Open and Shut

Jesus has the key of David (Revelation 3:7), which allows him to open and shut. The statement is chiastic:

A. who opens

B. and no one shuts

B’. and shuts

A’. and no one opens.

The sentence’s structure mimics the sentence’s content: It speaks of “opening” at the “open ends,” while the shutting is shut up in the middle.

This chiasm is crossed by another structure, defined by the subject of the clause:

A. Who [i.e., Jesus] opens

B. no one (oudeis) shuts

A’. and [Jesus] shuts

B’. no one (oudeis) opens.

Jesus is the steward of the house of David (Isaiah 22). He is the new Cyrus, before whom no gates can be shut (Isaiah 45:1). He has the keys of the kingdom, to bind and loose, to open and close.

In fact, Eliakim, the new steward of the house of David in Isaiah 22 is a type of Cyrus. As Eliakim takes over the administration of the house of David as Yahweh’s “servant” (22:20), so Cyrus, Yahweh’s anointed Servant, takes over the task of the house of David by delivering exiles from bondage and rebuilding the temple (Isaiah 44-45).