Today, Year A’s Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary
Time, we continue following Jesus and the apostles after the Feeding of the
Five Thousand.Jesus disperses the crowd
and sends the apostles off on their boat while he goes up the hillside to pray
alone.The boat encounters a storm, and Jesus
heads out to the apostles, walking on the water.You know the passage.Peter asks
if he could be allowed to walk on the water, and after Jesus acknowledges and
Peter does take a few steps, he loses faith and starts to sink.Jesus then saves him.
There are a couple of mysterious details in
this passage.Let me bring them out in
the form of questions and try to answer them, but rest assured I’m not all that
confident in my answers.
Why does Jesus send them off alone to the
boat while He goes away from them?
Prayer is certainly important to Jesus, but the fact He “made them get into
a boat” suggests He has orchestrated all the subsequent events.All details should be filtered with this
detail.
Why does He walk on water to go out to
them?Couldn’t He calm the sea and wait
for the boat to dock?
Jesus walking on water is a theophany, a manifestation of His
divinity.He intended to manifest to the
apostles.This appears to be the reason to
send them off while He stays back.
Why is the boat on the sea on the fourth
watch, which is supposed to be between 3 and 6 AM?That’s not a particularly safe time to be on
water in ancient times.
It’s obviously overcast and the surroundings would be totally
dark.A natural impulse would be to head
back to shore but Jesus wanted them out and so they were obedient.As Dr. Pitre will explain below, they were
fishermen, and so used to going on the sea at night.Perhaps the bad weather caught them by
surprise.
Why did Peter want to walk on the water?
It’s not exactly a natural inclination.He sees Jesus walking on water, did Peter want to emulate Him?Was he just looking for a thrill?Was he trying to show off?I guess we will never know.
Today’s Gospel:
After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat
and precede him to the other side,
while he dismissed the crowds.
After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
When it was evening he was there alone.
Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore,
was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.
During the fourth watch of the night,
he came toward them walking on the sea.
When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified.
“It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear.
At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter said to him in reply,
“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
He said, “Come.”
Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.
But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened;
and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter,
and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
After they got into the boat, the wind died down.
Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying,
“Truly, you are the Son of God.”
~Mt: 14:22-33
Our old friend, Dr. Brant Pitre, brings out the exegetical main points.
Dr. Pitre:
It's important to
recall the setting of this miracle. It
takes place after the famous feeding of the 5,000 in the Gospel of Matthew. So one of the reasons this is important to
highlight is because the same sequence occur in all the Gospels so for example
in Matthew and Mark and in John all of those Gospels—three of the four actually—three
of the four Gospels have accounts of the walking of Jesus on the water and in
all three that that account immediately follows the feeding of the 5,000, so
it's like a pair of miracles: Jesus feeds the 5,000 and then he walks on the
water, so it's in the wake of him having performing this amazing miracle
feeding 5,000 people from five loaves and two fish that Jesus then withdraws
and he goes up the mountain to pray right. So it gets late and then while he is up in the
mountain praying the disciples set off across the Sea of Galilee in the boat. Now a couple elements about the context: where
exactly does this take place on the Sea of Galilee? Well we don't the exact location but we do
know the Sea of Galilee to this day is not a very…small lake it's about seven
miles wide at its widest point and it was the kind of beating heart of Galilee,
and is the place of fishing and industry and disciples knew it well and when
they're in their boat [it] is important the first thing you notice is they're
not right next to shore; it says there are many furlongs distant from the land
now in John's account of this miracle he actually says they're about four miles
from the shore.
Also notice the time
it's the fourth watch of the night, so this is in the middle of the night
sometime between three o'clock and six o'clock in the morning now most of us
wouldn't get on a boat and be out in the middle of the night between 3 and 6
a.m. But for the Apostles they were
pretty used to this because as fishermen it was actually customary to fish at
night we'll see that in a gospel John that they spend all night fishing and
they don't catch anything so they are traveling in the middle of the night and something
they're pretty used to. What they're not
used to however is being on the water in the middle of the night in the middle
of the lake and seeing a man coming to them walking on the waves of the sea,
and that's what Jesus does here in this account, he comes to them walking on
the sea. Now when they experience this
their first reaction is fear right and they assume that he's a ghost pretty
interesting a point there because it shows us that apparently at least some of
the disciples believed in ghosts.
Jesus says something
very interesting, he says take heart don't be afraid. I'll pause there for a second; this is a clue
to us that we should characterize this account Jesus walking on the water as a
theophany. A theophany as I've mentioned
in other videos is an appearance of God. It's where God reveals his power and his glory
and its presence to his people on earth, and one of the things you'll see over
and over again in accounts of theophanies in the Bible is that people are
always afraid, like when they see God they're afraid, and God's response to their
fear is often to quell it. Right to say
be calm don't be afraid and then to speak to them to give them some message, so
in this case Jesus says take heart have no fear and then he says it is I. Now the Greek, the literal Greek behind that
expression which most Bibles render—“it is I”—is “egō eimi,” which
literally in Greek means take heart, “I am so,” that's quite the same thing as
it is me.[It] literally just says take
heart I now.On the one hand the expression I am, egō eimi,
can be used to identify someone right so if I ask you a question is that you
and you say I am it could respond by saying yes it's me. Right so that can be the sense or the meaning
of it, but the literal meaning of the word in context is more than that Jesus
isn't just identifying himself; he's also taking the divine name of God.
From the Old
Testament and using it as his own, so in other words he's alluding to the most
famous theophany in the Bible, the theophany of the appearance of God to Moses
on Mount Sinai in the book of Exodus chapter 3. So in that theophany God comes to Moses and he
calls Moses to go to the people of Israel who were slaves in Egypt and to set
them free and to bring a message of deliverance, and Moses says well if I go to
them whose name shall I give them, what name will I tell them is the name of
the God who sent me? And the Lord says
to Moses, “I am Who I am, tell them I am has sent you to them.” Right this is
my name for all generations God goes on to say, so the name that the expression,
“I am,” is more than just an identification; it's the divine name, so when you
take Jesus's use of the term, “I am,” you couple it with the fact that he is
walking on water and that he's saying don't be afraid which is standard
theophany language from the Old Testament, [all] three things together show to
us that Jesus is revealing his divinity.
That’s a pretty clear exegesis.For the pastoral homily, I’m going to knock you out of your socks with
this from Pope Leo XIV.
Pope Leo XIV:
Dear brothers and
sisters, happy Sunday. Today's gospel speaks of Jesus approaching his disciples
by walking on the waters of the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a storm.
Following the miracle of the loaves and fish, the master urges his disciples to
get into the boat and set out while he withdraws to the mountain to pray by
himself. Once away from the shore, the disciples find themselves at the mercy
of the wind and struggle to make headway. After a successful experience in
which they had been the protagonists of a miraculous sign, they now find
themselves helpless and frightened in the face of the threat of the waves and
the headwind. As the night was drawing to a close, Jesus came towards them
across the choppy waters, and terrified, they mistook him for a ghost. But he
said to them, "Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid.” The Lord's presence
changes everything. Peter even manages to take a few steps across the waves
towards him. But then losing his nerve, he begins to sink and Jesus saves him.
When the master then steps into the boat, the storm subsides and a profession
of faith spontaneously springs out of the disciples hearts.Truly, you are the son of God. To realize
this point, it was not enough for them simply to have witnessed a miracle nor
to have succeeded in the eyes of the people. Instead, they had to experience
their own weakness and within it recognize God's presence. Only this experience
could open their eyes and hearts to his closeness, finding peace even in the
midst of the storm.
Notice the point.It’s not just witnessing
the miracle that changes the apostle’s hearts.It’s the fear and anxiety they experience that changes them.They had to experience the terror for their
souls to find peace.
Pope Leo XIV:
Sometime later, Jesus
would say to them, "If you have faith and do not doubt, if you say to this
mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the sea, it will be done." This is
similar to what they experienced on the lake. The peace of Christ who had been
on the mountain praying reached them in the midst of the raging waters. This
miracle then teaches us something important. First, not to get carried away by
success and never to be presumptuous. At the same time, not to despair even in
moments of darkness when we feel powerless in the face of problems. And despite
our efforts, it seems as though we are going backwards rather than forwards.
Whatever the circumstances, Jesus does not abandon us. And if we humbly welcome
him into the boat of our lives through prayer, the sacraments, and listening to
his word, in him we will find peace, light, and strength for our journey. May
who is proclaimed blessed for her faith, help us to live in a trusting
surrender to God.
Ultimately what I think Pope Leo is getting at is that there
is a relationship between faith and hope.The apostles had a momentary shaking of faith; Peter walking on the
water loses faith and begins to drown.What
does he do?He calls out to Jesus.The calling is an act of hope.The apostles did not despair.One may have a shaking of one’s faith from
the tumultuous events in our lives—and that is natural—but keeping hope in
Jesus is the key to salvation.
Sunday Meditation: But
when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to
sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
What hymn could be better for this reading than “Take My Hand, Precious
Lord,”Words: Thomas A. Dorsey, 1932. I played this three years ago for this reading, and I will never miss an opportunity to play my most beloved hymn. And I absolutely love this version by a not
so well known jazz singer named Jimmy Scott.
Precious Lord, take
my hand,
Lead me on, let me
stand,
I am tired, I am
weak, I am worn;
Through the storm,
through the night,
Lead me on to the
light:
Refrain
Take my hand,
precious Lord,
Lead me home.
When my way grows
drear,
Precious Lord, linger
near,
When my life is
almost gone,
Hear my cry, hear my
call,
Hold my hand lest I
fall:
Refrain
When the darkness
appears
And the night draws
near,
And the day is past
and gone,
At the river I stand,
Guide my feet, hold
my hand:
Refrain
I want this song and
this version played at my funeral. I
said this on YouTube comments for this song: “I think Jimmy Scott's rendition
of this beautiful hymn is my all time favorite.There is such suffering in his voice.It feels so honest.”
This is the fifth post of
a series of posts on J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.This series focuses on the first volume
of the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring.
When the hobbits get to
Tom Bombdil’s house, they are greeted by a woman, Goldberry, who mysteriously
tells them that she is “daughter of the River.”The hobbits are enchanted by her.They ask her who is Tom, and she replies that he is “the Master of wood,
water, and hill.”When Tom walks in, he
has the hobbits wash and sit down for supper.Afterwards, all tired they were led to a room with beds and quickly fell
asleep.
Three of the hobbits had
dreams that night.Frodo dreamt of
wolves and an eagle that bore him away.Pippin dreamt of being trapped again in the willow tree.Merry dreamt of a flood overfilling the
house.Only Sam did not dream but slept contentedly.
In the morning they found
that it was raining, and they sat around with Tom telling them stories of the
Old Forest.The he told them stories of
the Great Barrows, followed by ancient tales from pre-memory.At one point, Frodo asked him, who he
was?Tom replied that he was here before
the Kings and Barrow-wights, and elves, and even the Dark Lord.When the rain ended, they had another supper,
even better than the previous night’s.
After supper, Tom asked
Frodo to see the ring, and Frodo handed it to him.Tom put it on his finger, and to everyone’s
surprise he did not disappear.Tom
handed the ring back to Frodo, and Frodo suspicious that it was not the true
ring put it on his finger and he disappeared.After laughing about the disappearance, they all went back to the
bedrooms for the night.
Chapter 8: Fog on the
Barrow-Downs
After breakfast the next
morning, the hobbits resumed their journey heading north.Up the first hill, Frodo realized he had not
said goodbye to Goldberry and was about to turn around when she appeared toward
the top of the hill.She bid farewell
and blessed them.They continued, riding
over the hills of the Barrow-Downs.Up
and down the hills was slow going.
A fog rolled over the
hills, and the hobbits felt trapped.The
fog was so thick that it had darkened the sky.At one point Frodo realized the other three were not trailing behind
him.When he called out to them only a
cold, dark voice responded, and it seemed it came from a tall shadow.The shadow touched him and Frodo fainted.
When he came to, he found
the other three hobbits lying beside him.The cold voice sang a deathly song, and its shadowy arm stretched toward
Frodo.Frodo grabbed a sword and hacked
at the arm.He remembered Tom Bombadil’s
song and he sang it, and shortly Tom’s voice could be heard in the distance singing
back.When Tom arrived, his magical song
drove off the dark shadow.
With that, the other
three hobbits came out of their stupor.Tom traveled with them for a while, and in the morning after breakfast
Tom gave them the advice to head on the road to the town of Bree and get to an
old inn called The Prancing Pony.
Chapter 9: At the Sign of
the Prancing Pony
The hobbits come to Bree, the chief town of
the region of Bree-land, a region of mixed hobbits and men.The Road ran through Bree and at the foot of
a hill stood the Inn with the sign of the Prancing Pony.The Inn was run by Barliman Butterbur, a big
folk man.
The hobbits did not
receive a warm reception at the inn, but were led to a parlor room to rest and
eat.After getting refreshed and rested,
the hobbits joined the other guests in the big common room.There they got into discussions with the
locals, a mix of hobbits, men, and dwarves.While the other hobbits were enjoying their conversation, Frodo noticed
a strange looking man in the shadows against the wall listening intently and
quietly smoking his pipe.Frodo was told
that such men as that who roam about the countryside are called Rangers, and
that particular man goes by the name Strider.
At one point, Strider
came over to Frodo, who had been going by the name Mr. Underhill, and
introduced himself.Strider told Frodo
to restrain his fellow hobbits from talking too much.They had gone on about Bilbo Baggins and his
disappearance from the Shire.Frodo realizing
the danger of the conversations decided to distract by jumping on the table and
talking and singing a song.It drew a
loud cheer and applause, but Strider found it even worse than the loose talk of
the other hobbits.He told “Mr.
Baggins”—knowing his proper name—he would like to have a word with him, but
Frodo put him off until later.
In the meantime, someone
had seen Frodo just vanish, and Frodo reappearing dispelled that notion.It was now time for everyone to go onto bed, and,
as they were going off, and Strider again came over to Frodo requesting a word
with him.
###
L Comment:
Thank you very much for the helpful summary, Manny!
As I was reading the chapter 'Fog on the
Barrow-Downs', I was struck by how much darker the novel seems compared with
when I read it for the first time as a teenager. In its mood and imagery, the
chapter resembled other Christian pilgrimage literature, such as the Divine
Comedy and The Pilgrim's Progress. The Slough of Despond and parts of the
Inferno came to my mind as I imagined Frodo suddenly isolated in the thick fog,
the captive of the mysterious and terrifying Barrow-Wight.
My Reply to L:
Yes, I agree L, the Barrows chapter is very dark. It's
probably the first real incident where we see the power of the dark side.
I was thinking of the Divine Comedy in the previous
chapter. Frodo's dream if I remember was first with being chased by a wolf and
then lifted by an eagle. Dante (the character, not the author) is forced to go
through world of the afterlife because he was being pursued by three creatures,
the last being the wolf. And then in Purgatorio Dante is lifted up by eagle
from the lower part of the mountain to the terraces section. There may be parts
of LotR that allude to the Divine Comedy. I have not read Pilgrim's Progress,
but I would imagine such a spiritual journey could have echoes in LotR.
As to Barrows, that is a unique noun for hills or
hilly country that only seem to be used in England. Barrows also has a
particular allusion to burial grounds. There is probably more to the use of
"Barrows" than we understand.
Ellie Comment:
Thank you for these summaries, Manny! They definitely
help a lot, there is so much to remember.
I really loved the chapter about Tom Bombadil, where I
found two big Christian themes, one of which is confession (which is
specifically Catholic, I would say). When Frodo talks with Tom Bombadil,
Tolkien describes Frodo feeling compelled to tell him the whole story, to tell
him even more information he told Gandalf:
"Indeed so much did Tom know, and so cunning was
his questioning, that Frodo found himself telling him more about Biblo and his
own hopes and fears that he had told before even to Gandalf."
I feel like this is a great allusion to a certain
divine nature to Tom Bombadil, along with the fact that when Frodo asks
Goldberry who Tom really is, she simply replies "He is." which
definitely reminded me not only of the "I Am that I Am" of the Old
Testament in which God names Himself, but also of the New Testament
("Before Abraham was, I am"). Tom Bombadil is such a strange and
intriguing character, I wish Tolkien told us what he actually was, but also
this failure to categorize him in Tolkien's world gives his character a great
meaning
Michelle Reply to Ellie:
Ellie, I also thought of "I AM" when
Goldberry said that.
My Reply to Ellie:
Ellie wrote: "I really loved the chapter about
Tom Bombadil, where I found two big Christian themes, one of which is
confession (which is specifically Catholic, I would say). When Frodo talks with
Tom Bombadil, Tolkien describes Frodo feeling compelled to tell him the whole
story, to tell him even more information he told Gandalf:
"Indeed so much did Tom know, and so cunning was his questioning, that
Frodo found himself telling him more about Biblo and his own hopes and fears
that he had told before even to Gandalf."
"
I did not pick up on that. I will have to go back and re-read that. Thanks for
pointing it out Ellie.
I too picked up on what seems to be the divine nature of Tom Bombadil. However,
I can't see anything Christian in him. He strikes me as some sort of wood demi
god from pagan mythology. I intend to flesh that thought out more but if you
can connect him with some sort of Christian tradition, I would love to see
that.
Kelly Comment:
Tom Bombadil seems to me to be a type of an Adam
figure. What he might have been like before the fall. Not divine, but also not
affected or limited by sin. When he plays around with the ring and it doesn't
have the same effect on him, similar to the temptation that is derived from
original sin that everyone else, even Gandalf and Galadriel acknowledge. He
also is able to experience joy and shed the weight of darkness quicker than the
others. Goldberry seems to share these qualities also.
Michelle Reply to Kelly:
I thought of him like a type of an angel-figure.
My Reply to Kelly:
Kelly that is an interesting thought. I never thought
of that. He does seem to have some sort of magic powers which I don't think
Adam had.
One thing I will say when I do put my thoughts
together is to reference Goldberry's comment that Tom is "Master of wood,
water, and hill." Taken from a Christian perspective, those three elements
could refer to cross, baptism, and death, hill being a burial mound. But then
what does that mean? I don't know.
Can anyone tell if Goldberry is his spouse or his
daughter? What exactly is their relationship?
Michelle Reply to Me:
I thought she was his wife, but now I'm wondering if
that was an assumption on my part. Hopefully someone else could clarify!
Kelly Reply to Me:
I think Goldberry is his spouse. Also, I am thinking
he is not an allegorical Adam but just a type, who, hints at what man might
have been had he not fallen.
My Reply:
OK, I found it. Goldberry is Tom's wife but only
knowable from outside the LotR. From Wikipedia:
"Goldberry first appeared in Tolkien's 1934 poem,
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil,[4] re-worked into a 1962 poetry collection of
the same name.[5] The poem tells of how she drags Tom into the river before he
escapes, returning later to capture her and make her his bride."
So one has to know an outside source to know their
relationship. I only questioned it because Goldberry strikes me as much younger
than Tom, and at one point she identifies herself as "the daughter of the
River." While that doesn't mean she's Tom's daughter, the suggestion of
daughter is raised to the reader.
Kerstin Comment:
Manny wrote: "Three of the hobbits had dreams
that night. Frodo dreamt of wolves and an eagle that bore him away. Pippin
dreamt of being trapped again in the willow tree. Merry dreamt of a flood
overfilling the house. Only Sam did not dream but slept contented."
I wonder if this is also a foreshadowing of what is
going to happen to the characters. With Frodo there will definitely be a
significance with an eagle. I don't quite remember what all happens to Pippin
and Merry. With Sam, he is the faithful servant and quite content in the role.
We'll have to keep this passage in mind as we move
deeper into the tale and see.
Tom Bombadil's feels like a true safe haven. Nothing
bad from the outside world threatens or penetrates. The hobbits don't have to
worry about anything, just eating, resting, and listening to the tales of Tom.
They are being cared for by Tom and Goldberry like beloved children. Tom has
slipped into a father figure and Goldberry into a mother figure. It is such a
wholesome place they gather strength for the challenges ahead without being
aware of it. When they leave Goldberry blesses them like a mother would and Tom
steps into the role of protector until they are past the Barrow Downs.
Frances Comment:
You can sense the richness and depth of Tolkien’s
genius in the many different images that spring forth from his writing, can’t
you? I found this about mysterious Tom: “Bombadil was described in Tolkien’s
books as ‘older than the old,’ a benevolent entity who begins life around the
time all life began . . . In a 1937 letter to his publisher, Tolkien described
Bombadil as ‘the spirit of the vanishing Oxford and Berkshire countryside.’
Tolkien chose not to write in allegory, but it’s clear he saw Bombadil as
nature personified — right up to the character’s ambivalence about interfering
in the larger world around him. “
###
So what are we to make of
Tom Bombdil and Goldberry?They are
definitely mysterious.My first reaction
when I came to Goldberry inviting the four hobbits into the house was, oh my
gosh, a female character!This was the
first real female character we have come across, a book that will be fairly
sparse of women characters.There are of
course the women hobbits at Bilbo’s birthday party and Mrs. Maggot but they are
all vague and undeveloped. It’s surprising to me how women enjoy LotR since it’s such a boy oriented
book.Perhaps some of the ladies here
can answer why they enjoy this boyish book.
My first thought to what
Tom might be was to identify him as some sort of nature deity.He does have some sort of magic powers,
especially with his singing.Goldberry
identifies herself as “daughter of the River.”Taken literally that is something right out of Greek mythology.Tom is certainly naturally attuned to the
woods, the trees, the stream, and later we see the hills.His stories seem to be about the history of
Middle Earth within the parameters of nature.All his songs are filled with nature.Here’s one from chapter seven:
I had an errand
there: gathering water-lilies,
green leaves and
lilies white to please my pretty lady,
the last ere the
year’s end to keep them from the winter,
to flower by her
pretty feet till the snows are melted.
Each year at
summer’s end I go to find them for her,
in a wide pool,
deep and clear, far down Withywindle;
there they open
first in spring and there they linger latest.
By that pool long
ago I found the River-daughter,
fair young
Goldberry sitting in the rushes.
He is within nature,
doing things with nature, and using nature for his ends.Goldberry says that he is “Master of wood,
water, and hill."When he
accompanies the hobbits out in Barrow-downs, he comes to a limit to how far he
can go and will go no further.Pippin
asks him if he thinks they will be attacked this evening.Tom answers him with a qualification.
‘No, I hope not tonight,’ answered Tom Bombadil; ‘nor
perhaps the next day. But do not trust my guess; for I cannot tell for certain.
Out east my knowledge fails. Tom is not master of Riders from the Black Land
far beyond his country.’
“Out east my knowledge
fails,” is the first time we are told of Tom’s limitation.When the hobbits urge him to continue with
them, Tom does not.Take note, in that
last sentence, that is the only place where “master” is not capitalized, and
it’s linked to a limit beyond his domain.
They begged him to come at least as far as the inn and
drink once more with them; but he laughed and refused, saying:
Tom’s
country ends here: he will not pass the borders.
Tom
has his house to mind, and Goldberry is waiting!
Then he turned, tossed up his hat, leaped on Lumpkin’s
back, and rode up over the bank and away singing into the dusk.
His country ends
there.It’s almost like he’s linked to a
particular plot of earth, and his powers will not be efficacious beyond it.This alludes to a local nature deity in pagan
worldview.
On the other hand, if we
look at Tom from a Christian perspective, he seems he has been given some sort
of divine nature.Goldberry’s
description of Tom as “Master of wood, water, and hill” can be taken as a
Christian identity.Wood is associated
with the cross and the trees in Eden, water as from the river that was once
thought to have its source in Eden flowing down to Earth and, of course,
associated with baptism, and hill associated with the hill of Calvary and the
burial mounds for the dead.Why is
“Master” capitalized?I believe it’s
capitalized every time someone refers to him as master.“Master” capitalized seems to me to be an
allusion to Christ, who is sometimes referred to as “Master” in the
Gospels.Tom repeatedly saves the
hobbits, from the Old Willow, from the Dark Shadow in the Barrow-downs, and
from the dark riders as he gives them the path to get to Bree.He saves them and he does it merely with the
spoken word.“For he spoke, and it came
to be” (Ps 33:9).Jesus speaks and
miracles happened.Now Tom is clearly
not Jesus, but perhaps he could be a delegate such as a saint in a
hagiography.There are lots of examples,
but I’ll just pick a Biblical one.St.
Peter brings Dorcas back to life in Acts 9 through the power of words.
I really like Kelly’s
thought that Tom and Goldberry are types for Adam and Eve prior to the
Fall.Frodo asked at one point.
‘Who are you, Master?’ he asked.
‘Eh, what?’ said Tom sitting up, and his eyes glinting
in the gloom. ‘Don’t you know my name yet? That’s the only answer. Tell me, who
are you, alone, yourself and nameless? But you are young and I am old. Eldest,
that’s what I am. Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the river and
the trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths
before the Big People, and saw the little People arriving. He was here before
the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward,
Tom was here already, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the
stars when it was fearless – before the Dark Lord came from Outside.’
That does put Tom in the
mythic past of before the Earth and history were formed.It does put him in an Edenic context.He could be associated with Jesus because
Jesus is the new Adam.Tom is the Adam
that could have been if Adam and Eve had not disobeyed.
There is a third aspect
to Tom that is suggested in the text.He
is a story-teller.
He then told them many remarkable stories, sometimes
half as if speaking to himself, sometimes looking at them suddenly with a
bright blue eye under his deep brows. Often his voice would turn to song, and
he would get out of his chair and dance about. He told them tales of bees and
flowers, the ways of trees, and the strange creatures of the Forest, about the
evil things and good things, things friendly and things unfriendly, cruel
things and kind things, and secrets hidden under brambles.
As they listened, they began to understand the lives
of the Forest, apart from themselves, indeed to feel themselves as the
strangers where all other things were at home. Moving constantly in and out of
his talk was Old Man Willow, and Frodo learned now enough to content him,
indeed more than enough, for it was not comfortable lore. Tom’s words laid bare
the hearts of trees and their thoughts, which were often dark and strange, and
filled with a hatred of things that go free upon the earth, gnawing, biting,
breaking, hacking, burning: destroyers and usurpers. It was not called the Old
Forest without reason, for it was indeed ancient, a survivor of vast forgotten
woods; and in it there lived yet, ageing no quicker than the hills, the fathers
of the fathers of trees, remembering times when they were lords. The countless
years had filled them with pride and rooted wisdom, and with malice. But none
were more dangerous than the Great Willow: his heart was rotten, but his
strength was green; and he was cunning, and a master of winds, and his song and
thought ran through the woods on both sides of the river. His grey thirsty
spirit drew power out of the earth and spread like fine root-threads in the
ground, and invisible twig-fingers in the air, till it had under its dominion
nearly all the trees of the Forest from the Hedge to the Downs.
Tom is a bard, a teller
of stories, one who a sings of history and feats. It is particularly significant in ancient
Celtic cultures where the bards were associated with nature.Here is how Wikipedia describes “bard.”
In the words of the Oxford English Dictionary, the
bards were an "ancient Celtic order of minstrel-poets, whose primary
function appears to have been to compose and sing (usually to the harp) verses
celebrating the achievements of chiefs and warriors, and who committed to verse
historical and traditional facts, religious precepts, laws, genealogies,
etc."
But such bards existed in
many pre-literate cultures.Homer is
considered a bard.Tom continued with
his tales.
Suddenly Tom’s talk left the woods and went leaping up
the young stream, over bubbling waterfalls, over pebbles and worn rocks, and
among small flowers in close grass and wet crannies, wandering at last up on to
the Downs. They heard of the Great Barrows, and the green mounds, and the
stone-rings upon the hills and in the hollows among the hills. Sheep were
bleating in flocks. Green walls and white walls rose. There were fortresses on
the heights. Kings of little kingdoms fought together, and the young Sun shone
like fire on the red metal of their new and greedy swords. There was victory
and defeat; and towers fell, fortresses were burned, and flames went up into
the sky. Gold was piled on the biers of dead kings and queens; and mounds
covered them, and the stone doors were shut; and the grass grew over all.
And Tom goes further and
further back, beyond human memory.
When they caught his words again they found that he
had now wandered into strange regions beyond their memory and beyond their
waking thought, into times when the world was wider, and the seas flowed
straight to the western Shore; and still on and back Tom went singing out into
ancient starlight, when only the Elf-sires were awake.
The bard doesn’t just
tell a story, he creates reality itself.If you want to read a book on the nature of bards, pick up Alfred Lord’s
The Singer of Tales, where Lord
“formulates oral tradition as a theory of literary composition and its
applications to Homeric and medieval epic. Lord builds on the research of
Milman Parry and their joint work recording
Balkan guslar poets.”One could think of J.R.R. Tolkien as a bard
(albeit that LotR is a written and
not an oral composition) by the telling of the tale of this epic.In this sense we could almost see Tom
Bombadil as Tolkien himself.
So which is it?Is Tom a pagan nature deity, an Edenic
prelapsarian Adam, or a bardic singer of tales?His person, I think, is so mysterious, so rich, and so deep that he
encompasses all three.There is no
reason to limit his persona.
###
Kerstin Reply to Me:
Manny wrote: " It’s surprising to me how women
enjoy LotR since it’s such a boy oriented book. Perhaps some of the ladies here
can answer why they enjoy this boyish book."
I think first and foremost it is a very good story exceptionally well written.
Everything else is secondary.
We have a quintessential hero's quest here. Man in his divinely ordained role
as protector. What are the characters compelled to fight? The loss of peace,
stability, order, and culture, in other words, they fight for their freedom to
live within their inherited traditions. Now this serves women too. Only in
peace and freedom can one raise stable families and provide for the needs of
daily living. When a population gets enslaved - and this is the big outside
threat - the family unit and thereby the culture that arose from it gets
destroyed.
There is something deeply satisfying, even primal, in a well written hero's
quest.
I would say my favorite female hero in literature is Penelope of the Odyssey.
While her husband, as a result of dumb decisions, wanders around for twenty
years before he finally gets home, she protects home and hearth. But it goes
much deeper than that. Their marriage bed is no ordinary bed, it is carved out
of a tree stump still rooted in the earth which Odysseus built himself. The
house was built around it. On this bed they conceived their son Telemachus, and
in the long years of waiting she is protecting his inheritance. That's quite
heroic for a (young) woman in her prime given she has her choice and lure of
male suitors. Aside from the material aspects, she is protecting at home peace
and stability while the men are off at war.
In contrast, Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra chose to defile the marriage bed,
and his house and kingdom fell apart.
If one is to fend off threats from the outside, it takes heroic actions of
both, men and women, those that are on the front lines and those who keep the
home fires burning.
Michelle Comment:
There may be only one female so far, but soon
Galadriel, Arwen and Eowyn will enter the picture. It's never bothered me with
books. Some of my favorite are with male characters. Maybe because I'm in my
mid-fifties, who knows.
Kerstin Reply to Me:
Manny wrote: "So which is it? Is Tom a pagan
nature deity, an Edenic prelapsarian Adam, or a bardic singer of tales? His
person, I think, is so mysterious, so rich, and so deep that he encompasses all
three. There is no reason to limit his persona."
Here is another layer: The name Thomas means twin. He is like..., and like...,
etc. Just like a twin who is part of a whole but still wholly separate.
It struck me that Tom Bombadil has an ordinary first name unlike most of the
characters, which are creations of Tolkien.
My Reply to Kerstin:
Oh you're right Kerstin. I didn't realize that. Tom is
the only contemporary name in the entire story with the possible except of his
wife Goldberry. I guess Goldberry is contemporary, though perhaps unusual. So
Tom and Goldberry not only go back to the beginning of time but in a sense they
go forward to contemporary time.
###
One other thought on Tom
and Goldberry, and this is perhaps a question and not a thought. How does Tom
and Goldberry figure into the novel? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I do
not think they come back into the story. They are only here in these three
chapters: six, seven, and eight. They are not part of the structural story.
Tolkien could have left them out and had the hobbits get into other adventures
on their way to Bree. What purpose does Tom and Goldberry play in the novel?
###
Kerstin Reply:
That's a good question!
It may be to represent the past before the past, the
pre-history. Throughout the story we read about ancestries and legacies of one
sort or another. The history of a person, who somebody's ancestors are, where a
certain people originally came from and why they were forced to settle in a new
place long ago. All these things are still being documented and brought to mind
as relevant. But there must have been something before known history, and Tom
and Goldberry are a remnant of that time.
The value of tradition seems to me another theme in
the book.
###
I don’t have much to say
about the chapter at the Prancing Pony.I did find it humorous.Here men
and hobbits and dwarves and the allusive Rangers, a hodge podge for sure, all
gathered together, shared stories, and got drunk.Tolkien must have had his weekly Inklings
gatherings at the local pub in mind.The
Prancing Pony scene reminded me of the bar scenes in the Star Wars movies where aliens of many eclectic species from across
the universe come together to imbibe and fraternize.The scene was so popular that I would say it
became a meme in itself, and though I have not seen all the Star Wars movies, that meme was
reproduced into all the movies as far as I can tell.Wikipedia has an entry for that original bar
scene called Mos Eisley, the name of the town it was to have happened, possibly
parallel to the town of Bree.Since Star
Wars owed some inspiration to LotR, I have to believe that the bar scene
was an imitation of the scene at the Prancing Pony.There is something funny about a gathering of
eclectic characters coming together to socialize.
In Icelandic folktales, we have countless stories
about giant, ugly creatures that turn to stone when exposed to the sun. They
are sometimes described as dumb and like tricking people in their favour. They
usually live up in the mountains in caves. In The Hobbit, giant ugly creatures
turn to stone when exposed to the sun. When they are not outside, they stay
inside caves. Tolkien later explained that since trolls were created from stone
by Morgoth using a spell cast in darkness, they change back to their true form
when exposed to the sun, therefore turning to stone.
Tolkien did impressive work; he created all the
characters, a whole new world, and a few languages.
One of the languages was the Angerthas or Dwarf runes.
It was a runic script used by the dwarfs that utilized both runes and glyphs
when written. It was created by the elven loremaster Daeron of Doriath and was
at first called Cirth or Certar Daeron. The dwarfs learned the runes from the
elves and took up that language. Later it became the dwarf language.
While other languages in Middle-Earth, like the Elvish
languages (Quenya and Sindarin), were inspired by Latin and ancient Indian, the
dwarf runes were inspired by the Nordic runes of the Vikings.
My Reply to Bruce:
Bruce, wow, some good stuff you posted. You should
space it out a little bit so as to not overwhelm. Fascinating the connection
with the Icelandic myths. That seems to be a real strong connection. I bet
there is fodder there for anyone looking to do a term paper or Master's thesis.
What really caught my eye was how you point out that
the various languages within the book are based on current languages. Elvish on
Latin and Dwarf's languages on Germanic. One intuits this but it's good to have
it formally put down to confirm it. The languages should be coming up soon, and
I will definitely keep this in mind.
Some of the numerology you pointed out is also
interesting. It makes sense.
