Merism names two extremes or paired parts to refer to the whole range.
Merism names two extremes or paired parts to refer to the whole range.
A figure in which paired opposites, extremes, or representative parts express totality, scope, or comprehensiveness.
These examples show how Merism functions in biblical language, rhetoric, poetry, prophecy, narrative, or theological imagery.
heavens and earth
The paired extremes name the whole created order under God’s sovereign creation.
male and female
The pair names the two sexes of humanity as the complete human creation in God’s image.
from firstborn of Pharaoh to firstborn of the slave girl
The social extremes describe the comprehensive reach of the plague throughout Egypt.
sit in your house and walk by the way
The domestic and travel settings express comprehensive covenant instruction in ordinary life.
coming in and going out
The opposite movements express the whole course of daily activity under blessing or curse.
day and night
The temporal pair expresses continual meditation rather than only two literal time slots.
eyes began to grow dim
Used with inability to see, the wording marks the total decline of Eli’s physical perception in narrative setting.
east from west
The farthest imaginable directional separation expresses complete removal of transgressions.
going out and coming in
The paired movements express the entirety of the believer’s life under the LORD’s keeping.
sit down and rise up
The ordinary extremes of posture express the whole of David’s daily existence before God.
birth and death
The paired boundaries mark the full span of human life under God’s providential ordering.
sole of the foot even to the head
The bodily extremes express the whole nation’s diseased moral condition.
least to greatest
The social extremes express comprehensive covenant knowledge of the LORD.
jot or tittle
The smallest written details express the full enduring authority of the Law until fulfilled.
Alpha and Omega, first and last, beginning and end
The paired extremes express Christ’s comprehensive sovereignty over all things.
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