Psalm 105: Chiasmus, Credo, Covenant, and Temple

Abstract: Stephen Ricks looks at the literary structure of a psalm, reintroducing us to chiasmus both in modern and ancient texts, including the Book of Mormon, then uses this literary structure to show how the psalm contains the basic historic credo of the Israelites, as seen in Deuteronomy and mirrored in 1 Nephi 17. Ricks then goes on to show how an essential part of the psalm is a covenant (“a binding agreement between man and God, with sanctions in the event of the violation of the agreement”), which ties it back to the temple. Ricks shows this by pointing out the points of covenant: (1) Preamble, (2) review of God’s relations with Israel, (3) terms of the covenant, (4) formal witnesses, (5) blessings and curses, and (6) reciting the covenant and depositing the text. This form is maintained in Exodus 19, 20, 23, and 24, and in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 1-6. Psalm 105 follows this form, too. In the sacrament prayers, which in Mormon’s understanding are covenants, points 1 to 5 are also present.