Ancient Hebrew writers often used a literary
form called chiasmus.
Amazingly, there are hundreds of chiasms in
the Book of Mormon.
Some have wondered if Joseph Smith could have
inserted them all himself
or if they were truly written by ancient Book of Mormon prophets,
who were trained in the literary style of their Hebrew ancestors.
Several factors point to Joseph Smith not
being the author of these many chiasms.
First, while chiasmus in the Bible was recognized
in at least six scholarly works
published in London before 1829, it appears that only
one book, published in Philadelphia in 1825,
identified and explained it in America.
This lengthy treatise devoted only a few obscure
pages to the subject.
Second, many of the chiasms within the Book
of Mormon are quite sophisticated,
and they often differ from what the early scholars
on the subject were saying.
Third, Joseph Smith never showed any awareness
of chiasmus during his lifetime.
If he merely made up the Book of Mormon, why
would he go to so much effort
to learn this complex literary form, use it in dozens of
instances,
and then never once hint at its presence or lead anyone to its discovery?
Fourth, Joseph orally dictated the entire
Book of Mormon to scribes without using any notes or references.
The fact that the Book of Mormon was translated
in this manner in approximately 74 days
makes it unlikely that he could have precisely implemented so many complex literary structures.
On the other hand, the presence of Chiasmus
can be easily accounted for
if the Book of Mormon was truly written by multiple ancient prophets trained in the Hebrew literary tradition.
And now you know why
