The three works of art in this exhibition—early modern European works by Rembrandt van Rijn and Jacopo Ligozzi, and a third by a contemporary painter in the tradition of Persian calligraphy—engage with the economy and structure of human time and divine time as explored in Tobit 12. On the surface, Raphael’s disclosure of his identity and of the miracles appears to convey a redemption and repayment for Tobit’s righteousness: his almsgiving (1:3, 6–8, 17; 4: 7–11), his providing proper burial to the dead (1:17; 2: 4–7), and above all his unfailing faith (5:20–21). Yet, the miracles performed by the messenger of God—exorcising demons, healing blindness, and retrieving fortune—were truly miracles when they were unseen by Tobit and his family, and were ‘visible’ only to the reader of the book of Tobit. As miracles, they interrupt and exceed the closed economy of exchange, debt, and payment.

Raphael’s disclosure of his identity as the messenger of God who is sent to intervene on Tobit’s behalf alters the nature of the effect of the miracles upon the family. Restored, enriched, and magnanimous a moment before, they are now left in fear and debt by the angel’s refusal to take payment and revelation: ‘[t]hey were both alarmed; and they fell upon their faces, for they were afraid’ (12:15–16).

In Rembrandt’s interpretation of the scene, Tobit remains prostrate after and despite Raphael’s reassuring command ‘do not be afraid’. Is Tobit’s fear justified? Raphael, in the position of creditor, has asked Tobit to write, bear witness, or confess in lieu of the payment.

We might say the truly miraculous act in the book of Tobit, was Tobit’s generosity in offering to exceed the terms of the wage contract as he bequeaths to Raphael half of his newly found fortune, and sends him off expecting no more. But only confession in the ‘now’ rather than almsgiving or payment of wages, redeems Tobit. At the end of the story, we are brought back to the beginning of the book. Tobit relates his story in the first person, as in an autobiography; both father and son serve as narrators. As in Azita Panahpour’s painting, the time of three generations of Tobit’s family—past, present, and future—appears in a circular form, as a wheel turned by the continuity of unsettled and redeemed debts which can exist only by a flash of a miracle in the present moment, the time of writing and confession.

Ligozzi similarly, focuses on the moment after Tobias is attacked by a monstrous fish at the river Tigris, seizing it and transforming the crisis into a miracle. The Angel stands behind him, instructing him not to flee, as if prefiguring the words, ‘do not be afraid’ (Tobit 12:17); he should instead snatch the fish and not let go. We see Tobias, in the urgency of his action, with his hands pressing and cutting open the fish to reveal the insides.

Raphael’s imperative to grab and not let go (Tobit 6:3) later reemerges as the imperative to write what you have seen. Tobias must bear witness, seize the moment—in order to redeem the past, but also to create the future.