What do sandwiches, pizza and Biblical literature all have in common? Not much, but Erica makes some comical connections as word pictures in this study of Ruth 1:15-22 (NASB). We unpack the literary brilliance of chiasm, and learn how to identify it, how it works, and how it unpacks a text in fresh ways for the modern reader.

SHOW NOTES: Chiastic structure for Ruth's loyalty oath (1:16-17; pattern A-B-C-D-D'-C'-B'-A')

1 Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you;

2 for where you go, I will go, 

3 and where you sleep, I will sleep. 

4 Your people shall be my people, 

5 and your God, my God. 

6 Where you die, I will die, 

7 and there I will be buried. 

8 May the Lord do so to me, and worse, if anything but death separates me from you.”

If you have a question or would like to connect with Erica, please email [email protected]

Podcast instrumental music by Scott Holmes and Joseph McDade.