Tobias and the angel

Yesterday was All Souls day, and as I was walking through the cemeteries, I thought often about why our race buries their dead, and why particularly those of Jewish and Catholic communities use such elaborate ceremonial for funeral and burial/cremation. And I remembered Tobias (Hebrew, Tobi-yah), a short story in our Old Testaments that is little used, and little known. And I thought it would be nice to walk through. Every good story is based on a real figure, even if that figure is lost in the mists of history, and Tobias was a displaced Jew from among the northern tribes, whose kingdom based at the Hebrew city of Samaria had been been destroyed by the Assyrian empire and the people dispersed. Tobias was a religious man and particularly known for burial of dead bodies that the Assyrians commanded be left to carrion birds and animals. This was a particular mark of disrespect that even Hebrews paid to foreigners they themselves disliked (such as the Phoenician princess Jezebel, who married the Israelite king Achab, and who not long before the story of Tobias had been murdered and her body left to the dogs). Not a very nice thing to do, but Tobias was different; at great risk and in defiance of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, he buried the dead…

“…it was Tobias’ daily task to visit his own clansmen, comforting them and providing for each of them as best he could, out of what store he had; it was for him to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to honour with careful burial men that had died of sickness, and men slain. When Sennacherib came home from Judaea, escaping while he might from the divine vengeance his blasphemies had brought upon him, he killed many an Israelite in his anger; and these too Tobias would bury. When this came to the king’s ears, he gave orders that Tobias should be put to death, and seized all his property; but he escaped, with his wife and son, into safe hiding; destitute as he was, he had many friends…”

Tobias, 1: 19-23 [link]

And so, Tobias became an enemy of the state. But he persisted, but however accidentally lost his sight. Even his wife cursed him for his persistence in virtue, although he had apparently lost the favour of God, since he was now blind. But he, now dependent on his wife’s earnings, counselled patience and perseverance, for the Hebrews although living in exile were of ‘a holy stock.’

“Kinsman and clansman might taunt him, as Job was taunted by his fellow chieftains; might call him a fool for his pains, and ask whether this was the reward he had hoped for when he gave alms, and went a-burying; Tobias took them up short. ‘Nay,’ said he, ‘never talk thus; we come of holy stock, you and I, and God has life waiting for us if we will but keep faith with Him.’ His wife Anna went every day to work at the loom, bringing home what earnings she could; and one day it was a kid that was given her for her wages. When she brought this home, and its bleating reached her husband’s ears, he made great ado for fear it had been stolen; ‘Nay,’ he said, ‘this must be restored to its owner; never shall it be said that we ate stolen food, or soiled our hands with theft!’ ‘Fine talk,’ said she, ‘but the like hopes have played thee false already; what hast thou to shew, now, for all thy almsgiving?’ With such taunts as these even his wife assailed him.”

Tobias, 2: 15-23 [link]

And so, Tobias called upon the Name of the Most High, with a wonderful little prayer that has entered into the divine office of the Church’s prayer. But Tobias is convinced that his blindness is permanent, and life has become a burden for him, and he calls for God to bring him home. And he mourns the state of his exiled people, the Hebrews, calling this exile a fitting punishment for their infidelity.

“‘Lord,’ he said, ‘Thou hast right on Thy side; no award of Thine but is deserved, no act of Thine but tells of mercy, of faithfulness, and of justice. Yet bethink Thee, Lord, of my case; leave my sins unpunished, my guilt, and the guilt of my parents, forgotten. If we are doomed to loss, to banishment and to death, if Thou hast made us a by-word and a laughing-stock in all the countries to which Thou hast banished us, it is because we have defied Thy commandments; it was fitting punishment, Lord, for the men who neglected Thy bidding, and were half-hearted followers of Thine. And now, Lord, do with me as Thy will is, give the word, and take my spirit to Thyself in peace; for me, death is more welcome than life.'”

Tobias, 3: 2-6 [link]

And the prayer is heard, and the story proceeds, for an angel arrives and solves many problems for the family of Tobias, including a cure for his blindness. And the angel reminds him that he buried the dead, and that the Holy One had marked that carefully and sent the angel to him on account of it.

“‘Come, let me tell you the whole truth of the matter, bring the hidden purpose of it to light. When thou, Tobias, wert praying, and with tears, when thou wert burying the dead, leaving thy dinner untasted, so as to hide them all day in thy house, and at night give them funeral, I, all the while, was offering that prayer of thine to the Lord. Then, because thou hadst won His favour, needs must that trials should come, and test thy worth. And now, for thy healing, for the deliverance of thy son’s wife Sara from the fiend’s attack, He has chosen me for His messenger. Who am I? I am the angel Raphael, and my place is among those seven who stand in the presence of the Lord.'”

Tobias, 12: 11-15 [link]

I shouldn’t end this short description of the Hebrew custom of burying the dead without mentioning the other Jewish custom of praying for the dead, a custom the Church inherited from her very Jewish Lord and His apostles. For evidence of this, we shall look to the second book of Maccabees, where the priest-warrior Judas Maccabeus encourages this custom among his soldiers. Again, the question is the burial of bodies, this time of Jewish soldiers. Unfortunately, those men seem to have fallen to the old sin of idolatry, greatly deplored. Martyrs for the nation, but fallen as sinners! What should their brother soldiers still living do for them…? Pray for their forgiveness and then lay up money for a sacrifice to be made at the Temple, for the sake of dead sinners. A pious wish, with the resurrection of those sinners in mind!

“Next day, with Judas at their head, they went back to recover the bodies of the slain, for burial among their own folk in their fathers’ graves; and what found they? Each of the fallen was wearing, under his shirt, some token carried away from the false gods of Jamnia. Here was defiance of the Jewish law, and none doubted it was the cause of their undoing; none but praised the Lord for His just retribution, that had brought hidden things to light; and so they fell to prayer, pleading that the sin might go unremembered. Judas himself, their gallant commander, gave public warning to his men, of fault they should evermore keep clear, with the fate of these transgressors under their eyes. Then he would have contribution made; a sum of twelve thousand silver pieces he levied, and sent it to Jerusalem, to have sacrifice made there for the guilt of their dead companions. Was not this well done and piously? Here was a man kept the resurrection ever in mind; he had done fondly and foolishly indeed, to pray for the dead, if these might rise no more, that once were fallen! And these had made a godly end; could he doubt, a rich recompense awaited them? A holy and wholesome thought it is to pray for the dead, for their guilt’s undoing.”

II Maccabees, 12: 39-46 [link]

We Catholics would call the same offering (here described) a Mass for the eternal repose of the deceased. For it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead, for their guilt’s undoing.