Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 87 No. 2, 2017.
Original scientific paper
Angels And Demons In The Book Of Tobit
Drago Župarić
; The Catholic Faculty of Theology University of Sarajevo, Bosna and Herzegovina
Abstract
This article is comprised of two parts and deals with angels and demons in the Book of Tobit. Following a short presentation of Old Testament and New Testament angelic doctrine, the first section deals with angels in the Book of Tobit, mainly Azarias, i.e. the archangel Raphael, who was Tobias’ escort on his journey and the healer of Tobit and Sarah. The concluding portion of the first section deals with who the angels are in the Book of Tobit, and what the key message of Raphael is. Along with the »experience« of the angelic, in the Book of Tobit we also recognize the demonic in the traditional sense of the word. This is covered in the second part of this paper, especially concerning the demon Asmodeus, the enemy of marital union. The
author of the Book of Tobit uses the character of the demon (δαιμόνιον) to highlight the inclination of God towards the righteous. By introducing the evil spirit Asmodeus at the narrative level two objectives are reached: first, that Sarah is intended for Tobit, and the second, that something is said about the holiness of marriage, about the seriousness and honesty of intention in the person getting married. On a literary level, the demon is a fairy tale element; at the human level, it represents the necessity of the suffering of life; on a theological level, the demon represents the presence of evil in life which cannot be overcome without the help of God.
Keywords
angelology; demonology; archangel Raphael; demon Asmodeus; the message of angel
Hrčak ID:
184969
URI
Publication date:
20.7.2017.
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