We find our long-suffering and righteous Tobit where we left him last, back in the good graces of the Assyrian Empire. But something tells me his story’s not yet over. So let’s see what Tobit’s up to next:
1 Now when I had returned home, and my wife Anna was restored to me with my son Tobiyah, at the feast of Pentecost, which is the holy feast of seven weeks, a good dinner was prepared for me. I sat down to eat. 2 And when I saw a great deal of meat [at the table], I said to my son, “Go and bring whatever poor man you find from among our brethren, who is mindful of the Lord. And look, Im waiting for you.”
Sounds good. Tobiyah’s back to his usual generous, prosperous, pious lifestyle. But trouble’s brewing for the house of Israel again:
3 But [Tobiyah] returned, and said, “Father, one of our countrymen has been strangled and thrown out in the marketplace. 4 Then before I had tasted any meat, I got up and took him up into a room [and was there with him] until sundown. 5 Then I went back and washed myself, and ate my meat in heaviness. 6 I was remembering the prophecy of Amos, when he said, “Your feasts will be turned into mourning, and all your merriment into lamentation.” 7 So I wept, and after the sun went down I went and dug a grave, and buried him.
8 But my neighbors mocked me, and said, “This man is not even afraid to be put to death for this. He ran away before, and now look–he’s burying the dead again.” 9 The same night I returned from the burial and slept by the wall outside my courtyard, because I was ritually unclean.
So Tobit goes back to his old hijinks. And its at this point that things seem to get a bit weird.
And my face was uncovered. 10 And I did not realize that there were sparrows on the wall. And, my eyes being open, the sparrow dropped warm droppings into my eyes, and a whiteness appeared in my eyes. And I went to the physicians, but they did not help me. And Achiacharus provided my food until I went to Elymais. 11 And my wife took began producing [cloth in in her home], the sort of work women do. 12 And when she had sent the goods home to the employers, they paid her wages, and also gave her a young goat. 13 And when it was in my house, and began to cry, I said to her, “Where’d you get this goat? It’s stolen, isn’t it? Give it back to its rightful owners, because it’s not lawful to eat what is stolen.”
14 But she replied to me, “It was a gift given to me above my usual wages.” Nevertheless, I did not believe her, but told her to give it back to its owners, and I was ashamed of her. But she replied to me, “Where are your charitable gifts and righteous deeds? Look–you and all your works are well-known.”
The blinding by sparrow seems a bit far-fetched. Maybe that sort of thing is possible, but it really, really smells like a completely artificial plot device to me, in what otherwise was looking like a decent historical account or historical fiction.
This passage is also interesting because it’s the first place we see Tobit starting to fall apart a bit. He’s blind, and his wife has to get a job–which presumably wasn’t desirable in Tobit’s household, because she evidently wasn’t working before. She is given a goat, perhaps because people know how generous in the past Tobit was. Tobit gets quite suspicious and accuses his wife of being a thief, and still doesn’t believe her when she explains what’s going on.
So chapter 3′s coming soon. How will the now impoverished and blind Tobit solve his social/financial problems? What will happen to the goat? And most importantly, how is he going to resolve the strain that has arisen between himself and his wife? Tune in next time.
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[...] Starting here, Mitchell decides to start blogging though the Deuterocanonicals. He has two posts so far on the 1st and 2nd chapter of Tobit. [...]