Category: Apocrypha
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Tobit- Missing the Bible’s Point
Tobit 6:10-13 Raphael reveals to Tobias that there is a woman named Sarah who is without a husband and that Tobias is entitled to her and her father’s estate under the Law. Therefore, Raphael instructs Tobias that they must stay at Sarah’s father’s house. The Law in Numbers 27:1-11 and 36:1-13 prescribes the responsibility of…
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Tobit- Mysticism and New Age Religion
Tobit 6:1b-9 Tobias and the angel, Raphael, depart for Media. On the way, they stop to camp and Tobias accidentally catches a large fish. Raphael instructs Tobias to clean the fish, keeping the heart, gull, and liver and throwing away the intestines. This was because the heart, gull, and liver were seen as valuable for…
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Tobit- Homer’s Influence on Our Perception of Angels
Tobit 5:1-6:1 In this part of the story, Tobit sends his son, Tobias, to retrieve the money that he left in trust. He offers to pay someone to accompany his son. His son unwittingly recruits Raphael, the archangel who has already made one appearance in this tale. In Tobit’s interview with him, so that Tobit…
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Tobit- Why People Believed Blindness Was the Result of Sin
Tobit 4:1-21 In this part of the story, Tobit realizes that there is pertinent information that his son, Tobias, needs to have before he dies. Since he has asked God to put him out of his misery (3:6), he calls for his son. Tobias comes to his father and Tobit gives him instructions concerning family,…
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Tobit- The Beginning of Archangels
Tobit 3:16-17 “At that very moment,” at the conclusion of Sarah’s prayer and presumably also at the conclusion of Tobit’s prayer, both prayers were heard in the glorious presence of God. The picture this elicits is that both prayers are being spoken simultaneously and closing at the same time. In verse 8, God was not…
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Tobit- Will I Go To Hell If I Take My Own Life?
Tobit 3:7-15 The scene of Tobit shifts to another location, Ecbatana in Media rather than Nineveh, and the voice shifts from first to third person. Sarah, like Tobit, is depicted as being righteous. Even though she is righteous, Sarah endures the burdens of an unrighteous person. She, like Tobit, pleads with God on the basis…
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Tobit- Religious Self-Betterment vs. The Gospel
Tobit 3:1-6 Unlike Job, who rebuked his wife for accusing God of being unjust, Tobit wept because of his wife’s words and because she seemed to be correct about God’s injustice. The story identifies Tobit as walking in the ways of truth and righteousness all the days of his life (1:3). Yet, he was now…
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Tobit- Dharma (not karma) in the Bible?
Tobit 2:9-14 v. 9-10 As this fictional character, Tobit, explains his life, he describes washing himself and sleeping in his courtyard, outdoors. Droppings from sparrows fall into his eyes and, as a result, he is blinded for four years. Other Israelites, who were also in exile, had sympathy toward him. This is reminiscent of the…
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Tobit Helps Us Understand Why The Holy Spirit Came at Pentecost
Tobit 2:1-8 In this passage, Tobit tells of how he intended to invite one of his impoverished countrymen to eat with his family. When his son reported to him that there was a murdered Israelite in the street, Tobit “sprang up, left the dinner before even tasting it, and removed the body from the square.”…
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Tobit- Moral Living in an Immoral or Amoral Society
Chapter 1 v. 10-22 Tobit continues to describe his own piety. According to the author’s quotation, here, Tobit kept the Jewish dietary laws and even buried his countrymen who were slain under Sennacherib. Here, we must remind ourselves that Tobit’s character is doing something that is dishonoring to God and something that Jesus exposed as…