Faithfulness to the Law is rewarded

This book is fittingly described as a perfect idyll. It gives us the story of Tobias, one of the captives carried away by Salmanasar; Tobias is faithful to the Law and is rewarded, though by God's permission he is sorely tried at first. Into the main story is woven that of Sara, a kinswoman of Tobias; she also is sorely afflicted, but triumphs by the power of prayer.

Contents and Divisions of Tobit

A. Chapters 1-3

The virtues of Tobias and Sara; their afflictions; their prayers are heard in heaven.

B. Chapters 4-12

The angel Raphael is sent from heaven to deliver them both from their afflictions.

C. Chapters 13-14

The epilogue.

A more minute analysis is hardly necessary as the student can easily make it for himself.

The Text of Tobit

St. Jerome writes to the Bishops Chromatius and Heliodorus who had urged him to translate the book:

"I can hardly refrain from wondering at your insistent demands; for you actually beg me to translate into Latin a book written in Chaldaic; even the book of Tobias which the Hebrews decline to place in the catalog of the Holy Scriptures, but class among the Apocrypha. I have done enough to satisfy your wishes, but not enough to satisfy my own studies. For the studies of the Hebrews reprove us and charge us with adapting to Latin ears a book which is contrary to their Canon. Yet thinking it better to displease the Pharisees and to obey Bishops, I have done as I best could. Since, then, the Chaldean speech is allied to the Hebrew, I found some one who spoke both languages readily, and, snatching a day's work, what he said to me in Hebrew that I rendered into Latin to a notary whom I employed."

The Vulgate Latin is, then, the result of this day's work, and is a rendering of a Chaldaic original. There exists also the Old Latin version and at least three distinct Greek versions which differ among themselves considerably. There are also four Hebrew versions known, and one Aramaic or Chaldaic version. Scholars have long disputed which of these texts more nearly represents the original, but until the discovery in 1896 of a Hebrew MS. of the third Hebrew text, we had none which at all corresponded to the Vulgate of St. Jerome, and even in this there are divergences which make it probable that it does not represent the text from which St. Jerome translated he says indeed that he used a Chaldaic and not a Hebrew original.

It will be of interest to point out some of the more startling divergences between the Greek MSS. and the Vulgate. The Greek text always speaks of "Tobit," St. Jerome of "Tobias".

Verse	Vulgate	Greek MSS
1:14	Tobias has leave to go where he pleases.	He is the purveyor to the king.
1:19	he flees with his wife and child.	He flees alone.
2:10	a swallow makes him blind.	Sparrows.
2:12-18	the example of Job.	Omitted.
3:10	Sara fasts.	She wishes to strangle herself.
3:19-24	Sara's prayer.	Much omitted.
6:16-18, 20-21	the teaching regarding chastity.	Omitted.
8:4-5	the same	Omitted.
9:6	four servants	Only one.
9:8-12	the feast in the house of Raguel	Omitted or much changed.

St. Jerome, too, calls Raguel's wife, Anna, 7:2, but in all the MSS. she is called Edna. In 11:20, we are suddenly introduced to Achior and Nabath, but in the Greek, 2:11, we have already made the acquaintance of the former, Tobias says: "And I went to physicians and they availed me not, but Achior took care of me till I went to Elymais." Moreover, in the Vulgate and the Chaldaic version the whole story is in the third person, but in the other versions from chapter 1-3:6, is in the first person. In 12:20, the Old Latin, the Greek, and at least two of the Hebrew texts, have the angel's command: "Do you write all that has come to pass in a book"; and in 13:1, "And Tobit wrote a prayer for rejoicing."

Historical Character of the Book

It is commonly supposed that the book was written during the Captivity, i.e., in the seventh century B.C., but there are certain features which make it hard to accept this early date. Thus Salmanasar is named as the king who removed Nephtali into captivity, in the Greek texts Ennemesar; but in 4 Kings 15:29, Tiglath-Pileser III is given; it is of course possible that there were two deportations of Nephtali. Again, Sennacherib is called, 1:18, the son of Salmanasar, whereas he was the son of Sargon; further it seems to be implied that Tobias was actually a boy when, in 975 B.C., Jeroboam I set up the calves in Bethel, 1:4-6. There are many similar difficulties when the other versions are taken into account; e.g. 6:6, in the Greek, implies that the Tigris was between Ninive and Ecbatana.

It would seem then probable that we have in the Book of Tobias the work of a Jew who wrote at a time when the details of Assyrian history and geography were not known; the writer gives names and places according to the opinion of the time, as St. Jerome would say. This view is confirmed when we examine the theological and moral teaching of the book. It accords with that in Judith, Esther, and Ecclesiasticus. Thus note the insistence upon fasting, alms-deeds, tithes, prohibited meats, continence, the burial of the dead, etc., and compare such passages as Ecclesiasticus 7:34-36, 29:12-13, 38:16-24, 40:24, etc.

In the Vulgate we should notice, too, the reference to proselytes, 1:7, and in the Greek the apparent reference to the difference between the Temple of Solomon and that of Zorobabel, 14:5, cf. Esdras 3:12. In 2:6, both in the Greek texts and in the Vulgate, Amos is quoted by name; it may be doubted whether such a quotation is likely in the seventh century. In 14:6, one Greek text has as Jonas the Prophet said, another has as Nahum said; are such references probable at an early date? And Nahum did not prophesy before 668 B.C.

Canonicity of Tobit/Tobias

In spite of St. Jerome's theoretical view that no book was canonical unless it were written in Hebrew, the book of Tobias has always found a place in the Church. We find it quoted in the Didache or "Teaching of the Apostles," cf. Did. i. 2, and Tobit 4:16; cf. also Did. iv. 6-8, and Tobit 4:11 and ff.

St. Polycarp uses it, Clement of Alexandria speaks of it as Scripture, Origen and St. Athanasius defend it, and St. Cyprian uses it in his treatise on Prayer. Lastly, it is given in all the official Church lists.


by
Very Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P., S.T.M.
Doctor in Sacred Scripture,
Member of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, and
late Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Collegio Angelico, Rome.