Tobit: A Righteous Foundation

The value of foundation

What determines someones response to challenging situations where there seems to be no answer or direction?

The basics and foundations

From the womb to the present we are given instructions on how to live and conduct ourselves in life.

utilizing spiritual tools

We question the utility of them at times

Often drop them because we fail to see how they are used

When we drop one tool…we naturally pick up another…consciously or unconsciously

In this slow replacement of spiritual tools with non-spiritual tools we overtime change the foundation we stand on.

We don’t realize our foundation has changed until we are faced with some real difficult challenges and need to navigate them.

Your Christian Ethic is challenged at work…how do you respond? do you hold on to your job or your ethic?

You can’t seem to find a partner in life? do you lower your expectations and settle

You are doing a good work but your health is taken…how do you respond to God

You see many of your Christian friends heading down a path with red flags…Peer pressure is real from within…what do you do?

Decreased church attendance....stop serving…etc.

Context

History of the kingdoms

One Kingdom (Saul, David, and Soliman)

Two kingdoms

Northern Kingdom Israel (Jereboam) (10 Tribes)

Southern Kingdom of Juda (Rehoboam) (Judah and Benjamin)

Northern Kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians

Exiled to Nineveh under King Shalmaneser (722 BC)

Likely Tobit was part of this exile

During his time in exile he experience a change in leadership from Shalmaneser to Sennacherib

Tobits’ Formation

Tobit Reflects on his time in the Norther kingdom and transition to exile

Tobit 1:3–4 NRSV

3 I, Tobit, walked in the ways of truth and righteousness all the days of my life. I performed many acts of charity for my kindred and my people who had gone with me in exile to Nineveh in the land of the Assyrians. 4 When I was in my own country, in the land of Israel, while I was still a young man, the whole tribe of my ancestor Naphtali deserted the house of David and Jerusalem. This city had been chosen from among all the tribes of Israel, where all the tribes of Israel should offer sacrifice and where the temple, the dwelling of God, had been consecrated and established for all generations forever.

Tobit 1:5–6 NRSV

5 All my kindred and our ancestral house of Naphtali sacrificed to the calf that King Jeroboam of Israel had erected in Dan and on all the mountains of Galilee. 6 But I alone went often to Jerusalem for the festivals, as it is prescribed for all Israel by an everlasting decree. I would hurry off to Jerusalem with the first fruits of the crops and the firstlings of the flock, the tithes of the cattle, and the first shearings of the sheep.

The most difficult peer pressure to withstand comes from within. Why?

How does Tobit respond?

One of the keys to withstanding internal peer pressure comes from an acknowledgement of what is ‘everlasting’.

What has God established as true that will not fade in time or bend in circumstances is what we must hold on to.

Tobit 1:10–13 NRSV

10 After I was carried away captive to Assyria and came as a captive to Nineveh, everyone of my kindred and my people ate the food of the Gentiles, 11 but I kept myself from eating the food of the Gentiles. 12 Because I was mindful of God with all my heart, 13 the Most High gave me favor and good standing with Shalmaneser, and I used to buy everything he needed.

How would you describe Tobit's actions of not eating the food of the Gentiles?

Its an act of sanctification…setting himself apart.

Sanctification always has an element of loneliness incorporated.

it’s something we have to get accustomed to if we are to stand against the grain/current of the world

But it was his sanctification that elevated him in the kingdom…(Similar to Daniel). God uses those who wrestle with being sanctified, because what He is orchestrating is always against the current.

In a trip Tobit leaves a large portion of his money with someone named Gabri

Tobit 1:14 NRSV

14 Until his death I used to go into Media, and buy for him there. While in the country of Media I left bags of silver worth ten talents in trust with Gabael, the brother of Gabri.

Change in Regimes

Tobit 1:15–17 NRSV

15 But when Shalmaneser died, and his son Sennacherib reigned in his place, the highways into Media became unsafe and I could no longer go there. 16 In the days of Shalmaneser I performed many acts of charity to my kindred, those of my tribe. 17 I would give my food to the hungry and my clothing to the naked; and if I saw the dead body of any of my people thrown out behind the wall of Nineveh, I would bury it.

King Sennacherib and Hezekiah king of Judah

2 kings 19

King Sennacherib came to attack Judah and was degrading of the God of Israel.

Prayer of King Hezekiah

2 Kings 19:17–19 NASB95

17 “Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 19 “Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.”

Angel of the Lord struck 188k of the Assyrians.

The king returned to Nineveh and was hostile to the Jews, killing more as he pleased.

Tobit would respectfully bury his brethren

The king found out and was furious with Tobit

Tobit flees Nineveh with his wife and son Tobias…leaving his home and possessions which are commandeered.

Sennacherib is killed by his sons.

Tobit’s nephew, Ahikar, becomes 2nd to the king…(ie. Joseph)

Ahikar petitions for Tobit, who eventually returns to Nineveh to his home.

Formation of the mind

Tobit 2:1–2 NRSV

1 Then during the reign of Esar-haddon I returned home, and my wife Anna and my son Tobias were restored to me. At our festival of Pentecost, which is the sacred festival of weeks, a good dinner was prepared for me and I reclined to eat. 2 When the table was set for me and an abundance of food placed before me, I said to my son Tobias, “Go, my child, and bring whatever poor person you may find of our people among the exiles in Nineveh, who is wholeheartedly mindful of God, and he shall eat together with me. I will wait for you, until you come back.”

What is striking about these verses?

After running for your life and experiencing losses, no one would fault Tobit for ceasing his activities.

But opposition was expected…It did not de-rail Tobit from doing what he knew was right by God

Tobit 2:3–5 NRSV

3 So Tobias went to look for some poor person of our people. When he had returned he said, “Father!” And I replied, “Here I am, my child.” Then he went on to say, “Look, father, one of our own people has been murdered and thrown into the market place, and now he lies there strangled.” 4 Then I sprang up, left the dinner before even tasting it, and removed the body from the square and laid it in one of the rooms until sunset when I might bury it. 5 When I returned, I washed myself and ate my food in sorrow.

How would you describe Tobit’s character?

Devoted, convicted, and compassionate

These are the fruit of being sanctified.

trips to jerusalem

not eating bread of the gentiles

Almsgiving

respect for the brethren

openness to all

Bad things to Good People

Tobit 2:7–9 NRSV

7 When the sun had set, I went and dug a grave and buried him. 8 And my neighbors laughed and said, “Is he still not afraid? He has already been hunted down to be put to death for doing this, and he ran away; yet here he is again burying the dead!” 9 That same night I washed myself and went into my courtyard and slept by the wall of the courtyard; and my face was uncovered because of the heat.

Tobit 2:10–11 NRSV

10 I did not know that there were sparrows on the wall; their fresh droppings fell into my eyes and produced white films. I went to physicians to be healed, but the more they treated me with ointments the more my vision was obscured by the white films, until I became completely blind. For four years I remained unable to see. All my kindred were sorry for me, and Ahikar took care of me for two years before he went to Elymais. 11 At that time, also, my wife Anna earned money at women’s work.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

The problem with pain and suffering.

we could easily reconcile pain and suffering when it happens to wayward individuals....they brought it upon themselves.

The problem is to reconcile it when it happens to the righteous person.

His wife even challenges him after he rebukes her for receiving a goat in addition to her wages which he things was falsely taken.

Tobit 2:14 NRSV

14 But she said to me, “It was given to me as a gift in addition to my wages.” But I did not believe her, and told her to return it to the owners. I became flushed with anger against her over this. Then she replied to me, “Where are your acts of charity? Where are your righteous deeds? These things are known about you!”

QUESTION: how do you reconcile the issue of righteous people suffering?

Augustine

The righteous are tested in order to bring about their improvement. This is why we must be strong in the face of temptations, knowing they do not occur in order to humiliate us but in order to make us grow if we face them with a serene mind for the sake of Christ.

REMEMBER: The books included in the LXX were useful for everyday life. They helped people wrestle through their problems.