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Tobit
The book where Raphael guides Tobias, a fish provides healing, and two afflicted households receive help.9 sources9 sources1. Tobit 2:102. Tobit 3:83. Tobit 3:174. Tobit 5:45. Tobit 6:26. Tobit 6:47. Tobit 8:28. Tobit 8:39. Tobit 11:11
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At a glance
Summary
Raphael brings healing to blind Tobit and to Sarah, whose seven husbands have died at the hands of Asmodaeus. A fish supplies both remedies: smoke from its heart and liver drives the demon away, and its gall cures Tobit’s eyes. The book joins prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Tobias’s wedding-night prayer is also an option in the Catholic wedding lectionary.16 sources16 sources1. Tobit 2:102. Tobit 3:83. Tobit 3:174. Tobit 5:45. Tobit 6:26. Tobit 6:47. Tobit 8:28. Tobit 8:39. Tobit 11:1114. Tobit 12:815. Matthew 6:216. Preacher17. Tobit 8:518. Tobit 8:619. Tobit 8:720. Just
Contents
Tobit and Sarah need help
Tobit 2:10–3:17Tobit is blinded and Sarah has lost seven husbands to a demon. God sends Raphael to bring healing to both.4 sources4 sources1. Tobit 2:102. Tobit 3:83. Tobit 3:174. Tobit 5:4
A companion and a fish
Tobit 5:4–11:11Raphael accompanies Tobias. Parts of a fish drive Asmodaeus away and later cure Tobit's eyes; Tobias and Sarah pray on their wedding night.13 sources13 sources1. Tobit 2:102. Tobit 3:83. Tobit 3:174. Tobit 5:45. Tobit 6:26. Tobit 6:47. Tobit 8:28. Tobit 8:39. Tobit 11:1117. Tobit 8:518. Tobit 8:619. Tobit 8:720. Just
Raphael reveals himself; Tobit looks ahead
Tobit 12:8–14:15Raphael identifies himself as one of seven angels who present prayers. Later Tobit urges his son to leave Nineveh, trusting Jonah's prophecy; Tobias eventually hears that Nineveh has fallen.10 sources10 sources1. Tobit 2:102. Tobit 3:83. Tobit 3:174. Tobit 5:421. Tobit 12:1522. Revelation 8:223. Encyclopedia24. Tobit 14:425. Tobit 14:1526. Jonah 3:4
Stories
The fish and the healing
Tobit 6:2–11:11At the Tigris, a fish leaps at Tobias. Raphael tells him to retain its heart, liver and gall. Smoke from the heart and liver expels Asmodaeus; the gall cures Tobit's eyes.5 sources5 sources5. Tobit 6:26. Tobit 6:47. Tobit 8:28. Tobit 8:39. Tobit 11:11
A wedding-night prayer
Tobit 8:5–7Tobias's prayer recalls Adam and Eve and the Genesis account of companionship. The Catholic wedding lectionary offers this scene as a reading.4 sources4 sources17. Tobit 8:518. Tobit 8:619. Tobit 8:720. Just
Connections to the Bible
Echoes and allusions
- Matthew 7:12 · Tobit 4:15medium confidence
Evangelical commentator Craig Keener compares Tobit's negative rule about treating others with Jesus's positive form. He treats it as a widespread principle, without claiming borrowing.27 28 29
- Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 3:30 · Tobit 12:9medium confidence
The Jewish Encyclopedia compares Tobit's teaching that almsgiving removes sin with Sirach's teaching about almsgiving.4 sources4 sources30. Tobit 4:1031. Tobit 12:932. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 3:3033. (1906)
- Revelation 21:19–21 · Tobit 13:16–17medium confidence
Vincent Skemp suggests that Revelation's jeweled Jerusalem may draw directly on Tobit's description.6 sources6 sources34. Tobit 13:1635. Tobit 13:1736. Revelation 21:1937. Revelation 21:2138. Skemp39. openbible.com)
- Revelation 8:2 · Tobit 12:15low confidence
Raphael's place among seven angels in Tobit parallels Revelation's seven angels.21 22 23
Retellings
- Genesis 2:18 · Tobit 8:6
Tobias's prayer explicitly recalls Adam and Eve and the Genesis teaching about human companionship.4 sources4 sources17. Tobit 8:518. Tobit 8:619. Tobit 8:720. Just
Background
- Matthew 6:1–18 · Tobit 12:8medium confidence
Lutheran commentator Stephen Hultgren points to Tobit's prayer, fasting and almsgiving as background to the Jewish practices Jesus discusses.14 15 16
Contrasts
- 2 Kings 15:29 · Tobit 1:2
Walter Drum's Catholic Encyclopedia article acknowledges a difficulty over the king responsible for Naphtali's deportation and proposes a harmonization of Tobit's royal name.40 41 42
Where each church stands
Tobit Full table →
- Protestant
- Read, not for doctrine
Listed in Article VI (Anglican); WCF I.3 (Reformed) gives the Apocrypha no authority.
43 44 - Catholic
- Scripture45
- Russian (Slavonic) Orthodox
- Varies
Printed in the Synodal Bible but marked 'non-canonical'; Philaret says such books are 'to be read', while the NRSV preface says the Russian Church recognises them.
49 50 48 - Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
- Scripture
In the 'narrower' canon of printed Bibles.
51
Why some kept it, why others left it out
Greek church writer Origen reported churches using Tobit while Jews did not. Latin church writer Jerome translated it but appealed to its absence from the Hebrew canon. Augustine's list included it, as did Trent. The Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem also explicitly affirmed Tobit as Scripture.5 sources5 sources52. 453. Edgecomb54. Shaw) 188755. Waterworth 184856. Robertson) 1899
Kept
Catholic
Drum points to Tobit's inclusion in Augustine, the councils of Hippo and Carthage, and Trent as grounds for its reception.57
Sources
58 sources from 53 works
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Lesley Evans (HTS Teologiese Studies 76/4, 2020), “'Between righteousness and alms' in Tobit: What was the author's real intention?”, p. 1-2
Lesley Evans (HTS Teologiese Studies 76/4, 2020), “'Between righteousness and alms' in Tobit: What was the author's real intention?”, p. 1
Walter Drum (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14, 1912), Tobias, Book of Tobias: text
Lesley Evans (HTS Teologiese Studies 76/4, 2020), “'Between righteousness and alms' in Tobit: What was the author's real intention?”, p. 2
Matthew 6:2
2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
Stephen Hultgren (Working Preacher, Luther Seminary, 2015), “Commentary on Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 (Ash Wednesday)”
Felix Just, S.J. (The Catholic Lectionary Website), “Readings for the Conferral of the Sacrament of Marriage: Lectionary for Mass (USA, 2002), vol. 4”
Revelation 8:2
2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets.
Walter Drum (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14, 1912), Tobias, Canonicity: objections
Jonah 3:4
4On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”
Matthew 7:12
12In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.
Craig S. Keener, IVP New Testament Commentary Series, Matthew (via BibleGateway), Reciprocate Good Deeds in Faith (7:12)
Revelation 21:19
19The foundations of the city walls were adorned with every kind of precious stone: The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
Revelation 21:21
21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.
Vincent Skemp, in Intertextual Studies in Ben Sira and Tobit (CBQMS 38, 2005), quoted by intertextual.bible, Avenues of Intertextuality between Tobit and the New Testament, p. 43-70
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers (via openbible.com), Isaiah 54:11
2 Kings 15:29
29In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people as captives to Assyria.
Walter Drum (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14, 1912), Tobias, Historicity
Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1571), Article VI, as printed in E. J. Bicknell, A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles (1919)
Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546), Decree concerning the canonical Scriptures
Synod of Jerusalem (1672), Confession of Dositheus, Question III
Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, online Old Testament (Septuagint text)
NRSV with Apocrypha, 'The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament' (To the Reader)
Russian Synodal Bible, as published by Azbuka Very (azbyka.ru): contents and chapter notes
The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church (St Philaret of Moscow), 'Examined and Approved by the Most Holy Governing Synod'; English as in Schaff, Creeds of Christendom vol. 2
R. W. Cowley, 'The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today', Ostkirchliche Studien 23 (1974) 318–323
Jerome (tr. Kevin P. Edgecomb, 2006, public domain), Prologue to Tobit
Augustine of Hippo (tr. J. F. Shaw), On Christian Doctrine book 2 (NPNF1 vol. 2), via New Advent (1887), 2.8.13
Council of Trent (tr. J. Waterworth, 1848), Session IV, Decree concerning the canonical Scriptures, Hanover Historical Texts Project (1848)
Synod of Jerusalem (tr. J. N. W. B. Robertson), The Acts and Decrees of the Synod of Jerusalem (London 1899), archive.org OCR (1899), pp. 155-156, Question III
Walter Drum (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14, 1912), Tobias, Canonicity
Church of England, Articles of Religion (1571), as printed in E. J. Bicknell, A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles (1919), newscriptorium.com (1919), Article VI