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).