by
Damien F. Mackey
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The resemblance of Tobit to the Odyssey in
particular was not lost on
that great student of literature [Saint]
Jerome ….
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This
combined biblical influence upon Homer is, I think, more intelligible in light
of my article:
Job's Life and Times
in
which I have identified Job with Tobit’s son, Tobias.
Some Compelling
Comparisons
I
need to point out right at the start that it sometimes happens that incidents
attributed to the son, in the Book of Tobit, in Job, 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.
These
are some of the parallels that I have picked up:
The
two chief male characters
Tobit
and his son, Tobias/Job, equate 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 Suitors
These
unpleasant and self-serving characters are especially prominent and numerous in
Homer’s The Odyssey.
In
the Book of Tobit, “seven” suitors in turn meet an unhappy fate
in their desire for Sarah.
The Sought-After Woman
In The
Odyssey, she is Penelope.
She
is Sarah in the Book of Tobit.
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’).
Satan, or Adversary (Book of Job)
He
is Poseidon in The Odyssey,
the god who hounds down the story’s hero.
He
is Asmodeus in the Book of Tobit.
According to the following, this Asmodeus is to be
identified with the Iranian, Aeshma Daeva
(http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=12-02-036-f):
Bearing just as obvious a connection with
non-biblical literature, I believe, is the demon Asmodeus (Tobit 3:8), who is
doubtless to be identified, on purely morphological grounds, with Aeshma Daeva,
a figure well known in ancient Iranian religion
….
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 returnées from Troy (e.g.
Nestor and Menelaus) that young Telemachus travels.
The Dog
Yes,
even a dog, or dogs, figure in both stories.
P.
Reardon, commenting upon this particular parallel in The Wide World of Tobit, follows the typical pattern of thought according
to which the pagan mythology has precedence over the Hebrew version:
The
Larger World
….
The resemblance of Tobit to the Odyssey in
particular was not lost on that great student of literature, Jerome, as is
evident in a single detail of his Latin translation of Tobit in the Vulgate.
Intrigued by the literary merit of Tobit, but rejecting its canonicity, the
jocose and sometimes prankish Jerome felt free to insert into his version an
item straight out of the Odyssey—namely, the wagging of the dog’s tail on
arriving home with Tobias in 11:9—Tunc praecucurrit canis, qui simul fuerat in
via, et quasi nuntius adveniens blandimento suae caudae gaudebat—“Then the dog,
which had been with them in the way, ran before, and coming as if it had
brought the news, showed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail.”16 No
other ancient version of Tobit mentions either the tail or the wagging, but
Jerome, ever the classicist, was confident his readers would remember the
faithful but feeble old hound Argus, as the final act of his life, greeting the
return of Odysseus to the home of his father: “he endeavored to wag his tail”
(Odyssey 17.302). And to think that we owe this delightful gem to Jerome’s
rejection of Tobit’s canonicity!
[End of quote]
There
is space here for only a few more of the many further parallels that I have observed
between Tobit/Job and The Odyssey:
Further Comparisons
Only Son
Tobias was the only son of Tobit and
Anna (cf. Tobit 1:9 and 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).
Likewise
Anna referred to her son, Tobias, as 'the light of my eyes'
(Tobit 10:5).
And
Telemachus’s uncle will use that identical phrase: 'Telemachus, light of
my eyes!' (XVI, 245).
Longing for Death
The
aged Tobit, in his utter misery of blindness, 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 Laërtes 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).
The Suitors
"On
the same day" that Tobit had prayed to be released from this
life, Sarah - back home in Midian "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 informed that these seven
suitors had lustful intentions towards Sarah (6:17).
The
Odyssey also tells about Penelope, who is tormented by the
suitors who have invaded Odysseus’s home and 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 the cloth, 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 returned home (I,
32), was to be fulfilled to the letter when he dealt them all a bloody end.
And
indeed these words, a "sorry wedding" and a "quick
death", might well have been spoken of Sarah's suitors as well, once
the demon Asmodeus had finished with them. This Asmodeus is eventually overcome
by Tobias, with great assistance from the angel. Asmodeus then "fled to
the remotest parts of Egypt, and the angel bound him" (cf. Tobit 7:16
and 7:8:3). Even this episode might have its 'echo' at the beginning of The Odyssey, when the violent god,
Poseidon (legendary father of the Athenian hero Theseus - born of two fathers:
Poseidon and Aegeus, king of Athens), is found amongst "the distant
Ethiopians, the farthest outposts of mankind ..." (I, 25). Ethiopia
could indeed be described as "the remotest parts of Egypt".
Heavenly Visitor
...
she [Athene] bound under her feet her lovely sandals of untarnished gold, which
carried her with the speed of the wind.... Thus she flashed down from the
heights of Olympus. On reaching Ithaca she took her stand on the threshold of
the court in front of Odysseus' house; and to look like a visitor she assumed
the appearance of a Taphian chieftain named Mentes… (I, 27-28).
The
reader will quickly pick up the similarities between this text and the relevant
part of the Book of Tobit if I simply quote directly from the latter:
The
prayer of [Tobit and Sarah] 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).
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 ...', etc., etc. (5:9-12).
Raguel exhibited a similar sort of curiosity: 'Where are you from brethren?
.... Do you know our brother Tobit? .... Is he in good health?' (7:3, 4).
In The
Odyssey, too, this pattern (but with a Greek slant - e.g. the mention of
ships) is again most frequent - almost monotonous. Telemachus, for instance,
asks 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).
(For
further examples of this pattern of interrogation in The Odyssey, see
pp. 72; 118; 164; 175; 208; 220).
Athene
replied to Telemachus, using a phrase that I suggest may have come straight out
of the Book of Tobit - where towards the end of the story Raphael says: 'I
will not conceal anything from you' (12:11). Thus:
'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'.
Delaying One’s Guests
Another
noticeable tendency in these Israelite writings, as well as in The Odyssey,
is for hosts to insist on their guests staying longer than the latter had
intended, or had wished. This was perhaps the customary hospitality in ancient
Syro-Mesopotamia, because it is common also in Genesis (24:25-26; 29:21-31:41).
And it happens in The Book of Tobit, and indeed all the way through The
Odyssey as well. For example, Telemachus says to Athene (I, 29): '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 sanguine Raguel and 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).
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 his
tail" (Tobit 11:9).
Similarities to Other Pagan Drama
Taken from Reardon again: http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=12-02-036-f
…. some readers have found in Tobit similarities
to still other pagan themes, such as the legend of Admetus. ….
More convincing, I believe, however, are points of
contact with classical Greek theater. Martin Luther observed similarities
between Tobit and Greek comedy … but one is even more impressed by resemblances
that the Book of Tobit bears to a work of Greek tragedy—the Antigone of
Sophocles. In both stories the moral stature of the heroes is chiefly
exemplified in their bravely burying the dead in the face of official
prohibition and at the risk of official punishment. In both cases a venerable
moral tradition is maintained against a political tyranny destructive of piety.
That same Greek drama, moreover, provides a further parallel to the blindness
of Tobit in the character of blind Teiresias, himself also a man of an inner
moral vision important to the theme of the play. ….
The widespread panorama
of the Book of Tobit has inclined Reardon - who likens it in this regard to the
Book of Job - to view the whole thing as a “universal essay”, including
similarities with the Book of Jonah:
The Apocrypha’s Tobit and Literary Tradition
I like to think of the Book of Tobit as a kind of
universal essay, in the sense that its author makes considerable effort to
place his brief, rather simple narrative within a literary, historical, and
moral universe of surprising breadth and diversity, extending through the
Fertile Crescent and out both sides. To find comparable dimensions of such
large cultural exposure among biblical authors, one would have to go to
Ezekiel, Luke, or the narrator of Job.
….
Tobit’s explicit reference to Jonah is of
considerable interest in the light of certain affinities between the two books.
First and second, both stories take place about the same time [sic] and both in
Mesopotamia. Third, both accounts involve a journey. Fourth, the distressed
Tobit, like Jonah, prays to die. Fifth and most strikingly, his son Tobias
encounters a fish that attempts—with less success than Jonah’s fish—to swallow
him! Finally, in each book the fish serves as a special instrument of Divine
Providence.
Besides Jonah, Tobit shows several remarkable
affinities to the Book of Job, some of which were noted rather early in
Christian exegesis. For example, the title characters of both works shared a
zeal for purity of life, almsgiving, and other deeds of charity (Job 1 and 31;
Tobit 1–2), patient endurance of trials sent by God … a deep weariness of life
itself (Job 7:15; Tobit 3:6), a final vindication by the Lord at the end of
each book, and perhaps even a common hope of the resurrection. …. As early as
Cyprian in the third century, it was also noted that both men were similarly
mocked by wives unable to appreciate their virtue and faith in God…..
Reardon then expands upon this apparent universalism of the Book of Tobit:
The Larger World
Even when the Book of Tobit most closely touches
the other biblical literature, however, it sometimes does so along lines
reminiscent of, and running parallel to, more extensive traditions outside the
Bible.
An obvious and rather large example is the “Golden
Rule” in Tobit 4:15, “Do not do to anyone what you yourself hate.” Not only
does this prohibition substantially contain the biblical command to love one’s
neighbor as oneself … not only, furthermore, does it stand in canonical
continuity with the more positive formulation of the same Golden Rule preserved
in the Gospels … it is also the equivalent to an ideal found in other ethical
philosophies. These latter include Greek authors like Herodotus and Isocrates …
and even classical Confucianism. …. This
use of the Golden Rule thus assured Tobit a featured place in the entire
history of religion and moral philosophy…..
A similar assessment is true, I believe,
concerning the way that Tobit develops the religious symbolism of the journey.
Obviously that motif had long been part of the Bible, particularly in those
sections associated with the Exodus wandering and the return from Babylon … but
it was a topic not limited to the Bible. Back near the beginning of the second
millennium B.C., the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh Epic had inchoatively explored the
religious symbolism of the journey, and that exploration would continue down
through some of our greatest literature: the Odyssey, of course, diverse
accounts of Jason and the Argonauts, the Aeneid, etc., and eventually the
Divine Comedy, itself inspired by all of them. In a more secular form the
journey imagery continued with such works as the Endymion of Keats … even after
it had been assumed within the ascetical literature of the Church as xeneteia,
conceived as both exile and pilgrimage. A classical example of the latter use
is found in Step 3 of The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John of Mount Sinai.
