Francis M. Macatanguay, «Mistos and Irony in the Book of Tobit»
The deuterocanonical Book of Tobit is a delightful story that employs ironic flourishes in its narrative. The word mistos which literally means 'wages' and figuratively connotes 'reward' appears frequently in the story. It is argued that the narrative use of the word participates in dramatic irony. As a rhetorical strategy, the irony addresses the limitations of the title character’s espousal of the traditional typology for reward and punishment.
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Μισθός AND IRONY IN THE BOOK OF TOBIT
(4,21). Such advice is ironic given that Tobias is in fact on a journey to re-
trieve a considerable sum of money to secure the family from financial
woes and miseries upon Tobit’s death. Moreover, the promise of “good
things†as a reward may be an excellent motive for Tobias to follow his
father ’s advice, but Tobit’s wretched condition speaks louder than his
words. These few examples show that the Book of Tobit dispenses irony
from its narrative storehouse of rhetorical strategies.
This short study explores another instance of irony in the story involv-
ing the narrative use of the word μισθός. Literally, μισθός means wages,
payment for work done, or the amount offered for services rendered. Fig-
uratively, it connotes reward or recompense. It is a word the Book of Tobit
employs quite often. In fact, it appears 17 times in the long Greek recen-
sion of the book 4. Since this Greek text, often referred to as GII, enjoys
affinity to the Qumran fragments (4Q196-200), it is likely the more orig-
inal Greek recension and enjoys a better claim to antiquity 5. With such a
multitude of occurrences, the word μισθός appears more often in the Book
of Tobit than in any other Old Testament text in the LXX. It is not far off
the mark to say that one of its narrative concerns is the theme of reward.
I. Irony
Before investigating how μισθός is used ironically in the story, it will
be helpful to clarify the meaning of irony. If there is a consensus among lit-
erary critics, it is the claim that irony is a notoriously difficult phenomenon
to define. Edwin Good claims that “irony, like love, is more readily recog-
nized than defined†6. Nonetheless, there are certain characteristics common
4
In GII, μισθός occurs twice in Tob 2,12, once in 2,14, four times in 4,14,
once in 5,3.7.10.15.16, twice in 12,1, and once in 12,2.3.5. The lacuna in GII
is filled by ms 319. The texts consulted include R. HANHART, Tobit (Septuag-
inta Vetus Testamentum Graecum VIII, 5; Göttingen 1983); C.J. WAGNER,
Polyglotte Tobit-Synopse: Griechish – Lateinisch – Syrisch – Hebräisch –
Aramäisch. Mit einem Index zu den Tobit-Fragmenten vom Toten Meer
(MSN; Göttingen 2003); S. WEEKS – S. GATHERCOLE – L. STUCKENBRUCK,
Tobit. Texts from the Principal Ancient and Medieval Traditions. With Syn-
opsis, Concordances, and Annotated Texts in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin
and Syriac (FoSub 3; Berlin 2004).
5
For recent studies of the text of the Book of Tobit, see M. HALLERMAYER,
Text und Ãœberlieferung des Buches Tobit (DCLS 3; Berlin 2008) and G. TOLONI,
L’originale del libro di Tobia. Studio filologico-linguistico (Textos y estudios
‘Cardinal Cisneros’ de la BÃblia PolÃglota Matritense 71; Madrid 2004).
6
E.M. GOOD, Irony in the Old Testament (Philadelphia, PA 1965) 13.