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
the righteous rewarded? Is suffering a pointer to a lack of divine reward?
What shape and form does divine recompense take? If indeed the Book of
Tobit includes Deuteronomy as one of its influences 13, then the narrative
can count as one of its merits the creative attempt to address by way of
irony the theological conundrum inherent in the traditional typology for re-
ward and punishment as espoused by the title character.
The irony in the narrative use of the word μισθός is a rhetorical strat-
egy employed to respond to the limitations of this moral calculus which
does not sit as easily in Tobit. On the one hand, a certain strand of the
story views μισθός literally as wages, applying the term to payment given
to a faithful man and never to the reward God gives to a Torah-abiding
person. On the other hand, the narrative typically connects or associates
μισθός with bonuses; they are an added compensation that is not neces-
sarily linked to an act or a particular service rendered. The reader per-
ceives then that μισθός also embraces the unimaginable recompense of
providence that God bestows on those who maintain their fidelity in any
given situation even in the midst of exile and suffering. God rewards, and
his μισθός can come in veiled and unexpected ways. God’s reward is said
to be “good thingsâ€, but these “good things†or “works of God†are left
unspecified in Raphael’s speech. In Tobit’s case, it is the angelic assurance
and revelation that God continues to be secretly at work on their behalf.
The discrepancy in perspective on μισθός conveys the conviction that if
Tobit and Tobias can promise and assure an ἄνθÏωπον πιστόν a generous
μισθόν or wages with added compensation for his services, how much
more will God recompense the faithful servant who obediently walks in
his ways. Certainly, the divine recompense, like unearned bonuses, is not
commensurate with any particular human deed.
The God of mercy is just as active in bestowing rewards; the how of
it however remains mysterious or hidden. Early on in the story, the good
things that God has done for Tobit and Sarah and their respective families
have been set and specified (cf. 3,16-17); divine providence is already at
work14. The outcome is determined, and it does not rest on human deci-
sions because God’s intentions are already fixed; God is fully in control
omistic Theologyâ€, CBQ 51 (1989) 209-231. M.D. KIEL, The “Whole Truthâ€.
Rethinking Retribution in the Book of Tobit (LSTS 82; London 2012) 59-78,
questions the parsing of retribution in Tobit as deuteronomic.
13
S. WEEKS, “A Deuteronomic Heritage in Tobit?â€, Changes in Scripture.
Rewriting and Interpreting Authoritative Traditions in the Second Temple Pe-
riod (BZAW 419; Berlin 2011) 389-404, argues that the deuteronomic influence
is just one of the theological tendencies jockeying for position in the story.
14
R.S. SCHELLENBERG, “Suspense, Simultaneity, and Divine Providence in
the Book of Tobitâ€, JBL 130 (2011) 313-327, argues that the tidiness of the
narrative bears out the story’s theological theme of providence.