The Deuterocanon
A blind father, a long road, a hidden angel, charity and providence in exile.
A folk tale with a fish in it, and one of the most charming things in the ancient Jewish library. A blind, scrupulously observant exile in Nineveh sends his son on a journey; the son acquires a travelling companion who turns out to be the angel Raphael, catches a fish whose organs cure both blindness and a demon, and marries a woman whose seven previous husbands all died on the wedding night. Tobit is where the tradition of Raphael as a named archangel largely comes from. Received as Scripture by Catholics and Orthodox, placed among the Apocrypha by Anglicans and most Protestants, and not in the Jewish canon, though fragments in Hebrew and Aramaic turned up at Qumran, which surprised scholars who had assumed a Greek original.
If you remember one thing
A blind old man, a long journey, and a traveling companion who turns out to be the angel Raphael. It is the closest thing to a novel in the deuterocanon.
“What you hate, do not do to anyone.”
Tobit 4:15
Tobit 6:1-8
Fish organs driving off a demon and curing blindness. Read as folk narrative by most, and it is worth saying that the book reads as a story rather than a chronicle.
Canon
Received as Scripture by Catholics and Orthodox, placed among the Apocrypha by Anglicans and Protestants, and absent from the Jewish canon.
Named here rather than skipped. Where Christians read a passage differently, we say so instead of choosing for you.
Scripture for Catholic and Orthodox churches; among the Apocrypha in Protestant traditions.
Everyone here has a write-up, drawn from the same records that explain the names while you read the text.
A pious exile in Nineveh who goes blind, and his son Tobias, sent to recover a family deposit and accompanied by a traveling companion who turns out to be the angel Raphael. Along the way he marries Sarah, whose seven previous husbands had died on the wedding night, and returns to heal his father's eyes.
A quiz for Tobit is on the workbench. In the meantime, the games for the judges, the kings, and the prophets are open.
