(2.) The Gospel Story of Tobit: Virtues and Ordeals in Chapters 1 and 2
(2.) The Gospel Story of Tobit: Virtues and Ordeals in Chapters 1 and 2.
“I, Tobit, have walked in paths of truth, righteousness and good works all the days of my life… And because I had kept faith with my God with my whole heart, the Most High granted me the favor and grace of the king.” (Tobit 1:3, 12, 13).
The Virtues of Tobit. Tobit is basically a domestic story, and it begins by teaching the reader a lot about the father Tobit, the main character of the book. We learn he is a pious Jewish orphan who was forcibly taken into exile from his home in Galilee to enemy territory in Assyria. Tobit’s new home is Ninevah, Assyria’s capitol city, which is now modern-day Iraq. Tobit is presented to us as a virtuous saint in the Hebrew faith, dedicating himself to acts of mercy and compassion. Before the forced exile, He refused to eat unclean food or follow his peers to Dan or Bethel where King Jeroboam had set up a Baal worship shrine, complete with a golden calf where unfaithful Israelites would “make sacrifices to the heifer of Baal.” (1:5). Instead of bowing the knee to Baal, Tobit would make his yearly pilgrimages to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple there during the required feasts and festivals. At the Temple, he would humbly offer his almsgivings, which is defined as the giving of himself more than is required, generously sacrificing above and beyond what is expected. For Tobit, almsgiving involved offering the best of his harvested fruits, his choice cattle for sacrifice, as well as the finest wool from the ‘first-shearing’ of his sheep. After offering all that to the Temple priests at the holy altar, Tobit would offer a 10% tithe of his harvest of wine and corn and his olives and pomegranates. But Tobit didn’t stop there. At his next opportunity he would sell another 10% of his goods and donate the proceeds to the Holy Temple. But Tobit didn’t stop there with his sacrificial giving, because he would then give away another 10% tithe to all the needy, especially the widows and orphans. Is it any wonder that God would honor Tobit by granting him favor with the Assyrian king? To no one’s surprise, Tobit would continue his lifestyle of good deeds in Assyria by giving his bread to the hungry, clothes to the naked, and by honoring any Israelite who had died in the land of captivity by giving them a proper burial.
Almsgiving. Why is there such a focus in Tobit’s life on charitable giving. on doing good deeds and caring for the poor so extravagantly? Tobit reveals his heart and mind on this later in 4:7-11 as he gives his fatherly advice to Tobias: “Set aside part of your goods for almsgiving. Never turn your face from the poor and God will never turn His face from you. Measure your alms by what you have; if you have much, give more; if you have little, do not be afraid to give less in alms. So doing, you will lay up for yourself a great treasure for the day of necessity. For almsgiving delivers from death and saves people from passing down into darkness. Almsgiving is a most effective offering for all those who do it in the presence of the Most High.” Tobit’s advice to Tobias isn’t all that far from Jesus’ advice to the rich young ruler: “Now a certain ruler came up to Jesus and asked Him, saying, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ … And Jesus told him, ‘Give away everything you own to the poor and follow Me.” (Mark 10). Tobit’s sage counsel also seems to anticipate Jesus’ words about heavenly treasures: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:20). And we could add to that Christ’s words here, “For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done.” (Matthew 16:27); and here, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my rewards with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” (Revelation 22:12); or St. Paul for that matter: “For we must all stand in front of Christ at His judgment seat, that each one may receive what he is due, paid back for the things that he did here on earth, whether they were good or bad. Everyone will receive the consequences, good or bad, of what he did, and will receive what rewards he deserves for his actions in this life.” (2 Corinthians 5:10).
The Ordeals of Tobit. But now the sufferings of Tobit take center stage. As so often happens, he was punished for doing the right thing. Tobit knew full well that it was illegal in Ninevah to bury an Israelite, since dignifying a captured people was the last thing the captors wanted to do. Tobit committed himself to acts of civil disobedience by secretly burying an Israelite whenever the opportunity presented itself. After many successful burials, Tobit was discovered breaking the law, and the punishment was the official confiscation of everything he owned…. his home, his property, his farmland, everything except his wife Anna and his son Tobias was taken away from Tobit. After a grueling forty days of homelessness in enemy territory, a new king was installed who enabled Tobit and family to return to their home. Nonetheless, Tobit refused to obey those official orders, and he once again followed the law of Moses by properly burying another Israelite. The neighbors wondered if he would ever learn his lesson.
Welcome to the Feast! We gain another insight into Tobit’s pure, generous heart in an interesting little scene right after he and his family were allowed to return home. They were celebrating the holy Feast of Pentecost at the family table, a huge feast was prepared for his family to enjoy, and Tobit notices that there is much more food than the family needs. “When I saw the abundance of meat, I said to my son Tobias, ‘Go out and seek out some poor, loyal-hearted brethren exiled in Ninevah, and bring them back to share in our meal.” (2:1-3). It is striking how similar Tobit’s instructions were to his son when compared to Jesus’ parable of the Great Feast… “Then the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame’… Then the master said to his servant, ‘Go to the open roads and the hedgerows and press people to come in, to make sure my house is full.'” (Luke 14:21-23). Tobit’s generosity points us directly to the heart of Jesus, and one wonders if Jesus even had Tobit’s Pentecost feast in mind as He composed this powerful parable about the importance of a magnanimous heart in a life of faith.
That same night, Tobit slept outside in his courtyard under a tree which had some birds perching on an overhanging branch. Tobit was directly under that branch, and during the night the birds discharged their droppings smack into the eyes of Tobit. Those bird droppings resulted in Tobit being blinded, and no matter who he consulted or what ointments he applied to his eyes, his he remained sightless. Tobit then endured four long years of blindness until he reached his limit of suffering. After snapping at his wife, he then had no choice but to listen to her surprisingly unkind rebuke… “Where are your charitable deeds now? Where are your virtuous acts? Your true character is finally showing itself!” (2:14). This finally brought Tobit to his knees, and in this low moment… “Grief-stricken in spirit, I groaned and wept aloud. Then with sobs of sorrow, I began to pray...” (3:1).