The Book Of Tobit, What Do You Know?

[Seeking Him]

I was wondering what people have to say about the book of Tobit? Do you think it is inspired?

Is Raphael a real angel? Why is this book left out of Protestant Bibles?

 

[mont974x4]

It is not an inspired book, which is why it is not in the protestant canon. It is considered un-inspired and was rejected because it did not harmonize with the other books of the Bible on key doctrinal issues, for example in Tobit there is a couple of verses that indicate the ability to buy your way out of hell by paying alms. Of course, if you believe in purgatory and its related doctrines then you won't have much of a problem including Tobit.

 

[Kristos]

EO consider it scripture because it was part of the LXX, which was widely used and quoted by Christ and the Apostles.

Many consider it apocryphal - which should mean that it is secondary, but still useful for reading and instruction.

Unfortunately, there are also those who take this to mean that it is somehow not Christian or even heretical. There is absolutely no basis for this belief.

Maybe you should read it.

 

[callitfreedom]

, for example in Tobit there is a couple of verses that indicate the ability to buy your way out of hell by paying alms.

Where?

 

[Kristos]

Where?

hearsay

 

[Sphinx777]

The Book of Tobit (or Book of Tobias in older Catholic Bibles) is a book of scripture that is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon, pronounced canonical by the Council of Carthage of 397 and confirmed for Roman Catholics by the Council of Trent (1546). It's listed in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. Tobit is regarded by Protestants as apocryphal. Also, it has never been included within the Tanakh as canonical by ancient Judaism. However, it is found in the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), and Aramaic and Hebrew fragments of the book were discovered in Cave IV at Qumran in 1952. These fragments are generally in agreement with the Greek text, which exists in three different recensions.

 

[Rhamiel]

Mont

for example in Tobit there is a couple of verses that indicate the ability to buy your way out of hell by paying alms.

I read the Book of Tobit and I have heard people say things like it talks about buying your salvation or magic. That is rather silly talk, there are many parts of the OT where it talks about how good it is to give alms, it is not like this virtue is only talked about in Tobit.

 

[mont974x4]

Where?

I don't have the links handy anymore but we've had a few threads on it here that you are wlecome to search for.


It is not "hearsay" the verses were actually posted in context in those discussions.

 

[Rhamiel]

Is Raphael a real angel?

yes

 

[Sphinx777]

yes

Saint Raphael

​

 

[Rhamiel]

thank you sphinx, you are always so helpful, I wonder if Zoness got an icon like the one I posted

 

[Der Alte]

I was wondering what people have to say about the book of Tobit? Do you think it is inspired?
Is Raphael a real angel? Why is this book left out of Protestant Bibles?

TOBIT, BOOK OF:

A late Jewish work, never received into the Jewish canon, and included in the Apocrypha by Protestants, although it was pronounced canonical by the Council of Carthage (397) and the Council of Trent (1546). It takes its name from the central figure, called Τωβείτ (Τωβείτ, Τωβείθ) in Greek, and Ṭobi (תוב&#1497 in a late Hebrew manuscript.

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=241&letter=T​

 

[Kristos]

I don't have the links handy anymore but we've had a few threads on it here that you are wlecome to search for.


It is not "hearsay" the verses were actually posted in context in those discussions.

I remember.

So, your only knowledge of the book is from this forum?

 

[christianmomof3]

I have read Tobit and I do not understand why the angel lied about who he was - why would angels from God lie?

Here are those verses from ch 5:

2 Tobiah went to look for someone acquainted with the roads who would travel with him to Media. As soon as he went out, he found the angel Raphael standing before him, though he did not know that this was an angel of God. Tobiah said to him, "Who are you, young man?" He replied "I am an Israelite, one of your kinsmen.
so there, Raphael told Tobit that he was an Israelite and kinsman of his. and again he lied about who he was to Tobit's father as well:

Tobit replied, "I wish to know truthfully whose son you are, brother, and what your name is."
13 Raphael answered, "I am Azariah, son of Hananiah the elder, one of your own kinsmen."

This part from ch 6 about the fish is strange and is supposedly some sort of pagan customs or witchcraft or something.

Now when the boy went down to wash his feet in the river, a large fish suddenly leaped out of the water and tried to swallow his foot. He shouted in alarm. 4 But the angel said to him, "Take hold of the fish and don't let it get away!" The boy seized the fish and hauled it up on the shore. 5 The angel then told him: "Cut the fish open and take out its gall, heart, and liver, and keep them with you; but throw away the entrails. Its gall, heart, and liver make useful medicines." 6 After the lad had cut the fish open, he put aside the gall, heart, and liver. Then he broiled and ate part of the fish; the rest he salted and kept for the journey. 7 Afterward they traveled on together till they were near Media. The boy asked the angel this question: "Brother Azariah, what medicinal value is there in the fish's heart, liver, and gall?" 8 He answered: "As regards the fish's heart and liver, if you burn them so that the smoke surrounds a man or a woman who is afflicted by a demon or evil spirit, the affliction will leave him completely, and no demons will ever return to him again. 9 And as for the gall, if you rub it on the eyes of a man who has cataracts, blowing into his eyes right on the cataracts, his sight will be restored."


I have not read all of the apocryphya yet, but here is one article about why it is not included in the Protestant Canon http://www.studytoanswer.net/rcc/rvb_apocrypha.html

 

[MrPolo]

Tobit is recognized, as you can see by others and of course the Catholic Church as canonical and inspired. Some Jews did accept them as canonical, some didn't. Jerome says the Jews put it in the "Hagiogapha" which is also where he said they placed Job, the Psalms, and some other books.

It is part of the "Deuterocanon", which are the 7 books Catholic bibles have that Protestant bibles tend not to have (at least as of the late 1800s anyway).

Here's an article dispelling some myths about the Deuterocanon. The angel "lying" claim is addressed here.

The best book I know that gives an exhaustive treatment of which books belong in Scripture is Why Catholic Bibles Are Bigger. It reads like a reference book giving a timeline of how the books were used. Here is an outline of the book.

 

[Seeking Him]

It is not an inspired book, which is why it is not in the protestant canon. It is considered un-inspired and was rejected because it did not harmonize with the other books of the Bible on key doctrinal issues, for example in Tobit there is a couple of verses that indicate the ability to buy your way out of hell by paying alms. Of course, if you believe in purgatory and its related doctrines then you won't have much of a problem including Tobit.

That's interesting. I'll have to read the book for myself.

 

[Seeking Him]

yes

[/quoteBeautiful picture. I heard Raphael is one of the seven angels that surround God's throne.

 

[Thekla]

Actually, I read the fish as "medicinal advice".
Incense is chosen for its qualities - so I just think of this burning of the fish as the same. Not unlike the use of some herbs for "cleansing".

Of course, this is the way I read it ...

 

[Seeking Him]

I have read Tobit and I do not understand why the angel lied about who he was - why would angels from God lie?

Here are those verses from ch 5:

2 Tobiah went to look for someone acquainted with the roads who would travel with him to Media. As soon as he went out, he found the angel Raphael standing before him, though he did not know that this was an angel of God. Tobiah said to him, "Who are you, young man?" He replied "I am an Israelite, one of your kinsmen.
so there, Raphael told Tobit that he was an Israelite and kinsman of his. and again he lied about who he was to Tobit's father as well:

Tobit replied, "I wish to know truthfully whose son you are, brother, and what your name is."
13 Raphael answered, "I am Azariah, son of Hananiah the elder, one of your own kinsmen."

This part from ch 6 about the fish is strange and is supposedly some sort of pagan customs or witchcraft or something.

Now when the boy went down to wash his feet in the river, a large fish suddenly leaped out of the water and tried to swallow his foot. He shouted in alarm. 4 But the angel said to him, "Take hold of the fish and don't let it get away!" The boy seized the fish and hauled it up on the shore. 5 The angel then told him: "Cut the fish open and take out its gall, heart, and liver, and keep them with you; but throw away the entrails. Its gall, heart, and liver make useful medicines." 6 After the lad had cut the fish open, he put aside the gall, heart, and liver. Then he broiled and ate part of the fish; the rest he salted and kept for the journey. 7 Afterward they traveled on together till they were near Media. The boy asked the angel this question: "Brother Azariah, what medicinal value is there in the fish's heart, liver, and gall?" 8 He answered: "As regards the fish's heart and liver, if you burn them so that the smoke surrounds a man or a woman who is afflicted by a demon or evil spirit, the affliction will leave him completely, and no demons will ever return to him again. 9 And as for the gall, if you rub it on the eyes of a man who has cataracts, blowing into his eyes right on the cataracts, his sight will be restored."


I have not read all of the apocryphya yet, but here is one article about why it is not included in the Protestant Canon http://www.studytoanswer.net/rcc/rvb_apocrypha.html[/quote Wow, that sounds wierd. Some say that Raphael was the angel that stirred the waters at the pool of Bethesda, if that story is true about the waters being stirred. I know it's not in every Bible.

 

[Rhamiel]

well the angel of the pool of Bethesda being Raphael came from the idea that Raphaels name means "God heals" so it would make sense that he was at the pool