|
BIBLICAL NOVELLAS
The Bible conveys the Word of God in many literary forms: historical narrative, poetry,
prophetic exhortation, wisdom sayings, and novellas (edifying stories).
In the Constitution of Divine Revelation from Vatican Ⅱ (Dei Verbum),
the council fathers give instruction of how to approach this variety: "Attention must be paid to
literary forms, for the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical
writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression. Hence the interpreter must
look for that meaning which the sacred writer intended to express and did in fact express through the medium
of a contemporary literary form" (DV 12).
The Books of Tobit, Judith, and Esther are often grouped together. They are stories told to instruct the
people concerning the ways of God, to encourage them in critical times, and to entertain. They are aids to the
imagination. While they may contain kernels of historical fact, these stories are told primarily to illustrate truths
that transcend history.
The author of the Book of Tobit, writing in the second century B.C., tells a story about the life of a devout
family in seventh-century "Assyria. He gives the people of his own time an example to follow as they struggle
with the tensions of living a faithful Jewish life in the midst of a non-Jewish civilization. Tobit, suffering from the
affliction of blindness, perseveres in good works and prayer, as do the other characters in the story.
God sends an angel who, while hidden from them, leads them to health and happiness. The conclusion
demonstrates that God does answer prayer and that perseverance in good works does not go unrewarded.
The author of the Book of Judith gives many clues that this story is beyond history. All the worst enemies of
the people ── the Assyrians of the eighth and seventh centuries, the sixth-century Babylonian king Nebuchad-
nezzar ── are rolled into one terror. The hero, Judith, is modeled on the heroes of the Book of Judges, yet her
story is also reminiscent of a second-century hero, Judas Maccabeus (1-2 Maccabees). Even the conflation of
time indications ── the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar (2:1; the year 587 B.C., when he destroyed Jerusa-
lem and took the Jews into exile) with the return from exile and rededication of the Temple (4:3; the events of
538 and 515 respectively) ── suggests God's deliverance from the most terrible circumstances.
The story may be set in a time long past, but it is meant to encourage the people of the late second century to
trust in God when their way of life is threatened. God can use even the most unlikely means, such as a widow,
a biblical figure of powerlessness and vulnerability, to deliver them from their enemies.
The Book of Esther includes several historical elements. The Persian king Xerxes (486-465 B.C.), the city of
Susa, a court official named Marduka, are all known from other sources. But further investigation shows this is
not meant to be a historical account. There is no record of Xerxes having any other queen than Amestris
and no mention of such a massacre during his reign. The book has a different puirpose:
to suggest a historical basis to
the festival of Purim, perhaps originally a Persian feast. Through the story of Esther,
Purim becomes a celebration of God's rescue of the people from persecution and certain death.
The message conveyed in these stories is not confined to one geographic place or historical period.
It remains a valid expression of God's care for faithful people in every time and place.
THE BOOK OF TOBIT
The Book of Tobit, named after its principal character, combines Jewish piety and morality with folklore in a
fascinating story that has enjoyed wide popularity in both Jewish and Christian circles. Prayers, psalms, and
words of wisdom, as well as the skillfully constructed story itself, provide valuable insights into the faith
and the religious milieu of its unknown author. The book was probably written early
in the second century B.C.; it is not known where.
Tobit, a devout and wealthy Israelite living among the captives deported to Nineveh from the Northern
Kingdom of Israel in 722/721 B.C., suffers severe reverses and is finally blinded. Because of his misfortunes he
begs the Lord to let him die. But recalling the large sum he had formerly deposited in far-off Media,
he sends his son Tobiah there to bring back the money. In Media, at this same time,
a young woman, Sarah, also prays for death, because she has lost seven husbands, each killed in turn
on his wedding night by the demon Asmodeus. God hears the prayers of Tobit and Sarah
and sends the angel Raphael in human form to aid them both.
Raphael makes the trip to Media with Tobiah. When Tobiah is attacked by a large fish as he bathes in the
Tigris River, Raphael orders him to seize it and to remove its gall, heart, and liver
because they are useful for medicine. Later, at Raphael's urging, Tobiah marries Sarah,
and uses the fish's heart and liver to drive Asmodeus from the bridal chamber.
Returning to Nineveh with his wife and his father's money. Tobiah rubs the fish's gall into his father's eyes
and cures him. Finally, Raphael reveals his true identity and returns to heaven.
Tobit then utters his beautiful hymn of praise. Before dying, Tobit tells his son to leave Nineveh
because God will destroy that wicked city. After Tobiah buries his father and mother, he and his family
depart for Media, where he later learns that the destruction of Nineveh has taken place.
The inspired author of the book used the literary form of religious novel (as in Esther and Judith) for the
purpose of instruction and edification. The seemingly historical data, names of kings, cities, etc., are used as
vivid details not only to create interest and charm, but also to illustrate the negative side of the theory of
retribution: the wicked are indeed punished.
Although the Book of Tobit is usually listed with the historical books, it more correctly stands midway
between them and the wisdom literature. It contains numerous maxims like those found in the wisdom books
(cf. 4:3-19, 21; 12:6-10; 14:7, 9) as well as standard wisdom themes: fidelity to the law, intercessory function
of angels, piety toward parents, purity of marriage, reverence for the dead, and the value of almsgiving,
prayer, and fasting. The book makes Tobit a relative of Ahiqar,
a noted hero of ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature and folklore.
Written most likely in Aramaic, the original of the book was lost for centuries.
Fragments of four Aramaic texts and of one Hebrew text were discovered in Qumran Cave 4 in 1952
and have only recently been published. These Semitic forms of the book are in substantial agreement
with the long Greek recension of Tobit found in Codex Sinaiticus, which had been recovered
from St. Catherine's Monastery (Mount Sinai) only in 1844, and in mss. 319 and 910.
Two other Greek forms of Tobit have long been known: the short recension, found mainly in the mss.
Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, Venetus, and numerous cursive mss.; and an intermediate Greek recension,
found in mss. 44, 106, 107. The Book of Tobit has also been known from two Latin versions:
the long recension in the Vetus Latina, which is closely related to the long Greek recension
and sometimes is even closer to the Aramaic and Hebrew texts than the Greek is; and the short recension
in the Vulgate, related to the short Greek recension.
The present English translation has been based mainly on Sinaiticus, which is the most complete form
of the long Greek recension, despite two lacunae (4:7-19b and 13:6i-10b) and some missing phrases,
which make succeeding verses difficult to understand and make it necessary to supplement Sinaiticus
from the Vetus Latina or from the short Greek recension. Occasionally, phrases or words have been
introduced from the Aramaic or Hebrew texts, when they are significantly different.
Forms of the Book of Tobit are also extant in ancient Arabic, Armenian, Coptic (Sahidic), Ethiopic,.
and Syriac, but these are almost all secondarily derived from the
short Greek recension.
The divisions of the Book of Tobit are:
Ⅰ. Tobit's Ordeals (1:3-3:6)
Ⅱ. Sarah's Plight (3:7-17)
Ⅲ. Preparation for the Journey (4:1-6:1)
Ⅳ. Tobiah's Journey to Media (6:2-18)
Ⅴ. Marriage and Healing of Sarah (7:1-9:6)
Ⅵ. Tobiah's Return Journey to Nineveh and the Healing of Tobit (10:1-11:18)
Ⅶ. Raphael Reveals His Identity (12:1-22)
Ⅷ. Tobit's Song of Praise (13:1-18)
Ⅸ. Epilogue (14:1-15)
1
Tobit.
1. This book tells the story of Tobit,
son of Tobiel, son of Hananiel, son of Aduel, son of Gabael,
son of Raphael, son of Raguel, of the family of Asiel and the tribe of Naphtali.
2. During the days of Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians,
he was taken captive from Thisbe,
which is south of Kedesh Naphtali in upper Galilee,
above and to the west of Asher, north of Phogor.
Ⅰ. Tobit's Ordeals
His Virtue.
3. I, Tobit, have walked all the days of my life
on paths of fidelity and righteousness.
I performed many charitable deeds for my kindred and my people
who had been taken captive with me to Nineveh,
in the land of the Assyrians.
4. When I lived as a young man in my own country, in the land of Israel,
the entire tribe of my ancestor Naphtali broke away from the house of David,
my ancestor, and from Jerusalem, the city that had been singled out
of all Israel's tribes that all Israel might offer sacrifice there.
It was the place where the temple, God's dwelling, had been built
and consecrated for all generations to come.
5. All my kindred, as well as the house of Naphtali, my ancestor,
used to offer sacrifice on every hilltop in Galilee to the calf
that Jeroboam, king of Israel, had made in Dan.
6. But I alone used to go often to Jerusalem for the festivals,
as was prescribed for all Israel by longstanding decree.
Bringing with me the first fruits of crops, the firstlings of the flock,
the tithes of livestock, and the first shearings of sheep,
I used to hasten to Jerusalem
7. and present them to the priests, Aaron's sons, at the altar.
To the Levites ministering in Jerusalem I used to give the tithe of grain,
wine, olive oil, pomegranates, figs, and other fruits.
Six years in a row, I used to give a second tithe in money,
which each year I would go to pay in Jerusalem.
8. The third-year tithe I gave to orphans, widows,
and converts who had joined the Israelites.
Every third year I would bring them this offering, and we ate it in keeping
with the decree laid down in the Mosaic law concerning it,
and according to the commands of Deborah, the mother of my father Tobiel;
for my father had died and left me an orphan.
9. When I reached manhood, I married Anna, a woman of our ancestral family.
By her I had a son whom I named Tobiah.
10. Now, after I had been deported to the Assyrians
and came as a captive to Nineveh, all my kindred and my people
used to eat the food of the Gentiles,
11. but I refrained from eating that Gentile food.
12. Because I was mindful of Goid with all my heart,
13. the Most High granted me favor and status with Shalmaneser,
so that I became purchasing agent for all his needs.
14. Until he died, I would go to Media to buy goods for him there.
I also deposited pouches of silver worth ten talents in trust
with my kinsman Gabael, son of Gabri, who lived at Rages, in the land of Media.
15. When Shalmaneser died and his son Sennacherib came to rule in his stead,
the roads to Media became unsafe, so I could no longer go to Media.
Courage in Burying the Dead.
16. In the days of Shalmaneser I had performed many charitable deeds
for my kindred, members of my people.
17. I would give my bread to the hungry and clothing to the naked.
If I saw one of my people who had died
and been thrown behind the wall of Nineveh, I used to bury him.
18. Sennacherib returned from Judea,
having fled during the days of the judgment enacted against him
by the King of Heaven because of the blasphemies he had uttered;
whomever he killed I buried. For in his rage he killed many Israelites,
but I used to take their bodies away by stealth and bury them.
So when Sennacherib looked for them, he could not find them.
19. But a certain Ninevite went and informed the king about me,
that I was burying them, and I went into hiding.
When I realized that the king knew about me
and that I was being hunted to be put to death, I became afraid and took flight.
20. All my property was confiscated; I was left with nothing.
All that I had was taken to the king's palace,
except for my wife Anna and my son Tobiah.
21. But forty days did not pass before two of the king's sons assassinated him
and fled to the mountains of Ararat.
A son of his, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as king.
He put Ahiqar, my kinsman Anael's son,
in charge of all the credit accounts of his kingdom,
and he took control over the entire administration.
22. Then Ahiqar interceded on my behalf, and I returned to Nineveh.
Ahiqar had been chief cupbearer, keeper of the signet ring, treasury accountant,
and credit accountant under Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians;
and Esarhaddon appointed him as Second to himself.
He was, in fact, my nephew, of my father's house, and of my own family.
|