The Book of Tobit: A Very Short Commentary with English Translation

Www.academia.edu, 2008. — 37 p.Tobit is presented as a Jew who belongs to the tribe of Naphtali (in the northern kingdom of Israel). Though his capture during the reign of the Assyrian king Shalmanesser (726-722 BCE, but see 2 Kgs 15:29) locates most of the story’s events in the Eastern Diaspora, the first part of Tobit’s life is lived out in the land of Israel. The chronology is confused: Tobit was a young when his tribe, along with Israel, revolted against the Jerusalem Temple (late 10th c. BCE after Solomon’s death), while his capture to Nineveh corresponds to events two centuries later. Tobit’s wide-ranging chronological and geographical profile is constructed to emphasize his impeccable religiosity. This lends a certain timelessness and consistency to his piety, the expression of which does not depend on location or an ability to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem.