Book of Tobit
The Book of Tobit is an apocryphal story of two families living in Assyrian exile during the 8th century BCE, likely composed between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE in Hebrew or Aramaic. It was rejected as part of the canon in the 2nd century CE under the direction of Rabbi Akiva. It tells of a righteous man named Tobit (Tobi), his son Tobiyah, and a woman named Sarah, whom Tobiyah ultimately marries, focusing on the characters’ prayer, good deeds, and the miraculous divine intervention they experience. Traces of the work’s influence are evident in later texts like the Books of Job and Solomon; Midrash Bereishit Rabbah includes a truncated Aramaic version of Tobit, and one medieval manuscript suggests that at least in some medieval communities, the work was publicly read on the holiday of Shavuot.
- Told in the first person by Tobit, he muses about his life – growing up as an orphan in the tribe of Naphtali, and becoming a devout and righteous man. He, not so humbly, recounts his piety even while surrounded by pagan customs. Despite his people generally neglecting their religious duties and offering sacrifices to the golden calf at Dan, he kept the faith, making the required pilgrimages to Jerusalem to offer tithes. At some point, along with many other Israelites, he is taken captive to live and work in Nineveh (near where modern day Mosul, Iraq is), and eventually finds favor with the king. But he still maintains his faith, refusing to eat non-kosher food or participate in idolatrous rites, and when a new king takes the throne swiftly finds himself out of favor. His property is confiscated, he goes into hiding, and only eventually, through the intercession of others, is allowed to return, where we find him living with his wife Hannah and son Tobiyyah.
- Tobit continues his saga. One day he decided to host a feast, and he sent his son Tobiyyah to invite a poor neighbor to join them. The son returned to say that the neighbor had been slain, and his body was cast out in the street. Tobit, against the orders of local constabulary, recovered the body and buried it according to Jewish tradition, but was unable to purify himself before sundown. So he went an lay outside the mikveh waiting for the next day to purify himself. During the night, birds… crapped in his eyes and he spent the next four years blind. During that time his wife worked, weaving, and bringing in enough for them to live on. One day she was paid with a baby goat to cook for dinner, but Tobit accused her of lying and stealing it and ordered her to return it. Hannah was not amused.
- Tobit realizes he’s screwed up, and that he’s taking out his frustration with being blind on his wife. He prays for forgiveness. Interestingly, he doesn’t ask her for forgiveness. Meanwhile, in Agbatanis, in the mountains of what is modern day Iran (today known as Hamedan), a young woman named Sarah is being mocked by her family’s servants as her seventh husband in a row has just died (by the hand of the demon Asmodeus, apparently) before consummating the marriage, and she’s been taking out her frustration on those same servants. She prays for forgiveness, but also, doesn’t ask them for it. God hears both their prayers and sends the angel Raphael to cure Tobit, banish Asmodeus, and hook up Sarah with Tobit’s son Tobiyyah. Heavenly Tinder!
- Tobit and Sarah, in their respective cities, finish their prayers asking for forgiveness. As Tobit returns home, a long-forgotten memory just suddenly pops into his mind, that in the far-away city of Rages (today known as Tehran, about 300km from where Sarah lives), is a kinsman who owes him a fair amount of money. He calls his son to him and gives him a long lecture on living a good, righteous life, and how to find a good wife, and then tells him about the debt, suggesting that his son venture off to retrieve it, and that that money will help set him up in life.
- Tobiyyah agrees to go and get the money his father had lent to his kinsman Gabael. His father gives him all the details. As Tobiyyah is preparing for the journey he encounters a man who offers to go with him – this man is secretly the angel Raphael, there to make sure the whole meeting of hearts comes off. Tobiyyah brings him to his father, who seems so suss out that his man might just be an angel, and might also be there to cure his blindness. The two set out on their journey while Hannah, his mom, weeps and worries that she’ll never see him again, but Tobit assures her that their son is under angelic protection.
- So Tobiyyah and Raphael set out on their journey. They come to a river and Tobiyyah sits at the bank and washes his feet. A fish leaps out of the water and grabs the loaf of bread he has sitting on his pack. Raphael tells him to grab the fish, gut it, cook it, and eat it, but to save the heart and gall for healing purposes. They spend the night at the home of an apothecary who assures Tobiyyah that the heart will help drive away demons and the gall can be used to (hint, hint) cure blindness. They continue on to Agbatanis where Raphael informs Tobiyyah that they will spend the night at the home of a man whose daughter Sarah is looking for a husband. Somehow Tobiyyah already knows her reputation and declares his fear of being husband number eight to die in her presence. Raphael tells him to go to her room and “marry her” (i.e., back in those days, have intercourse with her thereby making her his wife), while burning the heart which will drive away the demon.
- Tobiyyah and Raphael arrive at the home of Reuel and Ednah, Sarah’s parents. Tobiyyah, having heard Raphael’s plan, is already primed to insist on marrying Sarah – after all, an angel told him to. On arrival, Reuel remarks that Tobiyyah looks very much like his own brother, Tobit, who lives in Nineveh. A quick conversation establishes that they are indeed so closely related, making Tobiyyah and Sarah first cousins. Undaunted, on meeting Sarah, Tobiyyah asks Reuel for her hand in marriage. Reuel tries to warn him off, telling him the history of the seven dead husbands. Tobiyyah insists, Reuel acquiesces and writes out a marriage contract on the spot, relieved to marry off his daughter once again. Ednah gives Sarah her blessing, hoping the curse is broken.
- Tobiyyah and Sarah go into the room prepared for their matrimonial nuptials. Recalling Raphael’s instructions, Tobiyyah lights the fish heart on fire and uses the smoke to smudge the room. They have a blissful night. Meanwhile, Sarah’s dad, Reuel, has his servants dig a grave, having already figured that Tobiyyah will be husband number eight to not make it alive through attempting intercourse with his daughter. In the morning Sarah’s maid peaks in to find the happy couple snoozing in each other’s arms. Reuel has the grave quickly filled in so no one will know, then greets his new son-in-law, asking him to stay for two weeks before returning home, and promising that all his possessions will become Tobiyyah’s when he and his wife pass on. Keep in mind, this has all happened in one day after Tobiyyah and Raphael arrived.
- Since Tobiyyah has agreed to stay at Sarah’s family house for two weeks, he calls to Raphael and asks him to take four servants and two camels and go to Rages, his original destination, and there to his uncle Gabael, relate the story of their journey, ask for the money owed his father, and invite him up to Reuel’s house to celebrate. Raphael does so, Gabael loads the camels up with moneybags, and they all return to Agbatanis in the mountains where Gabael congratulates Tobiyyah and Sarah.
- Back in Ninenveh, Tobit and Hannah are fretting away waiting for Tobiyyah’s return. Each day Hannah goes out and stands in the yard, just peering down the road hoping to see their son returning. Meanwhile, the fourteen days have elapsed, and Tobiyyah goes to Reuel and announces he’s ready to leave. Reuel asks him to stay longer and offers to send a messenger to Tobit and Hannah letting them know he’s okay. Tobiyyah insists it’s time for he and Sarah to leave, Reuel acquiesces, blesses them, and gives them half his wealth to take with them as they set out on the return journey.
- As they approach Nineveh, Raphael pulls Tobiyyah aside and suggests that the two of them precede the rest of the caravan, including Sarah, in returning to his parents. He also reminds Tobiyyah to bring along the mysterious fish gall that he’d preserved. They do so, greetings and weepings all around. Tobiyyah applies the fish gall to his father’s eyes and instantly, Tobit can see again. Then they all go out to meet Sarah. Much celebrating ensues.
- Tobit and Tobiyyah are so grateful for all that Raphael did (whom, by the way, they still think is just some guy named Azaryah, as he introduced himself) that they decide to reward him with half the wealth that they have. They offer it to him, and he does a grand reveal of his angel-hood, with flourishes and all, of who he is and that he’s been on their side for years, interceding with God and manipulating events to get to this happy day. He tells them to continue on their righteous path, use the wealth for good in their community, and bids them farewell – disappearing up into the heavens.
- The book ends with Tobiyyah writing down all the events that had passed and marveling at both how living a righteous life could lead to wonderous things, and thanking God for all his blessings and support. Though I get that it all worked out in the end, somehow it seems like he’s forgotten that God was also instrumental in causing his father’s longtime blindness and his family’s strife, simply for being late getting to the purification baths. [This was fun, the Apocryphal books not having been a part of my Jewish education growing up, it’s fascinating to read new stories and histories. On to the next!]