (15) And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem,

E. and thou king Jehoshaphat,

D. Thus saith the LORD unto you,

C. Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude;

B. for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

A.(16) To morrow go ye down against them:behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.

B’.(17) Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem:

C’. fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them:

D’. for the LORD will be with you.

E’.(18) And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground:

F’. and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.

2 Chronicles 9:1-12

(Note – The parallel record in 1 Kings 10:1-13 contains minor differences in language, but the overall structure follows the same chiastic pattern shown here.)

A  (1a)  And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions

B  (1b)  at Jerusalem,

C  (1c)  with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones:

D  (1d-2)  and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not.

E  (3a)  And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon,

F  (3b-4)  and the house that he had built, And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.

G  (5a)  And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts,

H  (5b)  and of thy wisdom:

I  (6a)  Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it:

H’  (6b)  and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me:

G’  (6c)  for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.

F’  (7a)  Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee,

E’  (7b)  and hear thy wisdom.

D’  (8)  Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.

C’  (9-10)  And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon. And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones.

B’  (11)  And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the king’s palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.

A’  (12)  And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants.

B and B’ can easily be ignored if they’re considered tenuous – B can be incorporated into A and B’ into C’.

D and D’ contain no direct verbal or conceptual links, but D’ is clearly the Queen of Sheba’s response to what she had witnessed in D.