Keywords
Book of Mormon, Enos, chiastic structure, divine communications
Abstract
The book of Enos is considered to be a short, one-chapter treatise on prayer, yet it is more. Close examination of its text reveals it to be a text structurally centered on Christ and the divine covenant. Enos seeks and obtains from Him a covenant to preserve the records of the Nephites for the salvation of the Lamanites. Enos prays not only for his own remission of sins but also for the salvation both of his own people, the Nephites, and also of the Lamanites. He yearns in faith that the Lord will preserve the records of his people for the benefit of the Lamanites. This article outlines a possible overall chiastic structure of vv. 3–27 as well as a centrally situated smaller chiasm of vv. 15–16a, which focus on Christ and His covenant with Enos. The voice of the Lord speaks to the mind of Enos seven times, and the proposed chiastic structure of the text is meaningfully related to those seven divine communications. We have the Book of Mormon in our day because of the faithful prayers and faithful labors of prophets like Enos and because of the promises they received from Christ, whose covenant to preserve the records is made the focal point at the center of the Enos text.
Recommended Citation
Ehat, Stephen Kent
(2023)
"Centered on Christ: The Book of Enos Possibly Structured Chiastically,"
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Vol. 58, Article 12.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/interpreter/vol58/iss1/12
