Post by Matt MengeI was wondering if there was any indication of fiction existing in
Bible times. After all, if there was no fiiction people would be very
tempted to make up religious stories.
Regards,
Matt
I'm Catholic, so the Bible we use includes the seven deuterocanonical
books (apocryphal to Protestants) , one of whichis Tobit, which was a
Jewish yarn.
I'll quote from The Collegeville Bible Commentary (a Catholic based
commentary).
"The Book of Tobit was written around the beginning of the second
century BCE. Alexander' the Great's powerful sweep through the Near
East ..... (brought) marked Hellenisation. ..... Jewiish response to
Hellenisation was mixed... The author of Tobit wrote for Jews who were
concerned about being faithful to God and who were questioning God's
fidelity to them in the midst of this cultural turmoil.
The author uses several old folk tales - the Grateful Dead, the
Monster in the Bridal Chamber, and the Story of Ahiqar -as the
framework for his story about two ordinary believers, Tobit and
Sarah."
(End of quote)
If you read the story, both Tobit and Sarah are plagued by various
disasters, reminiscent of the disasters befalling the Jews. The
author uses these people as being representative of faithful Judaism,
which is frustrated, yet holds on to hope without knowing the full end
of the story.
However it is fiction from beginning to end. But it is fiction that
serves a spiritual purpose. To fully appreciate it's meaning, one
would need to have been a Jew living in Seleucid times. A casual
reading by a modern Western, without being informed about the
background to the story, would just give the impression of a far-
fetched and silly story.
I think it may also be the source of the Sadducees' trick question to
Christ about a woman who married seven men, all of whom died, asking
whose wife she would be in heaven. in Tobit Sarah married seven men
who were all killed by a demon before the marriage could be
consummated.
Either that or there was some other story circulating which provided
both the source for Tobit's author, and the Saducees. If so, it also
would have been fiction.
There was also Greek and Roman fiction, and homespun stories around
the campfire would have been common.
To answer your question - there was fiction, and some of it was
written. But written copies would have been hard to acquire,
regardless of the story or author, or nationality of the story.