tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9396860.post111357383865908804..comments2024-03-28T08:41:17.341-04:00Comments on <center> Ralph the Sacred River </center>: Tobit's DogEdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188482189638751204noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9396860.post-73586120233573118762015-10-14T22:29:08.840-04:002015-10-14T22:29:08.840-04:00I read Michael Nicholas Richard’s book Tobit’s Dog...I read Michael Nicholas Richard’s book Tobit’s Dog in a single sitting. And then I picked up the Bible, and read the Book of Tobit. The dog is only mentioned twice in the Bible, but he becomes a key character in Richard’s book. I guess that’s why it’s called fiction --- and maybe why I liked it so much.<br /><br />Marlene<br /><a href="https://godscall.tv" rel="nofollow">Must see Is God Real website</a>Marlene Detierrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09035816972520443608noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9396860.post-1113679684860260192005-04-16T15:28:00.000-04:002005-04-16T15:28:00.000-04:00Telling is the Jewish position on dogs, namely as ...Telling is the Jewish position on dogs, namely as unclean animals. The scholars I've read suggest the dog is a remnant from a secular version of the Tobit story, possibly of Persian or Sumerian origin.<BR/><BR/>The Anchor Bible mentions a saying from the Ahiqar tale, "My son, sweeten your tongue and make savory the opening of your mouth; for the tail of a dog gives him bread, and his mouth gets him blows."<BR/><BR/>Dogs also assisted people in subduing demons in certain pagan traditions, but the dog doesn't appear to be closely associated with Raphael.<BR/><BR/>Jewish assimilation in non-Palestinians cultures might have rendered them more open to the acceptance of a dog than Jews in their homeland.<BR/><BR/>Finally, a friend has inquired if I plan to add the dog to the stage production of my musical based on Tobit. My wife's dog has a mild enough personality, but would be frightened considerably at the prospect of assisting against demons and strange fish.Toddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01191406902235512701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9396860.post-1113601479560780672005-04-15T17:44:00.000-04:002005-04-15T17:44:00.000-04:00Perhaps one should not take it for granted that th...Perhaps one should not take it for granted that the dog was Tobias' dog. In the codex Vaticanus 5:17 it is the dog of the lad, i.e. Tobias, but in the Codex Sinaiticus the dog appears first in 6:2, and it is not clear whose dog it is. Note that the Sinaiticus has the longer version which is presently regarded as the more original. <BR/>A minority of (mainly older) scholars who have posited a Persian background for the story have referred to the holy character of dogs in Zoroastrianism, being opposed to evil demons, and have compared Raphael to Sraosha. <BR/>This idea has been taken up again in the novel Miss Garnet's Angel by Sally Vickers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9396860.post-1113585479416078482005-04-15T13:17:00.000-04:002005-04-15T13:17:00.000-04:00There is an old theory that the dog really belongs...There is an old theory that the dog really belongs in the Odyssey, because the book of Tobit, besides emulating the book of Job (Deborah Dimant wrote about that, I think in the book Mikra co-edited by the late M.J. Mulder and my Kampen colleague Harry Sysling), supposedly emulates also the episode of the journey of Telemachus in the Odyssey. Cfr. Carl Fries, ‘Das Buch Tobit und die Telemachie’, Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Theologie 53 (1911) 54-87; Dennis R. MacDonald, ‘Tobit and the Odyssey’, in: Dennis R. MacDonald (ed.), Mimesis and Intertextuality in Antiquity and Christianity (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2001) 11-40; George W.E. Nickelsburg, ‘Tobit, Genesis, and the Odyssey: A Complex Web of Intertextuality’, in the same volume, 41-55. <BR/>A few years ago on holiday I heard a nice sermon about the fish in the book (another strange beast!), one of the very rare cases I heard it being referred to in our church. Jan-Wim Wesselius, Theological University of Kampen, The NetherlandsJan-Wim Wesseliushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07744228692215821862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9396860.post-1113576599873427092005-04-15T10:49:00.000-04:002005-04-15T10:49:00.000-04:00Great post! I've wondered at the dog in the story ...Great post! I've wondered at the dog in the story before myself, but not followed through on that at all. What I want to know is, "What kind of dog was it, and what does this tell us about canine migratory patterns and the history of canine domestication?" ;-)Michael Pahlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06225370303628344885noreply@blogger.com