Heroes of the Apocrypha, Part Three- Tobias

Did you know that the Roman Catholic Bible contains a longer Old Testament than the one Protestants use? That’s because the Catholic Bible includes the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha are a set of biblical books with titles like “First and Second Maccabees”, “Tobit”, “Judith”, “Wisdom of Solomon”, “Baruch”, and “Ecclesiasticus”. They appeared in the first Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, and so they have been considered Holy by many Christians ever since. The Jews, however, later decided to exclude these books from their canon, leaving it to the Christians to preserve them. They were part of the Bible for all Christians until the Reformation, when Protestants decided to exclude them too. But in doing so, we miss out on a number of great stories and characters from these books. Perhaps the Apocrypha are to be considered less authoritative than the rest of scripture, but there is still much there to learn from and enjoy.

The book of Tobit is one of the strangest books in the Bible. To the modern reader, it seems like an ancient folk tale, a short religious novel meant to teach important truths, rather than a historical tale. Introducing a world of angels, demons, and magical cures, Tobit is a bridge between the religious ideas in the Old and New Testaments. Written around the second century BCE, Tobit tells the story of two people who suffer great misfortunes, lose hope, and ask God to let them die. The story follows the heroic adventure of a young man, Tobias, who sets out to solve both of their problems, aided by an angel in disguise and opposed by a powerful demon. The book teaches us that God answers prayers and helps the faithful.

The title character, Tobit, is an old and very pious man who lives in exile in Nineveh with his wife and son, after the Assyrians have destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel. If anyone deserves not to suffer, it is Tobit with his many good works. He obeys the Jewish Law in all ways, serves God with all his heart, and is charitable and helpful to everyone in need. He frequently risks his life to give proper burials to any Israelites he finds murdered by the Assyrians. Despite all that, Tobit suffers. He gets bird droppings in his eyes, and eventually goes blind from cataracts. A few years later, we find a miserable Tobit praying to God to let him die.

Meanwhile, Sarah, the innocent daughter of Tobit’s kinsman, is also suffering over in Media, where Iran is today. Sarah has been married seven times, but before she could consummate any of the marriages, a Demon named Asmodeus killed each husband on each wedding night. The Demon loves Sarah and will let no man have her. Some people think Sarah murdered all the husbands herself, and she too prays to God to let her die. God hears the prayers of both Tobit and Sarah, and sends an angel named Raphael to help both of them.

Enter the young hero, Tobias, son of Tobit, who is to be sent on a journey by his father to reclaim some money from a kinsman in Media. When Tobias needs someone to travel with, Raphael appears, disguised as a human, and offers to accompany him. On the journey, Tobias is attacked by a large fish by the Tigris River. Raphael instructs Tobias to gut the fish and save its gall, heart and liver, organs with supposed medicinal properties. Then the angel leads Tobias to the home of Sarah, and arranges it so that the young couple can fall in love. Tobias agrees to marry his kinswoman Sarah, despite being told of the fate of all the other husbands. On their wedding night, Raphael tells them to burn the heart and liver from the fish, and to pray to God for mercy and a long and happy married life. The odor of burning organs drives away the Demon, who flees to the desert where he is bound by Raphael.

Sarah and Tobias return home, while Raphael recovers Tobit’s money. Tobias applies the fish gall to his father’s eyes, and the cataracts peel away, restoring Tobit’s sight. Raphael privately reveals his true identity to the two men, and Tobit sings a song of praise to God. Tobit lives with his family for about forty more years, while Tobias and Sarah have seven sons. After burying Tobit and his wife, Tobias takes his family and leaves Nineveh to escape God’s judgment on the Assyrian city as foretold by prophecy.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this book is the world of demons and angels it reveals. As the Lord God came to be thought of as more remote, up in Heaven, attention was given to the powers between the Earth and Heaven. Non-canonical Jewish writings from this period, including Enoch and Tobit, begin to describe the names, ranks, and functions of the beings in God’s Heavenly court, and the evil beings who oppose them. Angels, like Raphael in this story, are messengers for the Lord who can fly and who wear white garments. Raphael is one of seven intercessor archangels who enter before God’s throne and serve God’s glory. Two others, named in the New Testament, are Gabriel and Michael. Four others are named in Enoch: Uriel, Raguel, Sariel, and Jarahmeel. Their function was to present and read the record of human prayers before God. From their reports, the Lord knew that Tobit was a good servant – Tobit once left his own feast to go and pray for and bury a murdered Israelite man who was left in the street. God therefore sent the angel Raphael to do two things; first, to further put a faithful Tobit to the test, in order to make him an even better servant, and second, to provide help and healing for both Sarah and Tobit (Raphael’s name means “God has healed”).

Asmodeus the Demon (his name means “Demon of wrath”) is like the fallen angels who fell in love with human women in the Books of Enoch and Genesis. Demons are supernatural beings who were thought to live in the deserts of Egypt. Part of the lore of Demons came from Persian influences as these books were being written. Some writings gave lists of the names of Demons. Jesus certainly defeated many Demons in the New Testament, such as the one named Legion. But the Old Testament is not much concerned with such beings. Books like Tobit, then, fill in the centuries-long gap between the Testaments and show us when religious ideas like Angels and Demons began to grow.

The lesson of Tobit is that God looks after the faithful and answers prayers, and that sometimes suffering is a test. Sarah and Tobit lose hope because of their suffering. Tobit says, “Lord, command me to be delivered from such anguish…for it is better for me to die than to endure such misery in life…” (Tobit 3:6) Likewise, Sarah says, “I have already lost seven husbands; why then should I live any longer?” (Tobit 4:15) But Raphael says, “Take courage! God has healing in store for you; so take courage!” (Tobit 5:10) After Tobit’s ordeal is over, Raphael tells him, “I was sent to put you to the test.” (Tobit 12:13) The angel suggests that the proper response is to “Thank God now and forever…continue to thank him every day; praise him with song.” (Tobit 12:17-18) Tobit’s song of praise contains a message of hope for all people who are suffering, that God will first test us and then show mercy to us. It is one of the seeming contradictions of faith. As Tobit puts it, “Happy are all the men who shall grieve over you [God], over all your chastisements, for they shall rejoice in you as they behold all your joy forever.” (Tobit 13:14) This is similar to the words of Jesus in Matthew 5: “Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”