A fairly unknown book in the Jewish world because it's not considered canonical, the Book of Tobit tells of the sufferings and healing of a pious Israelite and his family. As one of few texts to have survived from antiquity, it offers unique insight into the religious, intellectual, and social worlds of Israelites in the Diaspora in the last centuries before the common era.

With it's magical undertones and subtle comedy, the Book of Tobit is a fascinating read.


 

The Story

The Book of Tobit opens in the first person with Tobit, a righteous Israelite of the Tribe of Naphtali, who lives in Nineveh after the northern tribes were deported to Assyria in 721 BCE under Sargon II. Tobit is known for his dedication to providing proper burials for fallen Israelites who had been slain by Sennacherib, and it is for this that the king seized all of Tobit’s property and exiled him.

After Sennacherib’s death, Tobit is allowed to return to Nineveh. Tobit goes out to bury a man who had been murdered in the street, and that night as he slept in the open, he is blinded by bird droppings that fall upon his eyes. Tobit is devastated, his marriage becomes strained, and he prays for his death.

At the same time, in Medea, a young woman named Sarah is also praying for death because of her own situation. She has lost seven husbands in the marriage chamber to the demon of lust, Asmodeus, before the marriage can be officially consummated. God then sends the angel Raphael, disguised as a human, to ameliorate the situations of Tobit and Sarah.

The bulk of the narrative is devoted to Tobit’s son, Tobiah, who is sent by his father to collect money that Tobit had deposited some time back in the land of Medea. This is when the archangel Raphael presents himself to Tobiah, stating that he is Tobit’s kinsman Azariah, and he offers to protect and guide Tobias on his journey.

Tobias and “Azariah” journey to Medea, with a dog in tow. On the journey, he is attacked by a fish, whose heart, liver, and gall bladder are removed to make medicines, which comes to play a very significant role later in the narrative.

The two arrive in Medea, and Raphael tells Tobias of Sarah, whom Tobias has the right to marry because she is a member of his tribe. Raphael instructs Tobias to burn the fish’s liver and heart in order to drive away the demon when he appears in the marriage chamber.

Sarah and Tobias are married, and the burning organs drive away the demon to Upper Egypt, where Raphael follows him and binds him there. Sarah’s father, Raguel, meanwhile, had been digging a grave, assuming another death in the marriage chamber. However, Tobias survives the evening, and her father is surprised and orders the men to quickly fill in the hole lest anyone know what he was doing. A lengthy wedding feast is ordered, and Tobias sends Raphael to retrieve his father Tobit’s money.

After the feast, Tobias and Sarah return to Nineveh where Raphael tells Tobias to use the fish’s gall to cure his father’s blindness. Raphael reveals his true identity to the family and returns to heaven, while Tobit sings a hymn of praise. Tobit tells his son to leave Nineveh before it is destroyed by God, as has been told in prophecy, and after Tobit dies and is buried by his son, Tobias and Sarah return to Medea.

Origins: Language, Historicity, and Background

Tobit is canonical for the Catholic and Orthodox churches, pronounced so by the Council of Carthage of 397 and confirmed for Roman Catholics in 1546 by the Council of Trent. The book is regarded as apocryphal for Protestants, but it has never been included in the Jewish canon. It is found in the Septuagint, and the Aramaic and Hebrew fragments that were discovered at Qumran in 1952 generally agree with the Greek text.

The date of the book’s composition is limited, largely by its mention of the temple (515 BCE) and its omission of the persecutions by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (168 BCE). These parameters leave scholars with the assumed date of composition as between mid-third and early second centuries BCE.

The story is set in the Diaspora, as it is heavy on discussing relations between Israelites and Gentiles, especially regarding Tobit’s devotion to burying Israelites and his neighbors’ reactions, and it was likely written either in the Diaspora or in an area heavily populated by Gentiles.

Textual fragments of one Hebrew and four Aramaic manuscripts were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, and the story is preserved in the Greek manuscripts in its entirety, although the book is believed to have been composed in a Semitic language.

Themes

The book focuses largely on unjust suffering, much in the vein of the Book of Job, as the righteous sufferer is vindicated in the end, proving a just and active God. The book does not carry any hidden, underlying working of God. The story is viewed as both mystical and comical, and many say that it is inspired by the Greek comedies of the Hellenistic period. 

Further Reading

Bredin, Mark. "Studies in the Book of Tobit A Multidisciplinary Approach" (Library of Second Temple Studies). New York: T. & T. Clark, Ltd., 2006.

Cousland, J.R.C. “Tobit: A Comedy in Error?” CBQ 65 (2001), 535-53.Kierkegaard, Søren. Fear and trembling. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.

McCracken, D. “Narration and Comedy in the Book of Tobit.” JBL 114 (1995), 401-418.

Moore, Carey A. Tobit (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries). Yale UP, 1996.

George W.E. Nickelsburg, “Tobit,” The HarperCollins Study Bible Fully Revised & Updated. Eds. Attridge, Harold W., and Society of Biblical Literature. New York: HarperOne, 2006, 1293.

Pyper, Hugh. "Sarah is the Hero" Studies in the Book of Tobit. New York: T. & T. Clark, Ltd., 2006. 59-71.

Wills, Lawrence M. "Tobit as Tale and Novel." The Jewish Novel in the Ancient World. Ithaca and London: Cornell UP, 1995. 68-92.