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| Book of Tobit | |
|---|---|
| Name | Book of Tobit |
| Author | Unknown |
| Language | Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek |
| Date | 3rd–1st century BCE |
| Genre | Religious narrative, Apocalyptic elements |
Book of Tobit The Book of Tobit is an ancient Jewish narrative composed in the Hellenistic period that recounts the trials of Tobit and his son Tobias, featuring the angel Raphael, the demon Asmodeus, and the heroine Sarah. The work intersects with traditions surrounding Jerusalem, Babylon, Assyria, Diaspora Judaism, and the literature of the Septuagint, while influencing Early Christianity, Rabbinic Judaism, Patristics, and Western Christian liturgy.
The narrative centers on Tobit of the tribe of Naphtali living in exile in Nineveh under the rule of the Assyrian Empire, his blindness, the journey of his son Tobias to Media and Ecbatana to retrieve money, the marriage to Sarah of Raguel's household plagued by the demon Asmodeus, and the intervention of the archangel Raphael. The plot connects to motifs found in Book of Judith, Book of Esther, Book of Daniel, and 1 Maccabees while invoking legal and ritual contexts related to Temple in Jerusalem, Leviticus, and the cultic practices debated in Pharisee–Sadducee disputes. Scenes reference locations tied to Tigris River, Euphrates, Shinar, and the urbanities of Nineveh and Ninevite tradition. Characters include Tobit, Tobias, Sarah, Raguel, Edna, Anna, and the angel Raphael, with narrative elements paralleling episodes in Genesis, Job, Exodus, and Numbers.
Scholars attribute composition to an anonymous Jewish author or school operating amid the Hellenistic period between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE, with proposed provenance in Palestine, Mesopotamia, or Alexandria. Linguistic evidence in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek translations suggests transmission across Library of Alexandria networks, scribal communities connected to Qumran and Dead Sea Scrolls milieus, and interaction with Hellenistic Judaism exemplified by writers like Philo of Alexandria and Josephus. The text exhibits affinities with pseudepigraphal works such as 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs while participating in narrative theology similar to Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon.
Manuscript evidence survives in Greek, fragments in Aramaic and Hebrew, and in versions preserved in the Vulgate, Syriac Peshitta, Coptic translations, and Latin traditions. The book appears in the Septuagint but is absent from the Masoretic Text, which affected its canonical reception among Rabbinic Judaism. Christian canons vary: it is accepted in the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church canons, classified among the Deuterocanonical books, but was excluded by many Protestant Reformers and placed in Apocrypha collections by figures like Martin Luther. Councils and synods such as the Council of Trent and regional lists influenced its status alongside texts like Tobit's companion works in contested canons. The book circulated in liturgical contexts across Byzantium, Latin Church, and Syriac Christianity.
Major themes include divine providence and angelic mediation represented by Raphael, ritual purity and charity reflected in Tobit's almsgiving and burial of the dead, and theodicy as Tobit's suffering echoes motifs from Book of Job and Psalms. The narrative explores marriage, fidelity, and exorcism with resonances to Apocrypha demonology exemplified by Asmodeus and intertexts with Talmudic discussions on marriage and impurity. Moral instruction intersects with liturgical practice, praying traditions comparable to Avodah petitions and benedictions, while eschatological hope parallels strands in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christian soteriology.
The work blends family romance, travel narrative, miracle tale, and wisdom instruction, employing motifs from Greek romance and Near Eastern folklore such as demon expulsion and healing by fish organs. Its structure combines framed narrative, chiastic arrangements, and legal-ethical digressions reminiscent of Deuteronomistic exhortation and Sapiential literature like Proverbs and Sirach. Characters perform typological roles analogous to patriarchal figures in Genesis while the angelic figure functions comparably to messianic or intermediary figures portrayed in 1 Enoch and Daniel.
The book influenced Patristic writers including Augustine of Hippo, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, and Jerome in debates on angels, marriage, and providence, and shaped medieval devotional practices, penitential customs, and folk exorcism rites across Byzantine and Latin Christendom. Reformation-era figures such as Martin Luther and John Calvin critiqued its canonical status, while Catholic councils affirmed it; it appears in Breviary and Vulgate traditions and informed homiletic literature, iconography, and hagiography. Modern scholarship treats it within fields associated with Septuagint studies, Intertestamental literature, Biblical criticism, and Comparative folklore.
Significant manuscripts include Greek codices in Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus traditions, Masoretic fragments in Aramaic and Hebrew recovered in various collections, and Latin transmissions via Vulgate manuscripts. Modern critical editions draw on the Biblia Hebraica project methodologies, Septuagint critical apparatuses, and collections such as those used in Nestle-Aland and Oxford series. Translations into modern languages appear in editions associated with Revised Standard Version (RSV), New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), Douay-Rheims, and academic commentaries in journals of Biblical Archaeology Review and series by university presses.