Bible - Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha - The book of Tobit
THE BOOK OF TOBIT, one of the apocryphal books (see Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha), included in the Septuagint and the canon of the Vulgate (see Bible. Editions and translations).
The book contains the story of Tobit, a righteous man from the tribe of Naftali (see also Tribes of Israel), exiled to Assyria (see Assyrian Captivity). When Tobit arrived in the land of his exile and the king put many Jewish exiles to death, he risked his life by burying the executed, despite the king's prohibition. This act became known to the authorities, and Tobit was forced to hide. Only with the rise to power of Asarhaddon was Tobit able to perform good deeds again. One day, after burying a body he found, Tobit returned home and lay down to sleep in the courtyard of his house; bird droppings got into his eyes, and he became blind. Having found himself in trouble, Tobit remembered that he had once lent his relative, who lived in Rhages (Media), ten talents of silver, and asked his son Tobias to go there and collect the debt. Taking a guide, Tobias set off.
When crossing the Tigris, the guide advised Tobias to catch a fish and preserve its heart, liver, and gall. When the travelers reached Median Ecbatana, the guide reported that Tobias's relative Raguel (Reuel) lived there, who had already married off his only daughter Sarah seven times, but each time the groom died immediately after the wedding; since Sarah was Tobias's younger relative, according to the law of the Torah she had to marry him, and not a stranger. In order to ward off Asmodeus, who was killing Sarah's suitors, Tobias, on the advice of the guide, burned the liver and heart of a fish caught in the Tigris. During the wedding, the guide went to Rhages and collected the debt, and after the wedding, the three of them (with Sarah) set off on the return journey. Returning toNineveh, Tobias smeared his father's eyes with the gall of a fish caught in the Tigris, and he regained his sight. When Tobit wanted to pay his guide, it turned out that he was Raphael, one of the seven angels who carry people's prayers to heaven. Before his death, foreseeing the imminent end of Nineveh, Tobit ordered his son to leave the city and go to Media.
The Book of Tobit was apparently written in Hebrew or Aramaic in Media during the Second Temple era (possibly in the 2nd century BCE); it is considered an example of apocryphal literature of high artistic quality. Several fragments of the book in Aramaic and Hebrew were discovered among the scrolls of Qumran; the Greek translation has come down to us in various versions, some of which are abridged. Several medieval Hebrew versions are apparently later adapted texts. The appendix to the Midrash Tanhuma contains a short version of this story.
The story became popular among Protestant writers of the 16th century (in particular, Hans Sachs wrote a comedy based on the plot of the book of Tobit), it was a favorite theme of Italian Renaissance painters (F. Lippi, A. Verrocchio, P. Perugino and others) and Rembrandt; Among the musical works on the theme of the book of Tobit are F. J. Haydn's oratorio "The Return of Tobias" and L. van Beethoven's humorous canon "Tobias, Saint Tobias!"