Tobit

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A mix of folktale and prayer, biblical themes and classical motifs, Tobit depicts a fantastic tale of Diaspora life. Containing an angel in disguise, a murderous demon, a magical fish and a young man on a journey to maturity, the Book of Tobit is not told simply to entertain. Rather, it provides carefully crafted instructions for how Jews should live in exile.

Although we can’t be sure when or where Tobit was written, internal evidence suggests the third century B.C.E. somewhere in Syria or Mesopotamia. Judging from its elements of folklore, it may have much older oral antecedents.

Like the stories of Daniel and Judith, it is backdated. Written during the Hellenistic period, it is set in the eighth century B.C.E. Placed in the Assyrian Diaspora where Jewish families are scattered and where the law of the land is not the Law of Moses, the Book of Tobit demonstrates how, through faith, pious deeds and a concern for regulating both marriages and the behavior of women, community identity can be preserved. Like its more popular neighbors in the Old Testament Apocrypha, Tobit shares with Judith,^a the Additions to Esther,^b the Maccabean books and the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus) a concern for the problems of the Diaspora and a solution to the threat of assimilation in a Hellenistic world.

Although it was probably written in Aramaic, the text is preserved most completely in three fourth- or fifth-century copies of the Septuagint,^c the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. One is now in the Vatican (Codex Vaticanus) and two are in the British Museum (Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Sinaiticus). A shorter version of Tobit appears in both Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus, and a longer version is preserved in Codex Sinaiticus. In addition, fragments in both Hebrew and Aramaic have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran.

The story recounts the fortunes of Tobit, a member of the tribe of Naphtali, who had been sent into exile to Nineveh along with his wife Anna and son Tobias after the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C.E. The ten tribes of Israel that comprised the northern kingdom thus became the so-called ten lost tribes. The Book of Tobit is consistent with the legend that these tribes were in fact not lost, but were thriving in Media and its environs (cf. 2 Kings 17:6). Indeed, Tobit or its prototext may have originated this legend.

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Like Daniel, Tobit attempts to uphold Jewish traditions in a land where governmental hostility to such piety is rampant. Unable to continue his annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to pay the appropriate tithes and to honor the priesthood, Tobit must find viable substitutes for these observances of his religion. The text emphasizes acts of charity, public proclamation of the God of Israel and insistence on marrying within the tribe (endogamy). These acts will, as Tobit’s final prayer insists, return the people to their land and their Temple.

Reminiscent of Antigone, who defied her royal uncle by burying her brother, Tobit displays his piety by burying the corpses of his countrymen in defiance of a royal order. Indeed, he even leaps up from his dinner to remove a body from the marketplace. Such an act of what today might be called “civil disobedience” is similar to the responses of the Maccabees, Daniel and Esther to governmental edicts that constrained religious freedom. Tobit’s situation has, in addition, a symbolic value. His frequent contact with corpses shows the chaos of the Diaspora. For those who yearn for a stable society, the situation in Nineveh is literally one of “decomposition.” In a book of just 244 verses, 53 verses, or almost 22 percent, contain at least one word referring to death or burial.¹

One night, after becoming unclean from contact with a dead body, and so having to remain outside until he completes the rituals of purification, Tobit is blinded by bird droppings. White film covers eyes. The irony of the situation is twofold: not only does the righteous individual suffer, but his suffering is caused in a most ignominious manner.

Now dependent on his wife, Anna, Tobit is unable to accept this reversal of roles. Although has no reason to distrust Anna, he accuses her of having stolen a kid actually given to her by her employers. Her harsh, albeit not inappropriate, rejoinder—“Where are your acts of charity? Where are your righteous deeds? These things are known to you” (2:14)—indicates the lack of domestic harmony resulting from the humiliation of their situation. Crushed by his personal circumstances, in exile, blinded, alienated from his wife, unable now even to engage in acts of charity, Tobit prays for death.

He is not the only one. In Media, in the city of Ecbatana, Tobit’s cousin Sarah faces a similarly 045absurd situation. On seven occasions, the demon Asmodeus has killed her groom before the marriage could be consummated. Like Tamar in Genesis 38, whose two husbands died, leaving her childless, and who was denied her right to a child by the third brother, she is gaining quite a bad reputation.² Accused by her maids of having murdered her husbands herself and, more important for the text, unable to produce children who would continue the family line, Sarah—like the blind Tobit—sees no reason to live. She prays for death, but unlike Tobit, she suggests an alternative solution: let heaven correct her problem.

Both prayers are heard “in the glorious presence of God” (3:16), but the solution to Sarah’s and Tobit’s plights arrive in an unexpected and somewhat convoluted manner. In this tale, heaven works in mysterious ways. Confident that his prayer for death will be answered, Tobit arranges for his son’s future. Following the model of Jacob’s parting words to his 12 sons (Genesis 49) and Moses’ farewell to all the people of Israel before he died on Mt. Nebo (Deuteronomy 31–34), Tobit’s testament combines practical advice with theological reflection.

Amid traditional concerns for proper behavior, Tobit emphasizes marrying correctly. He exhorts Tobias:

“Above all, marry a woman of the lineage of your forefathers. Do not marry a stranger who is not of your father’s tribe, because we are sons of the prophets. My boy, keep in mind Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; all of them took wives from among their own kinsmen and were blessed in their children. Remember that their posterity shall inherit the land” (4:12).

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Reflecting his fear of community dissolution in the Diaspora, Tobit’s advice becomes the hinge that will connect the lives of his son and Sarah.

Tobit advises his son to travel to Rages, also in Media, to obtain the ten talents of silver that had been left there in trust with a relative. The various motifs of Tobit’s final testament—ethical concerns, marital instruction and religious warnings—are all played out in Tobias’ journey.

A folktale hero’s journey is usually accomplished with the aid of a supernatural companion, and Tobias’ trek is no exception. Arriving at the opportune time and posing as the family’s long-lost relative Azariah, the angel Raphael offers himself to Tobias as a guide. The motif is also familiar from classical sources, such as the Odyssey, Books I–III, where the Goddess Athena helps Odysseus’ son Telemachus in his search for his father. And, like Athena’s advice, the angel’s directions will concern more than geography. Ostensibly seeking only to recover his father’s money, Tobias—with the angel’s help—will discover a bride, a recipe for exorcising demons and a cure for his father as well.

Like Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in the old “Road” movies, the intrepid travelers do not have a simple, peaceful journey. Stopping to wash in the Tigris, Tobias is attacked by a carnivorous fish. The scene may be an intentional parody of the Book of Jonah, whose hero was not only swallowed by a fish, but who also faced this unusual fate during an attempted escape from responsibilities in Nineveh. But Tobias, who was acting responsibly, is given aid to turn this situation to good.

Following the angel Raphael’s direction, Tobias catches the fish and removes its gall, heart and liver. Puzzled, Tobias asks: “What medicinal value is there in the fish’s heart and liver and in the gall?” (6:7). Raphael advises him that “every affliction will flee away” if he would burn the heart and liver “in the presence of a man or woman afflicted by a demon or evil spirit,” and if blind eyes are anointed with the gall, the white film will disappear and “the eyes will be healed” (6:8, 9). Now armed with the means to exorcise Sarah’s demon and cure Tobit’s blindness, Tobias carries the unappetizing package over 300 miles to the capital of Media.

On the way, Raphael informs Tobias that his predestined bride awaits him. The young man is less than thrilled with the idea, for Raphael has also recounted the fates of Sarah’s previous husbands. But the angel assures him that he will survive the night.

Armed with fish guts and faith, the two arrive at Sarah’s home. Her parents, Edna and Raguel, are overjoyed to hear that a suitor, and a relative at that, seeks the hand of their daughter, and a wedding is arranged for that evening. But in a parallel to Tobit’s leaping from the table in order to bury the dead, Sarah’s father leaves the festive meal to dig a grave, a precaution in case the fate of Sarah’s former husbands befalls Tobias.

Yet the night will not yield such grave results. To release Sarah from her tormentor, Tobias “took the fish’s liver and heart out of the bag and put them on the embers of incense” (8:2). The stench sends the demon Asmodeus fleeing to Egypt, where the angel Raphael binds him hand and foot. The much-relieved groom is ready—after offering a prayer of thanksgiving on behalf of himself and his new wife–—to consummate his marriage.

Having proven himself capable and knowledgeable, the angel Raphael, still in disguise as cousin Azariah, is entrusted with the task of obtaining Tobit’s money from Rages. With his father’s money in hand, Tobias, along with his new wife Sarah and the angel, returns to Nineveh, where Anna fears that her son has perished and Tobit tries to assure her that he will soon arrive. Going ahead of Sarah and the slaves, animals and household goods 047received as a bride-price, Tobias and the angel Raphael run home, After greeting his parents, Tobias immediately prepares the gall into a paste, blows into his father’s eyes as he has been instructed by Raphael and then applies the paste to Tobit’s eyes.³ Tobias peels the white films from his father’s eyes, and Tobit exclaims: “I see you my son, the light of my eyes” (11:14). Rejoicing and praising God, Tobit goes to welcome his new daughter-in-law. In gratitude Tobias offers Raphael half of all his new possessions, Refusing, Raphael reveals to the men that “God sent me to heal you and Sarah. I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord” (12:15)…“What you saw was a vision…see I am ascending to him who sent me” (12:19, 20).

Before he departs, Raphael, reflecting the motif of testing the righteous which also appears in Job 1–2, informs Tobit of the reason for his suffering: “[W]hen you did not hesitate to get up and leave your dinner in order to bury the dead, I was sent to put you to the test” (12:13–14), Finally, Raphael instructs father and son in the proper means of expressing their thanks. Following the angel’s instructions, Tobit offers a public prayer which addresses the exiled Israelites, reminds them to bear witness to their beliefs before the gentiles and anticipates their return to Jerusalem.

The story concludes as Tobit, about to die, calls his son Tobias (the Latin version adds that the 048seven sons of Tobias were also there) to hear his second testament. Repeated are the themes of his speech to Tobias before the journey with Raphael: almsgiving, proper burial and the importance of endogamy. Then Tobit dies. Tobias takes his family to live with his father-in-law Raguel in Ecbatana; there Tobias lives to be 117 years old—long enough to hear of the destruction of Nineveh.

Like the nation in exile, Tobit suffered, but he realized that heaven does hear prayers, that righteous action eventually will be rewarded and that the family and community will continue, thanks to faithful individuals like Tobias and Sarah.

Outlandish in both Diaspora setting and plot, Tobit in fact offers a sophisticated response to the problem of assimilation. Emphasizing the acute threat to identity posed by the loss of land and access to the Temple, the Book of Tobit attempts to bring stability to an unstable world.

William Soll correctly observes that the “instances of ‘villainy’ in Tobit can be seen as acute manifestations of the chronic condition of exile.”⁴ In exile, dead bodies lie in the streets and those who bury them are punished; demons fall in love with women and kill their husbands; and righteous action is rewarded with blindness and depression. In the Diaspora, no immediately clear, fixed boundaries for self-definition exist.

To alleviate this intolerable situation, the text makes three literary moves. First, like the Book of Judith, it presents imaginary geographical and historical references. These not only indicate the fictional nature of the text, they also show the unreality of the exilic situation. Next, through its emphasis on endogamy—marrying one’s own people—it defines Israel by genealogy rather than geography. Finally, it presents various ethical prescriptions and theological reflections to insure proper behavior and religiosity apart from the Temple and the priesthood.

References to Nineveh frame the text and signal to us that the story takes place in the Diaspora. But the text is replete with historical and geographical errors. The first chapter claims that Naphtali and Zebulun were exiled from the Galilee under Shalmaneser, rather than Tiglath-pileser III (2 Kings 15:29).⁵ Tobit states that Shalmaneser, not Sennacherib, was Sargon’s son, and misdates Sennacherib’s death; he claims that Ahasuerus and Nebuchadnezzar, not Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, captured Nineveh.⁶ Rages, 185 miles from Ecbatana, is incorrectly described as only a two-day journey away (5:65^d). Further, the angel Raphael situates Rages in the mountains and Ecbatana on the plateau (5:6, 10S), but, in fact, Ecbatana is 2,500 feet higher than Rages. The disjunction between the real and the recounted indicates the problem of Diaspora existence: things are not as they should be.

The one site with clearly defined borders remaining to the people in exile is the family. Tobit, punished for transgressing Sennacherib’s law against interring corpses, observes: “Nothing was left to me but Anna my wife and my son Tobias” (1:20). This close-knit relationship is directly contrasted with the unstable ties of their gentile neighbors. While families unite and define the Israelite community, the next verse notes how the Assyrian king is murdered by two of his sons (1:21).

Concern for kinship also pervades Tobit’s tribal identification. While the tribe of Naphtali showed community solidarity with the other tribes in battle (Judges 5:18, 6:35, 7:23), it was not secure even within the borders of the Promised Land. Naphtali was separated from the other tribes descended either directly or by surrogate from the matriarch Rachel (Genesis 30) even in Palestine by the apportionment of land to Issachar and Zebulun (Joshua 19:32–39); Naphtali was also closely connected with the local population, as Judges 1:33 makes clear: “Naphtali dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land.” Because of the Assyrian exile, Naphtali, like the rest of the northern tribes, permanently lost both its connection to the land and its self-identity.

Since identity is maintained through kinship ties and not the land, Tobit emphasizes endogamy. He and Anna are from the same family, and he strongly urges his son to follow suit. In turn, Sarah notes (incorrectly) that she has no relative left to marry. And Raphael observes that Tobias, as Sarah’s only eligible relation is her destined spouse.⁷

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But the physical displacements of exile, and their attendant moral and religious repercussions, not only complicate the problem of finding an appropriate spouse, they also reveal the particular problems women face. The Book of Tobit indicates the central role women play in community self-definition. Because Sarah’s inability to consummate her marriage and produce children parallels Tobit’s blindness, the two situations can be profitably compared. A comparison indicates an exaggerated concern for maintaining distinctions not only between man and woman, but also life and death, clean and unclean, human and nonhuman.

The chaos of the muddied boundary between life and death directly affects Tobit, since his body comes into direct contact with corpses and waste products. His body may even represent the borders Israel should have maintained: “All my kindred and nation ate gentile food, but I myself scrupulously avoided doing so” (1:10). Tobit also attempts to establish appropriate borders: he stayed outside after the burial self-imposed exile from his house “because I was unclean” (2:9BA).

Sarah is threatened by the weakness another 050boundary—the boundary between the human and the supernatural. The demon Asmodeus has killed her husbands and thereby prevented her from producing an heir. Consequently, she cannot fulfill her duty to either her father or her family line; the Codex Vaticanus text of Tobit suggests that daughters may not inherit (3:15, cf. 8:21, 14:13). By recounting her situation five times,⁸ the text clearly associates her with childlessness.

By desiring Sarah, Asmodeus creates confusion between the categories of human and supernatural, a confusion with disastrous implications that are known from legends that expand on the brief story about the encounter between the “Sons of God and the daughters of men” (Genesis 6).^9e The angel Raphael, on the other hand, never speaks with women and indeed scrupulously avoids their company. Returning to Nineveh, he urges Tobias: “You know how we left your father [not mother]. Let us hurry on ahead of your wife” (11:2–3). Similarly, to convey his parting instructions, Raphael “called the two men aside privately” (12:6). In this text, men do not threaten the borders between the human and the divine as Tobias’ dealings with Raphael and Asmodeus indicate. Tobit receives from the angel the explanation that the deity had been testing him (12:13S); Sarah receives no such reassurance.

Sarah’s position is further marginalized by her ignorance and her silence. Although her parents know of Tobit, and Tobias knows of her, she is so far removed from contact with others that she is unaware of her spouse-to-be. Nor, apparently, is she aware of the demon Asmodeus. This ignorance 051leads to a lack of communication. She does not respond to her maids’ taunts; is mute at her wedding ceremony; fails to address her mother’s words of comfort on her wedding night; and does not react to Tobit’s effusive welcome.¹⁰ Her first word is “no”; “Amen” is the only word she speaks in another’s presence.¹¹

Complementing Sarah’s exaggerated marginalization is Anna’s exaggerated entry into the public sphere. According to the book of Tobit as well as texts such as the Testament of Job, Judith and Ecclesiasticus, when women leave the confines of the home, confusion and marital disharmony result.¹² Anna’s engagement in “women’s work” gives rise to the first of her three extended conversations with Tobit (2:11–14, 5:17–19, 10:1–7), and none is a model of domestic harmony.

This breakdown of domestic peace contrasts with Tobit’s prayer for his future daughter-in-law. To his hope that, like Eve to Adam, she will be a helper, Tobit has added “and support” (8:5–7). Bow and Nickelsburg suggest that the addition represents Tobit’s concern that, should Tobias also become disabled, Sarah will support the family.¹³ However, given that the blind Tobit distrusts his wife Anna’s honesty after she ventures into public space, this hypothesis requires a cautionary addition: by supporting her husband, a wife threatens both his honor and her own.

The woman’s role—demonstrated by Sarah’s mother, Edna—is to be in the house; there she cares for her husband and comforts her children. Her public or religious duties emerge only when men are absent or disabled. When Tobit was orphaned, his grandmother Deborah assumed responsibility for his religious training; when he is blinded, Anna enters the work force.

This exemption of women in the Book of Tobit from religious duties is reinforced by their names. In contrast to all four male characters—Tobit, Tobias, Raguel and Raphael/Azariah—who have theophanic or God-related names,¹⁴ the names of the women—Sarah, Anna and Edna—are all connected with procreation. Sarah shares her name with Abraham’s barren wife who only bore a child after long difficulties. Edna’s name derives from a Hebrew term meaning “(sexual) pleasure,” which is used only once in the Masoretic text, when Sarah laughs to herself saying, “after I have grown old, and my husband is old, am I still to have pleasure?” (Genesis 18:12). Anna’s name evokes the biblical Hannah, whose existence is defined by the priority she places on and the difficulties she faces in conceiving a son (1 Samuel 1–2).

Even the means by which Sarah’s problem is cured relate to conception. The particular pieces of the fish used to exorcise the demon are not accidental. The heart and liver, especially when inflamed, were understood to be loci for reproduction.¹⁵ Both heart and liver¹⁶ may have been known to the author of Tobit as being involved in the production of semen. Raphael’s advice to burn the organs so as to make smoke in the presence of the afflicted may be connected to the common ancient view that heat generates sperm.¹⁷ The exorcism fights fire with fire: the demon who prevented the consummation of marriages and the conception of children is banished by means of the symbols of conception. By eliminating the demon, Tobias insures both his own safety and his bride’s fertility.

The story relates that “When the demon smelled the odor he fled to the remotest part of Egypt, and the angel bound him.” Thus, the sacrificial elements formerly used in the Temple—incense smoke and animal parts—banish supernatural forces rather than summon or thank them. Just as improper respect for the Temple caused the exile of Naphtali, so manipulation of the sacrificial elements will allow the tribe to increase.

With Asmodeus safely removed, the relationship between Tobias and Sarah can be consummated. Their marriage indicates the ideal gender roles for the future of Israel. Passive, dependent and silent, Sarah emerges as the perfect wife. Her husband insists that their relationship is based on “sincerity” or “singleness of heart” as opposed to lust (8:7); this specificity suggests that Tobias is concerned not with sexuality (the domain of the demon), but with procreation.

In sum, both threatened and threatening, the women of the apocryphal books such as Sarah and Judith, Esther and Susanna, are the screen upon which the fears of the male community can be both displayed and, at least temporarily, allayed. Prescriptions for cultural cohesion are presented in the narratives’ insistence on endogamy, dietary and burial regulations, and physical purity. And the threats posed by such women are, like the threat of assimilation, diffused by such literary techniques as imaginary settings, exaggerated plots and divine machinations.

Tobit may be an ancient folktale, but its concerns—separation from one’s ancestral land, assimilation, intermarriage, the relationship between politics and religion, the role of women, even the apparent absence of God and the impression that the world is a place of chaos—resonate in the modern world. Perhaps after centuries of comparative neglect by both scholars and theologians, the Book of Tobit might gain a new audience and receive new appreciation.

A mix of folktale and prayer, biblical themes and classical motifs, Tobit depicts a fantastic tale of Diaspora life. Containing an angel in disguise, a murderous demon, a magical fish and a young man on a journey to maturity, the Book of Tobit is not told simply to entertain. Rather, it provides carefully crafted instructions for how Jews should live in exile. Although we can’t be sure when or where Tobit was written, internal evidence suggests the third century B.C.E. somewhere in Syria or Mesopotamia. Judging from its elements of folklore, it may have much older oral antecedents. Like […]