2.11–3.17 The destinies of two innocent sufferers are joined as reproach leads them to pray for death.
2.11–14 The humiliation of the once wealthy public servant is complete, and the situation pits Tobit and his wife against each other.
2.12 The seventh of Dystrus, roughly mid-January in the Macedonian calendar.
2.13–14 Tobit’s concern with righteousness has become an obsession. His distrust of Anna leads to her ironic rebuke; its gist is either to question the sincerity of his righteous deeds or to taunt him because they have gone unrewarded.
3.1–6 His neighbors’ mockery and his wife’s rebuke prompt Tobit to seek release in death.
3.2–5 The motifs in the first part of Tobit’s prayer are common in Jewish prayers of confession (Dan 9.4–19; Bar 1.15–3.8; Prayer of Azariah) and may indicate that this is an excerpt or epitome of a traditional text. Vv. 2, 5 frame the section with the assertion that God’s judgments are righteous, just, and true (cf. Psalms of Solomon 2.10, 15; 8.7, 26).
3.3 Though Tobit is righteous, he is not sinless; he is guilty of sins and unwitting offenses, and he does not have access to the sacrificial system to atone for them (Lev 5.17–19; Psalms of Solomon 3.8). He is also liable for the sins of his ancestors (Ex 20.5–6). On all these accounts, a just God is exacting judgment on him. On the manner of this judgment, see note on 11.15.
3.4 The idea that the exile is deserved punishment for Israel’s sins is a common OT motif.
3.5 Tobit, the righteous exception, paradoxically acknowledges his solidarity with the sinful nation (cf. 2 Macc 7.18, 33).
3.6 Tobit seeks to become dust (Gen 3.19) and find release from Anna’s undeserved (lit. “false”) insults.
Tobit 3
Tobit’s Prayer
1Then with much grief and anguish of heart I wept, and with groaning began to pray:
2“You are righteous, O Lord,
and all your deeds are just;
all your ways are mercy and truth;
you judge the world.a
3And now, O Lord, remember me
and look favorably upon me.
Do not punish me for my sins
and for my unwitting offenses
and those that my ancestors committed before you.
They sinned against you,
4and disobeyed your commandments.
So you gave us over to plunder, exile, and death,
to become the talk, the byword, and an object of reproach
among all the nations among whom you have dispersed us.
5And now your many judgments are true
in exacting penalty from me for my sins.
For we have not kept your commandments
and have not walked in accordance with truth before you.
6So now deal with me as you will;
command my spirit to be taken from me,
so that I may be released from the face of the earth and become dust.
For it is better for me to die than to live,
because I have had to listen to undeserved insults,
and great is the sorrow within me.
Command, O Lord, that I be released from this distress;
release me to go to the eternal home,
and do not, O Lord, turn your face away from me.
For it is better for me to die
than to see so much distress in my life
and to listen to insults.”
Sarah Falsely Accused
7On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media, it also happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was reproached by one of her father’s maids. 8For she had been married to seven husbands, and the wicked demon Asmodeus had killed each of them before they had been with her as is customary for wives. So the maid said to her, “You are the one who killsb your husbands! See, you have already been married to seven husbands and have not borne the name ofc a single one of them. 9Why do you beat us? Because your husbands are dead? Go with them! May we never see a son or daughter of yours!”
Sarah’s Prayer for Death
10On that day she was grieved in spirit and wept. When she had gone up to her father’s upper room, she intended to hang herself. But she thought it over and said, “Never shall they reproach my father, saying to him, ‘You had only one beloved daughter but she hanged herself because of her distress.’ And I shall bring my father in his old age down in sorrow to Hades. It is better for me not to hang myself, but to pray the Lord that I may die and not listen to these reproaches anymore.” 11At that same time, with hands outstretched toward the window, she prayed and said,
“Blessed are you, merciful God!
Blessed is your name forever;
let all your works praise you forever.
12And now, Lord,d I turn my face to you,
and raise my eyes toward you.
13Command that I be released from the earth
and not listen to such reproaches any more.
14You know, O Master, that I am innocent
of any defilement with a man,
15and that I have not disgraced my name
or the name of my father in the land of my exile.
I am my father’s only child;
he has no other child to be his heir;
and he has no close relative or other kindred
for whom I should keep myself as wife.
Already seven husbands of mine have died.
Why should I still live?
But if it is not pleasing to you, O Lord, to take my life,
hear me in my disgrace.”
An Answer to Prayer
16At that very moment, the prayers of both of them were heard in the glorious presence of God. 17So Raphael was sent to heal both of them: Tobit, by removing the white films from his eyes, so that he might see God’s light with his eyes; and Sarah, daughter of Raguel, by giving her in marriage to Tobias son of Tobit, and by setting her free from the wicked demon Asmodeus. For Tobias was entitled to have her before all others who had desired to marry her. At the same time that Tobit returned from the courtyard into his house, Sarah daughter of Raguel came down from her upper room.
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a Other ancient authorities read you render true and righteous judgment forever
b Other ancient authorities read strangles
c Other ancient authorities read have had no benefit from
d Other ancient authorities lack Lord
3.7–9 Tobit’s relative Sarah is also an innocent victim of circumstances beyond her control and an object of insults.
3.8–9 The meaning of the name Asmodeus is uncertain. The demon lover, a common motif in ancient folklore, also appears in 1 Enoch 6–11. Here the demon who cannot satisfy his lust kills his rival each time before the marriage is consummated, thus leaving Sarah without the possibility of offspring and making her the object of reproach (cf. Gen 16.4–6, on another Sarah and her maid; 1 Sam 1.6). For an allusion to a story about marriage to seven brothers, see Mk 12.18–25.
3.10–15 Unfair reproach leads Sarah, like Tobit, to pray for death.
3.10 Sarah’s rejection of suicide indicates a concern for her family lacking in Tobit’s unmitigated self-pity.
3.11 Sarah adopts a common posture for prayer, with hands outstretched (Ezra 9.5; Dan 6.10). In spite of her tragedy, she can bless a merciful God (cf. Pr Azar 3).
3.14–15 Unlike Tobit, Sarah does not confess her sins. Her denial of sexual sin (cf. Sus 42–43) may be a protest that the deaths of her husbands are unjust for a chaste woman. Her marriages to seven relatives fulfilled levirate law (Deut 25.5–10; cf. Gen 38). Unaware of Tobias’s existence, she sees no further options for marriage, but, unlike Tobit, she allows God another option if her death is not pleasing to God.
3.16–17 God does have an unexpected solution to the parallel problems in the Tobiad family.
3.16 In the glorious presence of God, seven angels relay human prayers and stand ready to implement God’s responses (cf. Rev 1
.4; 1 Enoch 20).
3.17 Raphael (Hebrew, “God has healed”) is the appropriate agent to heal Tobit’s and Sarah’s afflictions. Tobias’s preeminent right to marry Sarah, his predestined bride (6.18), has ironically been facilitated by the tragic deaths of their seven kinsmen.
Tobit 4
Tobit Gives Instructions to His Son
1That same day Tobit remembered the money that he had left in trust with Gabael at Rages in Media, 2and he said to himself, “Now I have asked for death. Why do I not call my son Tobias and explain to him about the money before I die?” 3Then he called his son Tobias, and when he came to him he said, “My son, when I die,a give me a proper burial. Honor your mother and do not abandon her all the days of her life. Do whatever pleases her, and do not grieve her in anything. 4Remember her, my son, because she faced many dangers for you while you were in her womb. And when she dies, bury her beside me in the same grave.
5“Revere the Lord all your days, my son, and refuse to sin or to transgress his commandments. Live uprightly all the days of your life, and do not walk in the ways of wrongdoing; 6for those who act in accordance with truth will prosper in all their activities. To all those who practice righteousnessb 7give alms from your possessions, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it. Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor, and the face of God will not be turned away from you. 8If you have many possessions, make your gift from them in proportion; if few, do not be afraid to give according to the little you have. 9So you will be laying up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity. 10For almsgiving delivers from death and keeps you from going into the Darkness. 11Indeed, almsgiving, for all who practice it, is an excellent offering in the presence of the Most High.
12“Beware, my son, of every kind of fornication. First of all, marry a woman from among the descendants of your ancestors; do not marry a foreign woman, who is not of your father’s tribe; for we are the descendants of the prophets. Remember, my son, that Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our ancestors of old, all took wives from among their kindred. They were blessed in their children, and their posterity will inherit the land. 13So now, my son, love your kindred, and in your heart do not disdain your kindred, the sons and daughters of your people, by refusing to take a wife for yourself from among them. For in pride there is ruin and great confusion. And in idleness there is loss and dire poverty, because idleness is the mother of famine.
14“Do not keep over until the next day the wages of those who work for you, but pay them at once. If you serve God you will receive payment. Watch yourself, my son, in everything you do, and discipline yourself in all your conduct. 15And what you hate, do not do to anyone. Do not drink wine to excess or let drunkenness go with you on your way. 16Give some of your food to the hungry, and some of your clothing to the naked. Give all your surplus as alms, and do not let your eye begrudge your giving of alms. 17Place your bread on the grave of the righteous, but give none to sinners. 18Seek advice from every wise person and do not despise any useful counsel. 19At all times bless the Lord God, and ask him that your ways may be made straight and that all your paths and plans may prosper. For none of the nations has understanding, but the Lord himself will give them good counsel; but if he chooses otherwise, he casts down to deepest Hades. So now, my child, remember these commandments, and do not let them be erased from your heart.
Money Left in Trust with Gabael
20“And now, my son, let me explain to you that I left ten talents of silver in trust with Gabael son of Gabrias, at Rages in Media. 21Do not be afraid, my son, because we have become poor. You have great wealth if you fear God and flee from every sin and do what is good in the sight of the Lord your God.”
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a Lat
b The text of codex Sinaiticus goes directly from verse 6 to verse 19, reading To those who practice righteousness19the Lord will give good counsel. In order to fill the lacuna verses 7 to 18 are derived from other ancient authorities
4.1–19 Certain that God will answer his prayer for death, Tobit dispenses testamentary instruction to his son. The testament was a well-defined literary genre in biblical and early Jewish and Christian literature (Gen 49; 1 Enoch 81–82.3; 91; Jubilees 20–21; Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs; Testament of Job) in which a father anticipating death offered his children ethical instruction and information about the future. Tobit will offer the latter in ch. 14 in connection with his actual death.
4.1–2 One wonders why Tobit had not previously remembered the deposit of silver that would solve his financial woes. Evidently God has jogged his memory; Tobias will return from Media not only with the silver, but with the wife God has destined for him.
4.3 On the son’s responsibility to provide his parents a proper burial, cf. Mt 8.21; Lk 9.59.
4.3–4 On the nuance in the allusion to the fourth (fifth) commandment (Ex 20.12), cf. Sir 7.27.
4.5 An admonition to act righteously and avoid the ways of wrongdoing (cf. 1.3) prefaces a section on the right use of money (vv. 6–11), which is appropriate in light of Tobias’s mission.
4.7 To give alms to the poor was an important element of Jewish piety linked to biblical concerns about the poor. Here and elsewhere in ch. 4 a principle of appropriate recompense governs God’s reward of the righteous (Do not turn your face away…and the face of God will not be turned away from you).
4.8 Cf. Mk 12.41–44.
4.10 Tobit has practiced the almsgiving he preaches (1.3, 17), although his depressed situation seems to undercut the notion that God rewards the righteous. Deliverance from death does not mean eternal life, but avoidance of premature death.
4.11 In a diaspora situation, where Israelites could not engage in sacrificial practices, the atoning value of almsgiving as an excellent offering (cf. 12.9; Sir 35.1–2) was especially significant, as it again came to be after the destruction of the temple in 70 CE.
4.12–13 Returning to a concern about family (see vv. 3–4), and in keeping with his own example (1.9), Tobit advocates endogamy, recalling the patriarchal narratives (Gen 11.29; 24.3–4; 27.46–28.2; Jubilees 4.33). Israelite theory and practice on this subject varied. Mandating marriage to an Israelite are the Genesis passages just cited, Ezra 9–10, Neh 10.28–30, and many passages in Jubilees. Ruth attests a more liberal attitude. In a diaspora situation, the concern for preserving national and religious identity is understandable and the problem of finding the right spouse especially difficult.
4.14–19 These verses return to the topic of vv. 5–10.
4.14 For do not keep…for you, see Lev 19.13.
4.15 The Golden Rule, what you hate, do not do to anyone, was widespread in the cultures of antiquity. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, its negative formulation is first attested here; it is also attributed to Rabbi Hillel (Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 31a), James (Acts 15.20, 29 in manuscripts of the “Western tradition”), and the Twelve (Didache 1.2). The positive form of the proverb is ascribed to Jesus in Mt 7.12; Lk 6.31. On the evils of drunkenness, cf. Prov 23.29–35; Sir 31.25–30; Testament of Judah 11–14, 16.
4.17 The practice alluded to here is obscure. The idea is that one should sustain the hungry, but that it is better to leave food at the grave of the righteous than to give it to sinners (cf. Ahikar 2.10, Syriac version). The restriction of charity to the righteous is noteworthy; cf. 2.2; Gal 6.10.
4.19 At all times bless…God may reflect Ps 34.1; the psalm describes the plight and fate of people like Tobit. That none of the nations has understanding (Deut 32.28) is an observation appropriate to the diaspora setting. On the concluding admonition, cf. 1 Enoch 94.5.
4.20–5.3 The conclusion of Tobit’s instruction returns to the narrative that introduced it (4.1–2).
4.20 Ten talents of silver weighed about 750 pounds, worth a substantial sum.
5.1 Tobias’s response to his father’s instruction echoes Ex 19.8; 24.3; Josh 1.16.
Tobit 5
The Angel Raphael
1Then Tobias answered his father Tobit, “I will do everything that you have commanded me, father; 2but how can I obtain the moneya from him, since he does not know me and I do not know him? What evidenceb am I to give him so that he will recognize and trust me, and give me the money? Also, I do not know the roads to Media, or how to get there.” 3Then Tobit answered his son Tobias, “He gave me his bond and I gave him my bond. Ic divided his in two; we each took one part, and I put one with the money. And now twenty years have passed since I left this money in trust. So now, my son, find yourself a trustworthy man to go with you, and we will pay him wages until you return. But get back the money from Gabael.”d
4So Tobias went out to look for a man to go with him to Media, someone who was acquainted with the way. He went out and found the angel Raphael standing in front of him; but he did not perceive that he was an angel of God. 5Tobiase said to him, “Where do you come from, young man?” “From your kindred, the Israelites,” he replied, “and I have come here to work.” Then Tobiasf said to him, “Do you know the way to go to Media?” 6“Yes,” he replied, “I have been there many times; I am acquainted with it and know all the roads. I have often traveled to Media, and would stay with our kinsman Gabael who lives in Rages of Media. It is a journey of two days from Ecbatana to Rages; for it lies in a mountainous area, while Ecbatana is in the middle of the plain.” 7Then Tobias said to him, “Wait for me, young man, until I go in and tell my father; for I do need you to travel with me, and I will pay you your wages.” 8He replied, “All right, I will wait; but do not take too long.”
9So Tobiasg went in to tell his father Tobit and said to him, “I have just found a man who is one of our own Israelite kindred!” He replied, “Call the man in, my son, so that I may learn about his family and to what tribe he belongs, and whether he is trustworthy enough to go with you.”
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