A couple of years ago I read a series of blogs treating the topic of literary devices being deployed in Genesis 1 to the effect of contradicting its possible historicity. Now, I can't recall if chiasm was one such device, but at the St Philip's Bible talk last week Justin included an example of chiasmus in the spoken words reported of Jesus. Jesus used the chiasm to emphasise what he was saying, and doubtless, to increase its memorability. In short, Jesus was speaking truth, not using a device to mask it.
