An Atheist Explores the Apocrypha Part Nine: Whatever Happened To The Dog? (Tobit 11-14)
Tobit 11-14
Whatever Happened To The Dog?
Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Apocrypha version).
In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Old Testament Apocrypha, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.
For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/3aEJ6Q5
For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP
And now:
Tobit 11
“Therefore anoint thou his eyes with the gall, and being pricked therewith, he shall rub, and the whiteness shall fall away, and he shall see thee.”
The second Chekov’s Gun of the fish guts gets used in this chapter. Tobias returns home, where there is much rejoicing to see him again, and following Raphael’s advice he rubs fish guts into his father’s eyes.
All this seems to be, as a cure, is a stimulus to make Tobit rub sleep out of his eyes, because “when his eyes began to smart, he rubbed them; And the whiteness pilled away from the corners of his eyes”. It’s… not much of a miracle cure. And probably don’t try this at home kids.
The happy loving family theme continues, “And when he came near to Sara his daughter in law, he blessed her, saying, Thou art welcome, daughter: God be blessed, which hath brought thee unto us, and blessed be thy father and thy mother. And there was joy among all his brethren which were at Nineve”. As I said last time, it’s all very cheery and warm for the Bible. One last family member gets another mention – the dog (“So they went their way, and the dog went after them”). Is the dog going to be another Chekov’s Gun that gets fired before the end of the book?
Tobit 12
“Then Tobit called his son Tobias, and said unto him, My son, see that the man have his wages, which went with thee, and thou must give him more.”
Tobit offers payment to Raphael, which Tobias gladly agrees to because of all the help, and matchmaking, that Raphael has done. At which point, Raph reveals that he was an angel all along – “I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One”. One of seven? Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, Raphael, I wonder who the other three are? And this is an interesting little bit of theology, giving God “helpers”. I wondered before if the “angels” were meant to be avatars of God rather than separate entities. Not here, it would seem.
Raphael gives the Tobit family some advice – “A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness”, and tells Tobit that it was known to God when he used to go out and secretly give people burial rites. And then he vanishes.
Tobit 13
“Then Tobit wrote a prayer of rejoicing, and said, Blessed be God that liveth for ever, and blessed be his kingdom.”
Following Raphael’s suggestion, Tobit writes a prayer, of which this chapter is it (or most likely the first part, continued next chapter).
I don’t have a lot to say on it, it’s much like many of the psalms proclaiming how great God is, how “he will scourge us for our iniquities, and will have mercy again, and will gather us out of all nations, among whom he hath scattered us” and that “If ye turn to him with your whole heart, and with your whole mind, and deal uprightly before him, then will he turn unto you, and will not hide his face from you”.
There’ a lot about Jerusalem being rebuilt, “with sapphires and emeralds, and precious stone: thy walls and towers and battlements with pure gold. And the streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with beryl and carbuncle and stones of Ophir”. I thought Ophir was a type of gin, but never mind. I’m assuming a level of poetic licence here, since it doesn’t sound very structurally sound.
There are also a couple of New-Testament-y bits, and not knowing the provenance of Tobit I couldn’t say if they were written after some of the NT texts (I don’t think so) ,or if bits of the NT were included to resonate with them (or, of course, it’s all the unblemished word of God and therefore fits together seamlessly…). At one point Tobit writes that “Many nations shall come from far to the name of the Lord God with gifts in their hands, even gifts to the King of heaven; all generations shall praise thee with great joy”, which sounds kind of like the three magi, and also “blessed are they which have been sorrowful for all thy scourges; for they shall rejoice for thee, when they have seen all thy glory, and shall be glad for ever” sounds a bit like the Sermon on the Mount. Another option would be if Jesus was familiar with Tobit and was including this bit in His philosophy. Whichever route you want to take, divine or authorial, it’s an interesting parallel.
Tobit 14
“And he was eight and fifty years old when he lost his sight, which was restored to him after eight years: and he gave alms, and he increased in the fear of the Lord God, and praised him.”
I was wrong, the last chapter was the entirety of Tobit’s prayer, since this chapter begins with a verse that would have made more sense at the end of last chapter – “So Tobit made an end of praising God”.
Tobit, on his death bed, tells Tobias to take his family (which now includes children) and leave Nineveh in case the destruction prophesied by Jonah comes true. Now, I was under the impression that because the people of Nineveh did an unusual thing for OT people and actually listened to the prophet, Nineveh didn’t get destroyed (much to Jonah’s disappointment). I mean, if we’re just going to interpret it as “some time in the future eventually”, then that’s not a prophecy. Much like God’s warning to Adam that “ye shall surely die” if he ate the forbidden fruit. And he does… 900 years later!
And talking of old age, Tobit dies at the age of 158, and Tobias lives to 127. He does leave Nineveh, going to live with the in-laws. All the old folk get buried with honours and Tobias inherits everything from both sides, “But before he died he heard of the destruction of Nineve, which was taken by Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus: and before his death he rejoiced over Nineve”. Why? Why would you rejoice at the destruction of a city by a foreign power?
And what ever happened to the dog?
So that was Tobit, a generally heart-warming tale of a boy’s adventures with a dog and an angel, bird poo in the eyes and a pleasing lack of family drama. I’m not sure what lessons can be learned, but it generally seems to be saying to be nice to each other. No wonder it didn’t fit with a lot of the OT.
Whatever Happened To The Dog?
Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Apocrypha version).
In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Old Testament Apocrypha, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.
For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/3aEJ6Q5
For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP
And now:
Tobit 11
“Therefore anoint thou his eyes with the gall, and being pricked therewith, he shall rub, and the whiteness shall fall away, and he shall see thee.”
The second Chekov’s Gun of the fish guts gets used in this chapter. Tobias returns home, where there is much rejoicing to see him again, and following Raphael’s advice he rubs fish guts into his father’s eyes.
All this seems to be, as a cure, is a stimulus to make Tobit rub sleep out of his eyes, because “when his eyes began to smart, he rubbed them; And the whiteness pilled away from the corners of his eyes”. It’s… not much of a miracle cure. And probably don’t try this at home kids.
The happy loving family theme continues, “And when he came near to Sara his daughter in law, he blessed her, saying, Thou art welcome, daughter: God be blessed, which hath brought thee unto us, and blessed be thy father and thy mother. And there was joy among all his brethren which were at Nineve”. As I said last time, it’s all very cheery and warm for the Bible. One last family member gets another mention – the dog (“So they went their way, and the dog went after them”). Is the dog going to be another Chekov’s Gun that gets fired before the end of the book?
Tobit 12
“Then Tobit called his son Tobias, and said unto him, My son, see that the man have his wages, which went with thee, and thou must give him more.”
Tobit offers payment to Raphael, which Tobias gladly agrees to because of all the help, and matchmaking, that Raphael has done. At which point, Raph reveals that he was an angel all along – “I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One”. One of seven? Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, Raphael, I wonder who the other three are? And this is an interesting little bit of theology, giving God “helpers”. I wondered before if the “angels” were meant to be avatars of God rather than separate entities. Not here, it would seem.
Raphael gives the Tobit family some advice – “A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness”, and tells Tobit that it was known to God when he used to go out and secretly give people burial rites. And then he vanishes.
Tobit 13
“Then Tobit wrote a prayer of rejoicing, and said, Blessed be God that liveth for ever, and blessed be his kingdom.”
Following Raphael’s suggestion, Tobit writes a prayer, of which this chapter is it (or most likely the first part, continued next chapter).
I don’t have a lot to say on it, it’s much like many of the psalms proclaiming how great God is, how “he will scourge us for our iniquities, and will have mercy again, and will gather us out of all nations, among whom he hath scattered us” and that “If ye turn to him with your whole heart, and with your whole mind, and deal uprightly before him, then will he turn unto you, and will not hide his face from you”.
There’ a lot about Jerusalem being rebuilt, “with sapphires and emeralds, and precious stone: thy walls and towers and battlements with pure gold. And the streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with beryl and carbuncle and stones of Ophir”. I thought Ophir was a type of gin, but never mind. I’m assuming a level of poetic licence here, since it doesn’t sound very structurally sound.
There are also a couple of New-Testament-y bits, and not knowing the provenance of Tobit I couldn’t say if they were written after some of the NT texts (I don’t think so) ,or if bits of the NT were included to resonate with them (or, of course, it’s all the unblemished word of God and therefore fits together seamlessly…). At one point Tobit writes that “Many nations shall come from far to the name of the Lord God with gifts in their hands, even gifts to the King of heaven; all generations shall praise thee with great joy”, which sounds kind of like the three magi, and also “blessed are they which have been sorrowful for all thy scourges; for they shall rejoice for thee, when they have seen all thy glory, and shall be glad for ever” sounds a bit like the Sermon on the Mount. Another option would be if Jesus was familiar with Tobit and was including this bit in His philosophy. Whichever route you want to take, divine or authorial, it’s an interesting parallel.
Tobit 14
“And he was eight and fifty years old when he lost his sight, which was restored to him after eight years: and he gave alms, and he increased in the fear of the Lord God, and praised him.”
I was wrong, the last chapter was the entirety of Tobit’s prayer, since this chapter begins with a verse that would have made more sense at the end of last chapter – “So Tobit made an end of praising God”.
Tobit, on his death bed, tells Tobias to take his family (which now includes children) and leave Nineveh in case the destruction prophesied by Jonah comes true. Now, I was under the impression that because the people of Nineveh did an unusual thing for OT people and actually listened to the prophet, Nineveh didn’t get destroyed (much to Jonah’s disappointment). I mean, if we’re just going to interpret it as “some time in the future eventually”, then that’s not a prophecy. Much like God’s warning to Adam that “ye shall surely die” if he ate the forbidden fruit. And he does… 900 years later!
And talking of old age, Tobit dies at the age of 158, and Tobias lives to 127. He does leave Nineveh, going to live with the in-laws. All the old folk get buried with honours and Tobias inherits everything from both sides, “But before he died he heard of the destruction of Nineve, which was taken by Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus: and before his death he rejoiced over Nineve”. Why? Why would you rejoice at the destruction of a city by a foreign power?
And what ever happened to the dog?
So that was Tobit, a generally heart-warming tale of a boy’s adventures with a dog and an angel, bird poo in the eyes and a pleasing lack of family drama. I’m not sure what lessons can be learned, but it generally seems to be saying to be nice to each other. No wonder it didn’t fit with a lot of the OT.
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