Apocalyptic storytelling: Tobit’s narrative disclosure of God’s saving ways and angel

Abstract

Euripides’ play Hippolytus has an interest and strategy in disclosing divine intervention through story form that encourages a reexamination of the Book of Tobit and a recognition of its apocalyptic focus. Hippolytus opens with the goddess Aphrodite venting about Hippolytus’ disavowal of love and her decision to curse him. From that point on, Euripides’ tragedy narrates how the goddess’ curse was realized and ends with Hippolytus’ death. Tobit begins with an account of Tobit and Sarah’s suffering that leads them to beg God for death. Ironically, God decides to end their suffering by delivering them. Similar to Hippolytus, the Book of Tobit then narrates how God’s decree is fulfilled and ends with their deliverance. Tobit’s interests set it apart from Hippolytus as it pivots on a foundational Jewish tradition of angelic deliverance. God’s decree depends upon the angel Raphael, with Tobit extending the angel of the Lord trajectory that began with Israel’s earliest traditions and informs Jewish apocalypticism. Tobit will introduce indigenous contours however, that renders its angelic intervention unparalleled. In this fashion, Hippolytus’ narrative traits invite an apocalyptic interpretation of Tobit that focuses on disclosing the mystery of divine deliverance.