Beware of Greeks Bearing Myths. Was Homer’s “Odyssey” Based on the Hebrew Books of Job and Tobit?
Damien F. Mackey
This title, “Beware of Greeks Bearing Myths”, is meant to be a paraphrase of the well-known saying - in regard to the deceptive gift of the Trojan Horse that the departing Greeks had left behind at Troy: “Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts”.
In the context of this present article, the paraphrase is intended to signify that there can lie behind certain Greek mythology a deeper reality. That deeper reality is to be found in the written word of the Hebrew Scriptures.
“I will raise up your sons, O Zion, above your sons, O Greece: and I shall make you as the sword of the mighty’ (Zechariah 9:13).
Introduction
Not only is “salvation … of the Jews” (John 4:22), apparently, but so also is the origin of much of our civilisation and culture; if we take “the Jews” in the extended sense of “the Israelites/Hebrews”.
We have found that such a great deal of folklore, religion, architecture, literature and poetry, wisdom and law-making of ancient peoples such as the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Phoenicians, Greeks, etc. – when viewed in a revised context as I have done in many articles now – was inspired by the Israelites/Hebrews.
Unfortunately this fact has not been properly acknowledged, either in antiquity, or in modern times. Most likely, it has largely been forgotten – lost in the mists of time. The ancient pagan nations absorbed the abundant Israelite culture (whilst the Israelites themselves faded away into exile). The pagans were thus given the full credit for themselves having been the originators. And still today historians (e.g. the “Pan-Babylonian” School) give them the credit; for invariably (monotonously in fact) we read in the textbooks that it was the scribes of Israel who had borrowed their tales from pagan myths. This attitude is known as mythopoeia, though I think that myopoeia (myopia) would be the more appropriate term.
My research, however, has generally led me to the opposite conclusion: namely, that the precedence was largely with the Israelite culture. This fact I intend to confirm here, using the (surprising) example of one of the greatest Gentile classics of antiquity:
Homer’s Odyssey
(Rieu translation).
What will be amply shown below is that the major events in the life of the composite character, JOB/TOBIAS, have provided the matrix for Homer’s Odyssey.
The parallels between the two are striking, I think. In certain chapters of the Odyssey, they are to be found on virtually every page; though, once again, the original (biblical) story has been considerably distorted and adapted to a pagan mentality.
The ‘cast’ in each case is noticeably similar, with:
The Two Chief Male Characters. Tobit and his son, Tobias, equating approximately to Odysseus and his son, Telemachus.
(Unlike the pious Tobit, though, Odysseus was a crafty and battle-hardened pagan, with a love of strong drink and an eye for women {goddesses}. But he nevertheless pined for his true wife, Penelope).
The Sought-After Woman. In the Odyssey, she is Penelope. She is Sarah in the Book of Tobit.
The Suitors. These unpleasant characters are especially prominent and numerous in the Odyssey. In the Book of Tobit, “seven” suitors in turn meet an unhappy fate in their desire for Sarah.
The ‘Divine’ Messenger. From whom the son, especially, receives help during his travels. In the Book of Tobit, this messenger is the angel Raphael (in the guise of Azarias). In the Odyssey, it is the goddess Athene (in the guise of Mentes).
The Friends. Whereas, in the Book of Tobit, the young man’s journeying takes him amongst kindred folks (e.g. Raguel and Gabael), in the Odyssey, it is to the homelands of certain Greek heroes, returnées from Troy (e.g. Nestor and Menelaus) that young Telemachus travels.
The Dog. Yes, even a dog, or dogs, figure in both stories.
I need to point out that it sometimes happens that things attributed to the son, in the Book of Tobit, might, in the Odyssey, be attributed to the son’s father, or vice versa (or even be attributed to some less important character).
The same sort of mix occurs with the female characters.
This mix between one character and another is not surprising when we consider that even an editor of the Vulgate version of the Book of Tobit had noted the similarity for example between the father (as Tobit) and Job (Tobit’s son, as I have argued) in their sufferings. (Comment on Tobit 2:12, 15).
So, let us make a start. Let us wing our way through the life of the composite JOB/TOBIAS, in its major details - beginning with the Book of Tobit and ending with the Book of Job – to test my claim that JOB/TOBIAS’ life has been the inspiration for Homer’s Odyssey.
Part One: The Earlier Years of JOB/TOBIAS
In my reconstructions of Job’s life, I have shown that the hero was, not an Arabian sheikh from, say, the land of Edom – as many have thought – but a true Israelite, from the northern tribe of Naphtali: that Job was Tobias, the son of Tobit and Anna.
Now we are going to find that this true Israelite was also the model for the Greek character, Telemachus, son of Odysseus.
1. The Hero’s Origins
(a) “The Earthquake”
JOB/TOBIAS’ father, Tobit, would have been in his youth an approximate (only) contemporary of king Jeroboam II of Israel, during whose reign the prophet Amos (= my choice in other articles for the original Homer, as Amariah/Merari, incidentally) was active. Amos dated the beginning of his prophecies “in the days of Jeroboam [II] …, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake”. Not “an” earthquake, note, but “the” earthquake; one still remembered centuries later by the prophet Zechariah (15:5).
The whole ancient world must have been reeling from this dire catastrophe!
Now, most prominent throughout Homer’s classics, Iliad and Odyssey, is the violent activity of Poseidon, “Lord of the Earthquake”, or “The Earthshaker”.
(b) The Apostasy
Tobit, who had continued in the zealous practice of his religion, as it was ordained for his people, “by an everlasting decree” (1:6), was nevertheless unable to save his fellow-Israelites from sin and disaster, since “all the tribes that joined in apostasy used to sacrifice to the calf Baal, and so did the house of Naphtali” (cf. Tobit 1:5 & Ezekiel 14:14, 20). Even in exile, “all [of Tobit’s] brethren and relatives ate the food of the Gentiles” (v. 10).
This poignant image of a single hero’s loyalty to Divine decree, in the face of universal sin and apostasy (the eating of forbidden food), is to be found also in the Odyssey. Odysseus, after the successful completion of the war with Troy, tried to bring his friends safely home. “But he failed to save those comrades, in spite of all his efforts. It was their own sin that brought them to their doom, for in their folly thy devoured the oxen of Hyperion the Sun, and the god saw to it that they should never return” (Book I, p. 25. Emphasis added). (Cf. story of the Lotus Eaters, IX, 141f.).
The Greek story-tellers may possibly here too have ‘confused’ the “calf of Baal” with “the oxen of … the Sun[-god].”
(c) “Only Son”
Tobias was the only son of Tobit and Anna (cf. Tobit 1:9 & 8:17).
So was Telemachus the only son of Odysseus and Penelope: “[Telemachus] … you an only son, the apple of your mother’s eye …” (II, 47. Emphasis added).
Anna similarly referred to her son as “the light of my eyes” (Tobit 10:5).
Telemachus’ uncle used that identical phrase: “Telemachus, light of my eyes!” (XVI, 245).
(d) Sieges
Throughout the Odyssey there is mention of the famous siege of Troy; so well known to all readers of Homer’s Iliad. Odysseus was victor there, but now he lingers in exile in the far-away land of Ogygia, held captive by the enchantress, Calypso. His suffering is to be separated from his home and family at Ithaca.
During the collective lives of JOB/TOBIAS and his father, there occurred three famous sieges: (i) of Samaria (cf. Tobit 1:2); (ii) of Jerusalem, by the Assyrians (1:18); and of Nineveh (14:15). But I would also add the siege of Judith’s town of Bethulia, which I argue below (section, The Iliad) has certain elements that seem to re-surface in the Iliad.
2. Exile Within Exile
(a) In Strange Lands
For most of the Odyssey, Odysseus – who had already left home to fight against Troy – finds himself languishing in various strange and exotic places of exile, far away from his homeland (e.g. in Ogygia; or in Aeæa with the witch, Circe, or with king Alcinous in Phæacia).
In Tobit’s case, not only did he and his family have to suffer being carried away from their native land, to live in Nineveh, but Tobit was even forced at one stage to flee from his adopted home in Nineveh, when the king of Assyria sought his life (cf. Tobit 1:2 & 1:19). Tobit, during this exile within exile of his, was indeed, like Odysseus, separated from his wife and son (2:1).
(b) Friend of Royalty
The Most High gave Tobit “favour and good appearance in the sight of [king] Shalmaneser [who made Tobit] his buyer of provisions” (1:13). And later a successor king of Assyria (Ashurbanipal, according to my reconstructions) allowed the now impoverished Tobit to return to Nineveh (cf. 1:21 & 1:22). Tobit, whilst not apparently of any royal blood himself, claimed that he and his progeny were “sons of the prophets” (4:12). Tobit’s son, moreover, went on to become “the greatest of all the people in the east”; a great and wealthy lord (Job 1:3). He even apparently used to wear “a crown” (19:9).
Odysseus was indeed of royal blood. He was the “King of Ithaca”. But he was inferior in rank to some of the other Greek king-leaders at the siege of Troy, such as Agamemnon, Commander-in-Chief of the Greek forces, and Achilles (III, 54).
Odysseus, like Tobit, was in good favour with various kings, both in times of prosperity and even when in utter destitution and nakedness, for example, with Alcinous, king of Phæacia, who came to treat him “like a god” (cf. V, 89 & VII).
A King’s Wrath
Whereas Odysseus was far too cunning ever to fall into a human trap, a successful trap was laid for Odysseus’ ally, King Agamemnon (on his return from Troy), by the usurper King Aegisthus, who had been informed of Agamemnon’s return by a traitorous spy. Agamemnon was murdered by Aegisthus in consort with Agamemnon’s own wife, Clytaemnestra (IV, 78).
Similarly, Tobit had had to flee from King Sennacherib’s wrath when an informer (spy) told the king that Tobit was burying his fellow-Israelites whom the king had murdered (1:19).
The Iliad
Sennacherib had good reason to be wrathful. His massive army, 185,000-strong, that had invade Israel, had been routed due to the wiles of the Jewish woman, Judith. I pause here to wonder: Was this gripping story of Sennacherib’s invasion and defeat – (surely one of the most thrilling dramas in the entire Old Testament, when properly reconstructed with the Book of Judith) – the basis for the central drama of Homer’s other classic, “The Iliad”? It has all of the same basic ingredients: the classic siege; the argument between the Commander-in-Chief and his subordinate (Achior = Achilles?); the beautiful woman (Judith, ‘the Jewess’ – Helen, ‘the Hellene’?), who ends up in the enemy camp; the ruse that causes the enemy to be deceived, thus leading to a resounding victory by the side employing the ruse.
Here are just two little appetisers that might prompt some future research into the possibility that the Book of Judith was the inspiration for a core part of The Iliad:
(i) The main drama of both the Book of Judith and The Iliad occupies a mere four days. “On the fourth day Holofernes gave a banquet …” (Judith 12:10). The Iliad’s “main action, running from Book 2 to Book 23, occupies only four full days” (Introduction, xvi. Emphasis added).
(ii) Compare these descriptions of Judith’s and Helen’s beauty, respectively (Judith 10:6, 7, 11, 14, 18, 19, 23; 12:12 & The Iliad 3. 156 f.), as each passes (through) the city gates (and beyond):
“[Judith and her maid] went out, making for the town gate of Bethulia. There they found Uzziah waiting with two elders of the town. … When they saw Judith …”.
“Now the elders of the people were siting by the Skaean gate with Priam …. When they saw Helen coming towards the tower …”.
“When they saw Judith … they were lost in admiration of her beauty …”.
“When they saw Helen …they spoke softly to each other with winged words …”.
“[The men of an advance unit of Assyrians who apprehended the Jewish women] stared in astonishment at the sight of such a beautiful woman”. “[And the Assyrians in the camp] were immensely impressed by her beauty … ‘Who could despise a people for having women like this?’, they kept saying”. “[As for Holofernes and his servants] … the beauty of her face astonished them all”.
“’No shame that the Trojans and the well-greaved Achaeans should suffer agonies for long years over a woman like this – she is fearfully like the immortal goddesses to look at’.”
“‘Better not leave one man of them alive; let any go and they would twist the whole world round their fingers!’” [Later Holofernes says] … ‘it would be a disgrace if we let such a woman go without having intercourse with her. If we do not seduce her, she will laugh at us’.”
“‘But even so, for all her beauty, let her go back in the ships, and not be left here to curse us and our children’.”
(c) Blindness
Tobit – who was likely the author of at least that part of the Book of Tobit written in the first person: ‘I, Tobit’ – suffered blindness for a time (1:10). Homer himself – author of the Odyssey – is thought to have been blind. Whilst neither Odysseus, nor his son, had themselves to endure the scourge of blindness, the former certainly inflicted it, having blinded with a burning stake the one-eyed Cyclops, Polyphemus (IX, 149-150). And Circe the witch sent Odysseus to consult the blind seer, Teiresias, in Hades, to learn how he was to reach his homeland (X, 168).
Due to Tobit’s blindness, his wife had to support the family by doing “woman’s work; she would spin wool and take cloth to weave” (cf. 1:21-22 & 2:11. Jerusalem Bible version).
Similarly Penelope, left at home, husbandless, occupied herself at the loom, making a winding-sheet for her husband’s old father, Laertes (II, 39).
(d) Longing for Death
This title, “Beware of Greeks Bearing Myths”, is meant to be a paraphrase of the well-known saying - in regard to the deceptive gift of the Trojan Horse that the departing Greeks had left behind at Troy: “Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts”.
In the context of this present article, the paraphrase is intended to signify that there can lie behind certain Greek mythology a deeper reality. That deeper reality is to be found in the written word of the Hebrew Scriptures.
“I will raise up your sons, O Zion, above your sons, O Greece: and I shall make you as the sword of the mighty’ (Zechariah 9:13).
Introduction
Not only is “salvation … of the Jews” (John 4:22), apparently, but so also is the origin of much of our civilisation and culture; if we take “the Jews” in the extended sense of “the Israelites/Hebrews”.
We have found that such a great deal of folklore, religion, architecture, literature and poetry, wisdom and law-making of ancient peoples such as the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Phoenicians, Greeks, etc. – when viewed in a revised context as I have done in many articles now – was inspired by the Israelites/Hebrews.
Unfortunately this fact has not been properly acknowledged, either in antiquity, or in modern times. Most likely, it has largely been forgotten – lost in the mists of time. The ancient pagan nations absorbed the abundant Israelite culture (whilst the Israelites themselves faded away into exile). The pagans were thus given the full credit for themselves having been the originators. And still today historians (e.g. the “Pan-Babylonian” School) give them the credit; for invariably (monotonously in fact) we read in the textbooks that it was the scribes of Israel who had borrowed their tales from pagan myths. This attitude is known as mythopoeia, though I think that myopoeia (myopia) would be the more appropriate term.
My research, however, has generally led me to the opposite conclusion: namely, that the precedence was largely with the Israelite culture. This fact I intend to confirm here, using the (surprising) example of one of the greatest Gentile classics of antiquity:
Homer’s Odyssey
(Rieu translation).
What will be amply shown below is that the major events in the life of the composite character, JOB/TOBIAS, have provided the matrix for Homer’s Odyssey.
The parallels between the two are striking, I think. In certain chapters of the Odyssey, they are to be found on virtually every page; though, once again, the original (biblical) story has been considerably distorted and adapted to a pagan mentality.
The ‘cast’ in each case is noticeably similar, with:
The Two Chief Male Characters. Tobit and his son, Tobias, equating approximately to Odysseus and his son, Telemachus.
(Unlike the pious Tobit, though, Odysseus was a crafty and battle-hardened pagan, with a love of strong drink and an eye for women {goddesses}. But he nevertheless pined for his true wife, Penelope).
The Sought-After Woman. In the Odyssey, she is Penelope. She is Sarah in the Book of Tobit.
The Suitors. These unpleasant characters are especially prominent and numerous in the Odyssey. In the Book of Tobit, “seven” suitors in turn meet an unhappy fate in their desire for Sarah.
The ‘Divine’ Messenger. From whom the son, especially, receives help during his travels. In the Book of Tobit, this messenger is the angel Raphael (in the guise of Azarias). In the Odyssey, it is the goddess Athene (in the guise of Mentes).
The Friends. Whereas, in the Book of Tobit, the young man’s journeying takes him amongst kindred folks (e.g. Raguel and Gabael), in the Odyssey, it is to the homelands of certain Greek heroes, returnées from Troy (e.g. Nestor and Menelaus) that young Telemachus travels.
The Dog. Yes, even a dog, or dogs, figure in both stories.
I need to point out that it sometimes happens that things attributed to the son, in the Book of Tobit, might, in the Odyssey, be attributed to the son’s father, or vice versa (or even be attributed to some less important character).
The same sort of mix occurs with the female characters.
This mix between one character and another is not surprising when we consider that even an editor of the Vulgate version of the Book of Tobit had noted the similarity for example between the father (as Tobit) and Job (Tobit’s son, as I have argued) in their sufferings. (Comment on Tobit 2:12, 15).
So, let us make a start. Let us wing our way through the life of the composite JOB/TOBIAS, in its major details - beginning with the Book of Tobit and ending with the Book of Job – to test my claim that JOB/TOBIAS’ life has been the inspiration for Homer’s Odyssey.
Part One: The Earlier Years of JOB/TOBIAS
In my reconstructions of Job’s life, I have shown that the hero was, not an Arabian sheikh from, say, the land of Edom – as many have thought – but a true Israelite, from the northern tribe of Naphtali: that Job was Tobias, the son of Tobit and Anna.
Now we are going to find that this true Israelite was also the model for the Greek character, Telemachus, son of Odysseus.
1. The Hero’s Origins
(a) “The Earthquake”
JOB/TOBIAS’ father, Tobit, would have been in his youth an approximate (only) contemporary of king Jeroboam II of Israel, during whose reign the prophet Amos (= my choice in other articles for the original Homer, as Amariah/Merari, incidentally) was active. Amos dated the beginning of his prophecies “in the days of Jeroboam [II] …, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake”. Not “an” earthquake, note, but “the” earthquake; one still remembered centuries later by the prophet Zechariah (15:5).
The whole ancient world must have been reeling from this dire catastrophe!
Now, most prominent throughout Homer’s classics, Iliad and Odyssey, is the violent activity of Poseidon, “Lord of the Earthquake”, or “The Earthshaker”.
(b) The Apostasy
Tobit, who had continued in the zealous practice of his religion, as it was ordained for his people, “by an everlasting decree” (1:6), was nevertheless unable to save his fellow-Israelites from sin and disaster, since “all the tribes that joined in apostasy used to sacrifice to the calf Baal, and so did the house of Naphtali” (cf. Tobit 1:5 & Ezekiel 14:14, 20). Even in exile, “all [of Tobit’s] brethren and relatives ate the food of the Gentiles” (v. 10).
This poignant image of a single hero’s loyalty to Divine decree, in the face of universal sin and apostasy (the eating of forbidden food), is to be found also in the Odyssey. Odysseus, after the successful completion of the war with Troy, tried to bring his friends safely home. “But he failed to save those comrades, in spite of all his efforts. It was their own sin that brought them to their doom, for in their folly thy devoured the oxen of Hyperion the Sun, and the god saw to it that they should never return” (Book I, p. 25. Emphasis added). (Cf. story of the Lotus Eaters, IX, 141f.).
The Greek story-tellers may possibly here too have ‘confused’ the “calf of Baal” with “the oxen of … the Sun[-god].”
(c) “Only Son”
Tobias was the only son of Tobit and Anna (cf. Tobit 1:9 & 8:17).
So was Telemachus the only son of Odysseus and Penelope: “[Telemachus] … you an only son, the apple of your mother’s eye …” (II, 47. Emphasis added).
Anna similarly referred to her son as “the light of my eyes” (Tobit 10:5).
Telemachus’ uncle used that identical phrase: “Telemachus, light of my eyes!” (XVI, 245).
(d) Sieges
Throughout the Odyssey there is mention of the famous siege of Troy; so well known to all readers of Homer’s Iliad. Odysseus was victor there, but now he lingers in exile in the far-away land of Ogygia, held captive by the enchantress, Calypso. His suffering is to be separated from his home and family at Ithaca.
During the collective lives of JOB/TOBIAS and his father, there occurred three famous sieges: (i) of Samaria (cf. Tobit 1:2); (ii) of Jerusalem, by the Assyrians (1:18); and of Nineveh (14:15). But I would also add the siege of Judith’s town of Bethulia, which I argue below (section, The Iliad) has certain elements that seem to re-surface in the Iliad.
2. Exile Within Exile
(a) In Strange Lands
For most of the Odyssey, Odysseus – who had already left home to fight against Troy – finds himself languishing in various strange and exotic places of exile, far away from his homeland (e.g. in Ogygia; or in Aeæa with the witch, Circe, or with king Alcinous in Phæacia).
In Tobit’s case, not only did he and his family have to suffer being carried away from their native land, to live in Nineveh, but Tobit was even forced at one stage to flee from his adopted home in Nineveh, when the king of Assyria sought his life (cf. Tobit 1:2 & 1:19). Tobit, during this exile within exile of his, was indeed, like Odysseus, separated from his wife and son (2:1).
(b) Friend of Royalty
The Most High gave Tobit “favour and good appearance in the sight of [king] Shalmaneser [who made Tobit] his buyer of provisions” (1:13). And later a successor king of Assyria (Ashurbanipal, according to my reconstructions) allowed the now impoverished Tobit to return to Nineveh (cf. 1:21 & 1:22). Tobit, whilst not apparently of any royal blood himself, claimed that he and his progeny were “sons of the prophets” (4:12). Tobit’s son, moreover, went on to become “the greatest of all the people in the east”; a great and wealthy lord (Job 1:3). He even apparently used to wear “a crown” (19:9).
Odysseus was indeed of royal blood. He was the “King of Ithaca”. But he was inferior in rank to some of the other Greek king-leaders at the siege of Troy, such as Agamemnon, Commander-in-Chief of the Greek forces, and Achilles (III, 54).
Odysseus, like Tobit, was in good favour with various kings, both in times of prosperity and even when in utter destitution and nakedness, for example, with Alcinous, king of Phæacia, who came to treat him “like a god” (cf. V, 89 & VII).
A King’s Wrath
Whereas Odysseus was far too cunning ever to fall into a human trap, a successful trap was laid for Odysseus’ ally, King Agamemnon (on his return from Troy), by the usurper King Aegisthus, who had been informed of Agamemnon’s return by a traitorous spy. Agamemnon was murdered by Aegisthus in consort with Agamemnon’s own wife, Clytaemnestra (IV, 78).
Similarly, Tobit had had to flee from King Sennacherib’s wrath when an informer (spy) told the king that Tobit was burying his fellow-Israelites whom the king had murdered (1:19).
The Iliad
Sennacherib had good reason to be wrathful. His massive army, 185,000-strong, that had invade Israel, had been routed due to the wiles of the Jewish woman, Judith. I pause here to wonder: Was this gripping story of Sennacherib’s invasion and defeat – (surely one of the most thrilling dramas in the entire Old Testament, when properly reconstructed with the Book of Judith) – the basis for the central drama of Homer’s other classic, “The Iliad”? It has all of the same basic ingredients: the classic siege; the argument between the Commander-in-Chief and his subordinate (Achior = Achilles?); the beautiful woman (Judith, ‘the Jewess’ – Helen, ‘the Hellene’?), who ends up in the enemy camp; the ruse that causes the enemy to be deceived, thus leading to a resounding victory by the side employing the ruse.
Here are just two little appetisers that might prompt some future research into the possibility that the Book of Judith was the inspiration for a core part of The Iliad:
(i) The main drama of both the Book of Judith and The Iliad occupies a mere four days. “On the fourth day Holofernes gave a banquet …” (Judith 12:10). The Iliad’s “main action, running from Book 2 to Book 23, occupies only four full days” (Introduction, xvi. Emphasis added).
(ii) Compare these descriptions of Judith’s and Helen’s beauty, respectively (Judith 10:6, 7, 11, 14, 18, 19, 23; 12:12 & The Iliad 3. 156 f.), as each passes (through) the city gates (and beyond):
“[Judith and her maid] went out, making for the town gate of Bethulia. There they found Uzziah waiting with two elders of the town. … When they saw Judith …”.
“Now the elders of the people were siting by the Skaean gate with Priam …. When they saw Helen coming towards the tower …”.
“When they saw Judith … they were lost in admiration of her beauty …”.
“When they saw Helen …they spoke softly to each other with winged words …”.
“[The men of an advance unit of Assyrians who apprehended the Jewish women] stared in astonishment at the sight of such a beautiful woman”. “[And the Assyrians in the camp] were immensely impressed by her beauty … ‘Who could despise a people for having women like this?’, they kept saying”. “[As for Holofernes and his servants] … the beauty of her face astonished them all”.
“’No shame that the Trojans and the well-greaved Achaeans should suffer agonies for long years over a woman like this – she is fearfully like the immortal goddesses to look at’.”
“‘Better not leave one man of them alive; let any go and they would twist the whole world round their fingers!’” [Later Holofernes says] … ‘it would be a disgrace if we let such a woman go without having intercourse with her. If we do not seduce her, she will laugh at us’.”
“‘But even so, for all her beauty, let her go back in the ships, and not be left here to curse us and our children’.”
(c) Blindness
Tobit – who was likely the author of at least that part of the Book of Tobit written in the first person: ‘I, Tobit’ – suffered blindness for a time (1:10). Homer himself – author of the Odyssey – is thought to have been blind. Whilst neither Odysseus, nor his son, had themselves to endure the scourge of blindness, the former certainly inflicted it, having blinded with a burning stake the one-eyed Cyclops, Polyphemus (IX, 149-150). And Circe the witch sent Odysseus to consult the blind seer, Teiresias, in Hades, to learn how he was to reach his homeland (X, 168).
Due to Tobit’s blindness, his wife had to support the family by doing “woman’s work; she would spin wool and take cloth to weave” (cf. 1:21-22 & 2:11. Jerusalem Bible version).
Similarly Penelope, left at home, husbandless, occupied herself at the loom, making a winding-sheet for her husband’s old father, Laertes (II, 39).
(d) Longing for Death
Tobit, in his utter misery, longed for death, and thus he prayed to God: ‘Command that I now be released from my distress to go to the eternal abode; do not turn Thy face away from me’ (Tobit 3:6). This theme is treated even more starkly, and in more prolonged fashion, in the Book of Job (esp. Ch. 3).
In the Odyssey, it is said of Laertes that “every day he prays to Zeus that death may visit his house and release the spirit from his flesh” (XV, 239). And Odysseus, after having learned from Circe about the wretched existence of the dead in Hades, said: ‘This news broke my heart. I sat down on the bed and wept. I had no further use for life, no wish to see the sunshine any more’ (X, 168).
(e) The Suitors
“On the same day” that Tobit had prayed to be released from this life, Sarah – back home in “Media” [i.e. Midian according to my geographical reconstruction]: “was reproached by her father’s maids, because she had been given to seven husbands, and the evil demon Asmodeus had slain each of them before he had been with her as his wife” (Tobit 3:7, 8). In the Vulgate version of Tobit, we are further informed that these seven suitors had had lustful intentions towards Sarah (6:17 ).
The Odyssey tells about Penelope’s being tormented also by the suitors who have invaded Odysseus’ home and who are squandering the family’s wealth. Penelope has to resort to the ruse of weaving a winding-cloth - ostensibly intending to make the decision to marry once she has completed it. But each night she undoes it, in order to keep the suitors at bay (I, 28-33; II, 38-39). The prediction early in the story, that “there’d be a quick death and a sorry wedding for … all [the Suitors]”, once Odysseus had returned home (I, 32), was to be fulfilled to the letter when he came and dealt them all a bloody end. Indeed, these words, “a sorry wedding” and “a quick death” might well have been spoken of Sarah’s suitors as well, once Asmodeus had finished with them.
This Asmodeus, a demon, is eventually overcome by Tobias, with great assistance from the angel Raphael. Asmodeus then “fled to the remotest parts of Egypt 7:16 & 8:3). And even this episode might have its ‘echo’ at the beginning of the Odyssey, when the violent god, Poseidon (who seems to have a will of his own), is found amongst “the distant Ethiopians, the farthest outposts of mankind …” (I, 25).
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->The Son’s Travels
(a) The Heavenly Visitor
The prayers of Tobit and Sarah, on the one hand, and of Odysseus and Penelope, on the other, were heard. Almighty God appointed the angel Raphael to assist the former two. And Zeus (supreme god of the Greeks) appointed the goddess Athene to assist the latter two.
With Odysseus still languishing as Calypso’s captive, and the suitors at play back at his home, “the almighty Father” sent Athene to Ithaca Olympus . On reaching Ithaca
The reader will quickly be able to pick up the similarities between this text and this relevant part of the Book of Tobit: “The prayer of [Tobit and Sara] was heard in the presence of the glory of the great God. And Raphael was sent (3:16 , 17)”. “Then Tobias … found a beautiful young man, standing girded, as it were ready to walk. And not knowing that he was an angel of God, he saluted him …. ‘I am Azarias, the son of the great Ananias’” (5:5, 6, 18).
(b) The Questioning
Tobit had interrogated the angel about the latter’s identity, asking: ‘My brother, to what tribe and family do you belong? Tell me …’ (5:9-12). Later Raguel would do the same: ‘Where are you from brethren? …. Do you know our brother Tobit? …. Is he in good health?’ (7:3, 4). [Cf. Isaiah 39:3; Judith 5:3, 4; Jonah 1:8].
In the Odyssey, too, the pattern is again most frequent, almost monotonous but with a Greek seafaring slant – e.g. the mention of a “vessel”). Telemachus, for instance, quizzes Athene: ‘However, do tell me who you are and where you come from. What is your native town? Who are your people? And since you certainly cannot have come on foot, what kind of vessel brought you here? (I, 29). [Cf. also pp. 72; 118; 164; 175; 208; 220].
Athene then replied to Telemachus, using a phrase that I suggest may have come straight out of the Book of Tobit, towards the end of which story the angel Raphael says (emphasis added in both cases): ‘I will not conceal anything from you’ (12:11). Thus Athene: “‘I will tell you everything’, answered the bright-eyed goddess Athene. ‘My father was the wise prince, Anchialus. My own name is Mentes, and I am a chieftain of the sea-faring Taphians’.” Now Anchialus, the name that Athene (in masculine guise) gave for her presumed father, has at least a vague resemblance to the name, Ananias, which the angel Raphael (also in masculine guise) attributed to his presumed father from the tribe of Naphtali. Athene also describes herself as a Taphian, in which name we might perhaps also glimpse Naphtalian.
(c) Delaying One’s Guests
Another noticeable tendency in the Old Testament (including the Book of Tobit), and in the Odyssey, is for hosts to insist on their guests staying longer than they had intended, or even had wished, to do. Firstly, this tendency must have been part of ancient Syro-Mesopotamian hospitality, because it is common both in Genesis (24:25-26; 29:21-31) and in the Book of Tobit.
It happens all the way through the Odyssey as well. For example, Telemachus says to Athene (I, 29. Emphasis added): ‘Sir … I know you are anxious to be on your way, but I beg you to stay a little longer, so that you can bathe and refresh yourself. Then you can go, taking with you as a keepsake from myself something precious and beautiful, the sort of present that one gives to a guest who has become a friend’. ‘No’, said the bright-eyed goddess. ‘I am eager to be on my way; please do not detain me now. As for the gift you kindly suggest, let me take it home with me on my way back. Make it the best you can find, and you won’t lose by the exchange’. (Cf. IV, 80; XV, 231-232).
In like manner, Tobias was impatient to leave the delaying Raguel and to return home: “At that time Tobias said to Raguel. ‘Send me back, for my father and mother have given up hope of ever seeing me again’. But his father-in-law said to him, ‘Stay with me, and I will send messengers to your father, and they will inform him how things are with you’. ‘No, send me back to my father’. So Raguel arose and gave him his wife Sarah and half of his property in slaves, cattle, and money”. (10:7, 8-10)
(d) Charitable Almsgiving
Old Tobit made sure, on the eve of his son’s departure, to remind the boy of the need to practise charitable deeds, such as clothing the naked; burying the dead; giving alms; etc. (Tobit 4); all that Tobit himself had been assiduous in doing.
Odysseus, when he returned home disguised as a beggar, was promised by Telemachus ‘… a cloak and tunic, which you need more than anything else’. As for food, Telemachus told him that ‘charitable folk will give you alms’ (XVII, 273).
Raising a burial mound for the dead is also a common practice throughout the Odyssey (e.g. I, 32; XII, 189).
(e) The Dog(s)
(a) The Leaving
“… Telemachus himself set out for the meeting-place, bronze spear in hand, escorted … by two dogs that trotted beside him” (II, 37).
Also “[Tobias and the angel] both went out and departed, and the young man’s dog was with them” (Tobit 5:16 ).
(b) The Returning
When Telemachus returned home: “The dogs, usually so obstreperous, not only did not bark at the newcomer but greeted him with wagging tails” (XVI, 245).
The dog in the Book of Tobit was equally excited: ‘Then the dog, which had been with [Tobias and the angel] along the way, ran ahead of them; and coming as if he had brought the news showed his joy by his fawning and wagging of his tail” (Tobit 11:9).
Note: The Commentary on the Douay-Rheims Old Testament has actually noticed the similarity between the behaviour of the canines in the Book of Tobit and the Odyssey. Thus we read the following statement: “Tobit CHAP. VI Ver 1. Dog. Gr. & Heb. specify this circumstance …. C.xi.9 … Homer mentions the fawning of the dog upon Ulysses [Odysseus], after he had been 20 years from home …”.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->Among Friends
(a) A Wife
As the travellers neared the home of Raguel, the angel informed the young man that Raguel had an eligible daughter, Sarah, whom he should marry. (Tobit 6:11-12).
The goddess Athene advised Telemachus how to conduct his affairs at home ‘until heaven sends you a wife worthy of your rank’ (XV, 230).
‘I suppose’
The angel added, concerning the future young bride, Sarah: ‘… she will go with you, and I suppose that you will have children by her’ (6:17 ).
That very same phrase, ‘I suppose’, is used again in relation to Penelope and her child (the speaker being Agamemnon, now in Hades): ‘She was a young bride when we said good-bye to her on our way to the war. She had a baby son at the breast. And now I suppose, he has begun to take his seat among the men’ (XI, 183).
(b) Like Father, Like Son
When Raguel first laid eyes on Tobias, he exclaimed to his wife: ‘How much the young man resembles my cousin Tobit!’ (Tobit 7:2).
In similar fashion, Athene (in disguise) said to Telemachus: ‘But tell me, are you really Odysseus’ son? How you have grown! You certainly have his head and his fine eyes. The likeness is startling to one who met him as often as I did’ (I, 30). (Cf. IV, 68).
The tears flowed amongst Raguel, Edna and Sarah when they were informed about Tobit’s blindness (Tobit 7:7, 8).
And the recalling of Odysseus’ exile brought copious tears to the eyes of Menelaus, Helen (now restored to her husband) and Telemachus (IV, 68-69).
(c) Refusing to Eat and Drink, Until …
Tobias, having fallen deeply in love with Sarah even from the moment that the angel had told him about her, refused to eat any of the food and drink that Raguel and Edna had set on the table before him until Raguel had actually signed the marriage contract (Tobit 7:11).
Odysseus, whose men had been changed into swine by the witch, Circe, refused to eat and drink anything that she had set before him until she changed the men back into human form (X, 165-166). (Cf. II, 45-46).
(d) Further Business Elsewhere
Tobias – now celebrating the wedding with his bride’s family – to save time, asked the angel to go on the further distance to Rages [= Damascus, according to my reconstructions], to collect the ten talents of silver that his father Tobit had left there in trust with Gabael (Tobit 9:1-2).
Whilst Telemachus was the guest of Nestor – (who seems to approximate roughly to Raguel in the Book of Tobit – Athene headed off ‘on a visit to those enterprising people the Cauconians’, with whom, she sais, ‘I have an outstanding claim of some importance to settle’ (III , 60).
Whereas the angel in human guise had headed off to Rages with “a servant and two camels” (Tobit 9:2), Athene’s mode of transport was somewhat quicker. She “took the form of a sea-eagle and flew off”.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3. <!--[endif]-->The Son Returns
(a) An Anxious Mother
The Departure
With Tobias’ leaving home, his mother Anna had “burst into tears” and had complained bitterly to Tobit about his leaving (Tobit 5:18 ).
When Penelope heard that Telemachus had gone away, “her knees shook underneath her and her heart grew faint …. [She] was overwhelmed by the anguish that racked her” (IV, 83).
But Tobit calmed his wife, saying: “‘Do not think such thoughts. Going away and coming back, all will be well with our child …. A good angel will go with him …’. And she dried her tears” (5:21 , 22).
Likewise, an old nurse (Eurycleia) comforted Penelope, and urged her to “…‘pray to Athene, daughter of Zeus’. In this way Eurycleia hushed [Penelope’s] sobs and cleared her eyes of tears” (IV, 84).
The Homecoming
Tobias was eager to be on his way home, thinking that his parents might have given up all hope of ever seeing him again (Tobit 10:7). Back home indeed his mother, Anna, “… kept saying, ‘My son is dead! He is no longer among the living’” (10:3).
Telemachus, too, was concerned that his mother would be beside herself with worrying about him. As soon as he arrived safely back at Ithaca
After the angel Raphael had guided Tobias safely back to his parents (cf. Tobit 11:1 & 12:3), we read: “The mother ran forward and threw her arms around her son’s neck. ‘Now I can die’, she said, ‘I have seen you again’. And she wept” (11:9).
Virtually identically, “… the wise Penelope … dissolved in tears as she threw her arms round her son’s neck and kissed his forehead and his beautiful eyes. ‘So you’re back, Telemachus, my darling boy!’ she said between her sobs. ‘And I thought I should never see you again …’” (XVII, 260).
Again, the long-suffering Penelope’s “heart melted” when she recognised her husband Odysseus after his return: “Bursting into tears she ran up to Odysseus, threw her arms round his neck and kissed his head” (XXIII, 346).
PART TWO: JOB/TOBIAS’ LATER YEARS
Introduction
The Iliad and the Odyssey are generally considered to be “the first and greatest literary achievements of Greek civilization … without rival in the literature of the world … the cornerstone of western culture … [and] … the true ancestor of the long line of novels that have followed”. [Quotes taken from back covers of M. Hammond’s Iliad and E. Rieu’s Odyssey].
This view, that our civilisation and culture have arisen largely from the influence of the ancient Greeks, is one that has been passed down from one generation to the next in our ‘western’ schooling; and still today continues to be passed on.
But it is a theory that I believe now needs to be seriously reconsidered, with far more credit than before needing to be attributed to Israel, Egypt and the Ancient Near East for having the precedence, in culture; in religion; in administration; in chronology; in history; in storytelling; and so on.
I have already shown in articles for example that:
- The interlocking and detailed biblical chronology – and not the fragmentary and poorly understood Egyptian chronology – is the only reliable chronological framework for a fleshed-out history of the ancient world.
- The stories of the Book of Genesis were not influenced by Mesopotamian myths – as is commonly thought – but were the family histories of a succession of Hebrew Patriarchs.
- Solon, the so-called Athenian statesman of great wisdom, was in fact Solomon, king of Israel – as was the famous Lawgiver, Hammurabi of Babylon, wielding enormous cultural influence on the world of the time.
- Certain brilliant architectural innovations, attributed to the Greeks, were already used by Israelite/Phoenician masons.
- Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt’s religion and literature were very much inspired by the religion and writings of Davidic and Solomonic Israel.
Now, with this latest connection having been established between Homer’s writings and the biblical books of the ‘neo-Assyrian period (i.e, mid C8th-C7th’s BC), it is becoming quite apparent that the supreme influence of Greek civilisation is itself largely a myth, and that one should no longer be seeking a Greek origin for the Homeric writings, but, more likely, a Middle Eastern (or biblical) one. We have found that even the chief characters of the Homeric corpus are based upon, not feudal-type Greek kings of the so-called ‘Heroic age’, but upon wealthy Midsle Eastern lords of c. C8th-C7th’s BC, like Job; lords inhabiting fertile regions (such as the province of Batanaea), owning vast flocks and herds, and employing hundreds of ploughmen and labourers.
Even Telemachus’ description of Ithaca as: “…narrow … though very far from poor [growing] abundant corn and wine in plenty … [having] excellent pasturage for goats and cattle, timber of all kinds …” (XIII, 208), could largely be applied to the narrow, but fertile, corn-growing plain of Hauran, in the province of Batanaea where Job prospered.
Religion
Likewise, the often discussed religious aspects of the Homeric cycle – with sacrifices of bulls and cattle, libations to the gods; with the lesser gods interceding for mortals before the almighty Zeus; and with the perverse actions of rebellious gods like Poseidon – may find their origin in those Scriptures that pertain to the neo-Assyrian era of history, with similar sacrifices and oblations; intercessary or protective angels before the Almighty; and the activity of demons. It has already been concluded by scholars, anyway, that the Greek pantheon was of largely non-European origin (e.g. R. Parker. “Greek Religion”, The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World, 1991, Ch. 11).
Finally, since the evasive Homer is thought to have hailed from Asia Minor (e.g. Smyrna), or Chios, commentators might like to keep an open mind about whether he was a Greek or an Asiatic (I favour the latter = an C8th BC Jew; though not necessarily this date for the composition of The Iliad itself). According to the Introduction (p. vii) to The Iliad: “It is likely that the composer of the Iliad was an Ionian, and the poem was composed in the latter part of the eighth century BC”.
1. Divine Councils
(a) God and His Angels
The image of the Supreme God observing from Heaven all the actions of the mortals on earth, and receiving their prayers and libations via the angels, is both a biblical and an Homeric concept.
Thus the angel Raphael had retrospectively informed Tobit and his son, regarding the prayerful entreaties of Tobit and Sarah:
‘I brought a reminder of your prayers before the Holy One ….
So now God sent me to heal you and … Sarah. I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels who present the prayers of the saints and enter into the presence of the glory of the Holy One’ (Tobit 12:12, 14-15). (Cf. 3:16-7).
The author of the Book of Job, after having immediately introduced the reader to the story’s main character, then presents the image of Almighty God with the angels assembling before Him. Satan (*), as well, I summoned – though his actual abode is not with the Most High, but is “on the earth” (Job 1:6-7).
The Odyssey, too, opens up with an assembly of all the gods – but with Poseidon [Satan’s counterpart] conspicuously absent “Meanwhile the rest of the gods had assembled in the palace of Olympian Zeus, and the father of men and gods had opened a discussion among them”. The discussion turned to the situation of Odysseus and his son – after Athene had brought a reminder of it to Zeus (I, 26-27).
(*) The name “Satan” may possibly have the same derivation as “Seth”, the Egyptian god of the underworld; or (especially in the case of Poseidon) from Pa-Sidon, “He [Baal] of Sidon. Either case might give the lie to the claim that Satan was a concept that did not emerge until the time of the Persians, only a few centuries before Christ.
(b) Satan and his Demons
The restless Satan, in the Book of Job, is described as “going to and fro on the earth, and … walking up and down on it” (1:7; 2:2).
Poseidon’s mind was also firmly fixed on earthly things, and on wanderings, for he had “gone on a visit to the distant Ethiopians, the farthest outpost of mankind … there he sat and enjoyed the pleasures of the feast” (I, 25).
God had taken pity on Tobit in his plight (Tobit 3:16-17), as he would later do in the case of Tobit’s son [as Job] in his affliction (Job 42:101-17). But whilst that son was still prospering, God would boast to Satan: ‘Have you not considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil?’ (Job 1:8; 2:3). Satan, by way of retort, claimed that the holy man’s ‘fear’ was based only on self-interest – because of all that he had been given – adding that he would soon curse the Almighty to his face if his prosperity (later, his health) were taken away (Job 1:9-11 2:4-5). So, God gave Satan leave to test the holy man. But he would not permit Satan to kill him (1:12; 2:6).
Of the exiled Odysseus, we read that “all the gods were sorry for him, except Poseidon, who pursued the heroic Odysseus with relentless malice till the day when he reached his own country” (I, 26). But the hero was dear to Zeus, who boasted of him to Athene: ‘How could I ever forget the admirable Odysseus? He is not only the wisest man alive but has been the most generous in his offerings to the immortals who live in heaven!’ (I, 26-27). [Note that God boasts of the righteousness of Job; whereas Zeus boasts of Odysseus’ wisdom]. Like Satan in the case of Job, Poseidon “stops short of killing [the hero]”. And Zeus knows that the outcome will be good for Odysseus, for Poseidon, he says, ‘cannot possibly hold out alone against the united will of the immortal gods’ (I, 27).
(c) Cared for from Birth
JOB/TOBIAS, despite his affliction, could nonetheless speak of himself as: “I, whom God has fostered father-like from childhood, and guided since I left my mother’s womb’ (Job 31:18).
And Athene can remind Telemachus that: ‘It is not for nothing that the gods have watched your progress ever since your birth’ (III, 50).
The Guardian Angel
Tobias had been helped in his youth by the angel Raphael, who had guided him on his journey and had then brought him safely back to his home (Tobit ch’s. 6-11). The holy man, in his old age and affliction, would comfortingly recall the fact that he had so benign an intercessor (or ‘witness’) in heaven (Job 16:18-21).
Throughout the Odyssey, Athene serves as a constant guardian to Odysseus and to his son. She protects Telemachus, making him ‘full of spirit and daring’ (I, 33). And she reminds Odysseus, ‘… you did not know me Pallas Athene, Daughter of Zeus, who always stand by your side and guard you through all your adventures’ (XIII, 210).
(d) Monsters
Towards the end of the Book of Job there are described two gargantuan creatures, ‘Behemoth’ and ‘Leviathan’ (Job 40:15-41:34), about which it is not certain to commentators whether these are to be regarded as normal animals or symbolical monsters. Certainly much of the description could be applied to, respectively, a giant land animal (e.g. the elephant), and a giant sea animal (e.g. the whale). But there are other aspects of the descriptions that might appear to go beyond the limitations of these physical giants. Now, since the beginning of Job’ troubles had been due to the malicious activity of Satan, might it not be fitting that, at the end of his troubles Satan (the Devil) should be referred to again, at least symbolically, being described poetically in the form of these monsters? I take here only a part of the example of Leviathan, described as “King over all the sons of pride’ (41:34) (demons?):
When he sneezes, light leaps forth, his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. From his mouth come fiery torches, sparks of fire fly out of it. His nostrils belch smoke like a cauldron boiling on the fire. His breath could kindle coals so hot a flame issues from his mouth.
… His heart is hard as rock, unyielding as a millstone …. He churns the depths into a seething cauldron, he makes the sea fume like a scent burner. Behind him he leaves a glittering wake – He has no equal on earth being created without fear’ (Job 41:10-13, 16, 23-25).
and I compare it with the dread sea-monsters, ‘Scylla and Charybdis’, as described by Odysseus. Scylla, like Leviathan (Psalm 74:14), is a many-headed monster. [Note in the following quote, as in the above one, there is used the exact same simile of the seething cauldron blazing on the fire]:
‘Thus we sailed up the straits, groaning in terror, for on the one side we had Scylla, while on the other the mysterious Charybdis sucked down the salt water in her dreadful way. When she vomited it up, she was stirred to her depths and seethed over like a cauldron on a blazing fire; and the spray she flung on high rained down on the tops of the crags at either side. But when she swallowed the salt water down, the whole interior of her vortex was exposed, the rocks re-echoed to her fearful roar, and the dark sands of the sea bottom came into view’ (XII, 195. Emphasis added).
Whoever once tangled with the monster Leviathan would not want to come back for a second try. Thus God challenged Job (41:1-3, 8-9):
‘Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose, or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many supplications to you? … Lay hands on him; think of the battle; you will not do it again. Behold, the hope of a man is disappointed; he is laid low even at the sight of him. No one is so fierce that he dares stir him up’.
Odysseus had somewhat hopefully asked Circe:
‘Could I not somehow steer clear of the terrors of Charybdis, yet tackle Scylla when she comes at my crew?’ But the goddess only cried out at me as an obstinate fool, always spoiling for a fight and welcoming trouble. ‘So you are not prepared’, she said, ‘to give in even to immortal gods [demons]? I tell you, Scylla was not born for death: the fiend will live for ever. She is a thing to shun, intractable, ferocious, and impossible to fight. No; against her there is no defence, and valour lies in flight …’.
Somewhat similar are the descriptions of the invincible ‘Leviathan … created without fear’, and ‘Scylla … not born for death’.
2. The Hero’s Afflictions
(a) Personal and Property Losses
The first move of Satan against the holy man, Job, was to destroy – in a succession of raids (using the marauding Sabaeans and Chaldeans as his instruments) and natural disasters – Job’s livestock; his transport animals; his servants; his property and his children (Job 1:14-19). The holy man was quickly (the Book of Job greatly telescopes all this) brought to utter ruin. The second move was to attack the person of Job himself, inflicting him “with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (2:7).
The ‘marauders’ in the Odyssey, on the other hand, did not belong to raiding parties from foreign shores, but were the Suitors, all of whom lived in and around Ithaca. (Thus as regards geographical proximity, they were more like Job’s three friends, and the young Elihu). Still, the Suitors were just as inimical and rapacious as were Job’s Sabaeans and Chaldeans.
Telemachus, now “master in this house” (at least in name), lamented before the local assembly that: ‘… affliction – I should say ... double affliction … has fallen on my house (II, 38). Firstly, he had lost his own father. [Cf. Job’s loss of family].
‘But there was a far greater calamity to follow, one which may well bring my house to utter ruin and rob me of any livelihood I have. A mob of hangers-on are pestering my mother … these suitors … slaughter our oxen, our sheep, our fatted goats; they feast themselves and drink our sparkling wine – with never a thought for all the wealth that is being wasted’ (II, 38).
[Cf. Job’s loss of property and livestock].
(b) On the Dungheap
One of the most shameful things about Job’s wretched situation was that he had been left so unattended by his family and friends – just when he needed them most. We hear nothing in the story about anyone trying to help ease his affliction by applying any sort of medical treatment or relief. At least his father Tobit had been looked after in his blindness by the kind Ahikar. He had also gone to physicians for treatment (though, unfortunately, the treatment had only made his condition worse) (Tobit 2:10). Poor Job, on the other hand, was completely alone, seated on a dunghill, having to tend his own ghastly sores (Job 2:8).
Equally forgotten by his people was Odysseus. ‘Look at Odysseus, that admirable king!’, exclaimed Athene. ‘Today, not one of the people gives him a single thought’ (V, 88). Even the image of isolation on the dungheap is to be found there in the Odyssey as well; though applied neither to Odysseus or his son (for perhaps the author of the Odyssey could not even conceive of a human being’s having been allowed to linger alone in so pitiful a state of neglect) but to Odysseus’ old dog, Argus. Thus Odysseus (in disguise as a beggar), when first having laid eyes on Argus, after his return from exile, commented to his kinsman, Eumaeus: ‘… it is very odd to see a hound like this lying in the dung’. To which Eumaeus replied ‘If you could see him in his heyday … but now he’s in a bad way; … the women are too careless to groom him’ (XVIII, 267. Emphasis added).
(c) An Object of Horror
Tobias lamented: “My kinsfolk and my close friends have failed me: the guests in my house have forgotten me; my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become an alien in their eyes’ (Job 19”14-15).
How well does this description fit Odysseus, too, since he had indeed becomes ‘as a stranger [and] an alien’ to his own household! It also fits Penelope and Telemachus, who had both had to suffer their “guests” (the Suitors) having completely taken over their house.
Job’s wretched appearance made him an object of horror and loathing to all who saw him: ‘I am repulsive to my wife, loathsome to the sons of my own mother. Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me …’ (19:17-18). [Note, instead of ‘sons of my mother’ – that is, brothers – the Vulgate has ‘children of my womb’ – that is, offspring (presumably grandchildren) – which might be the more accurate rendition if Job were indeed, as Tobias, an only son].
In the case of Odysseus, Athene had told him that she would in fact make him look pitiable, so that neither the Suitors nor his own wife and son would recognise him. This was part of her plot to help Odysseus eventually overthrow the Suitors:
‘I shall clothe you in rags from which the people will shrink in disgust; and I shall take all the light out of those fine eyes that you have – all this to make the whole gang of Suitors and even your wife and the son you left at home take you for a disreputable vagabond’ (XIII, 213).
3. The Dialogue
The very long Dialogue section of the Book of Job (Chapters 3-37) finds a good deal of its ‘echo’ in Chapter II of the Odyssey, entitled “the Debate in Ithaca”. Whereas Job had lamented his sorry fate in the presence of his three ‘friends’, Telemachus would recount before the local assembly ‘the double affliction’ that had befallen him and his house.
(a) Honoured by the Ancients
Just as Job had been accustomed to having “a chair” provided for him at the city gates – because he was a judge – and having been honoured even by the old men, who would rise to their feet in his presence (Job 29:7), so too do we learn about Telemachus, before the local assembly, that: “… all eyes were turned on him in admiration …. The elders made way for him as he took his father’s seat” (II, 37. Emphasis added).
(b) The Advisors
In the Book of Job, it was Eliphaz who was “the first to speak” in answer to Job, after the latter had recalled his miseries (Job 4:1). Eliphaz is, for that reason, generally considered to have been the oldest of the three friends. So, in the Odyssey: “Aegyptius, an old lord bent with years and rich in wisdom, was the first to speak” (II, 37. Emphasis added). Happily, his words brought comfort to Telemachus; unlike Eliphaz’s in the case of Job.
Eliphaz’s general observation that ‘man is born to trouble’ (Job 5:7), is repeated almost word for word by Telemachus, when he describes his own father as being ‘born for misery’ (II, 52; IV, 73).
Telemachus’ pleas for kindness and consideration before the august assembly of Ithaca remind one very much of Job’s own pleas and entreaties to his friends. Both speak in legal terms, as if presenting their case to the Most High, and making their own defence. And both plead with their “friends” to be merciful.
Firstly, Telemachus:
‘… how gladly I should undertake my own defence, had I the force at my command! ….
… gentlemen …. Think of the gods! Have you no fear that they may requite these iniquities on your own heads? My friends, in the name of Olympian Zeus… who summons and dissolves the parliaments of men, I beg you to let me be and grant me leave to pine in solitary grief ….
It is your present attitude that fills my heart with a bitterness for which I find no cure’ (II, 38-39).
Now, Job:
‘Today also my complaint is bitter, His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat! I would lay my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me. Would He contend with me in the greatness of His power? No; He would give heed to me’ (Job 23:2-6).
‘Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends …’ (Job 19:21).
But these respective pleas for compassion fell on deaf ears. Firstly, in the case of Telemachus, the vindictive Antinous replied: ‘What rhetoric, Telemachus, and what an ugly show of spite! So you’d put us to shame, would you, and fix the blame on us. You are wrong. We Suitors plead “Not guilty” …’ (II, 39).
This can be compared with the various answers to Job’s discourses by his so-called friends. Thus Eliphaz, for instance: ‘Are you the first man that was born? … What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us …. Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash …? (Job 15:7, 9, 12).
(c) Death Only
The Book of Job refers to death and the grave in many places (e.g. 3:22; 5:26; 7:9; 10:19; 14:13; 17:13; 21:13, 32; 24:19; 30:24; 33:22).
The Odyssey, for its part, has an entire chapter devoted to the subject of Death (namely, Ch. XI, “The Book of the Dead”). There we read about Odysseus’ visit to the grim world of Hades, where he meets his own mother; the blind seer Teiresias; and all the fallen great Greek heroes. Moreover, Athene (in disguise) reminds Telemachus and Nestor: ‘… it is our common lot to die, and the gods themselves cannot rescue even one they love, when Death that stretches all men out lays its dread hand upon him’ (III, 56).
A continual theme of Job’s in his affliction is that, contrary to what his friends are trying to tell him, he cannot expect further happiness, but only death and the grave.
Likewise, Telemachus cannot agree with Nestor when the latter tries to comfort him: ‘Sire’, said the wise Telemachus, ‘I see no hope whatever of your forecast proving true. You have conjured up too marvellous a vision: I cannot bear to think to it. And I, for one, dare not expect such happiness …’ (III, 56).
4. The Dénouement
Job proves – by his continuing to bless God in the midst of his most dire adversity – that he did not fear God merely out of self-interest – as Satan had accused. In the end God vindicates the holy man, by manifesting His displeasure towards the three friends who had opposed Job (who then became dependent for mercy upon Job’s sacrifice), and by bestowing upon Job twice as much wealth as he had had before (42:7-17).
The Odyssey races to its dramatic conclusion with Penelope taking her husband’s mighty bow to the Suitors, and saying to them: ‘I challenge you to try your skill on the great bow of King Odysseus. And whichever man among you proves the handiest at stringing the bow …, with that man will I go, bidding goodbye to this house which welcomed me as a bride…’ (XXI, 318). None of the Suitors was man enough, of course, to be able to string the bow. It was finally left to Odysseus himself, still in his beggar’s disguise, to string the bow, to shoot the targets, and then to turn the bow on the Suitors in bloody mayhem; until none of them was left alive. (See Chapter XXII, “The Battle in the Hall”).
Conclusion
The fact that chapter after chapter even page after page, of the Odyssey can be so easily interwoven – like Penelope’s “winding-sheet” – with both the Book of Tobit and the Book of Job, synthesised, is evidence to me of the common matrix shared by the presumably ‘Greek’ and Israelite writings. It also confirms in a remarkable and entirely unexpected way the link of identification that I have proposed between Tobias and Job. I appears not to have been merely wishful thinking!
Ultimately, we might need to recognise a new “cornerstone of western culture”. Applying now, to our culture and civilisation, the question that God had put to Job: ‘Who has laid the cornerstone …?’ (Job 38:6), we could firstly answer: “Not the Greeks!” Then we could complete our answer, using these words of Isaiah:
‘Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation’ (Isaiah 28:16).
19th March 2009
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