Commentary on the book of Tobit

Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Immediately after the “Second Book of Ezra” and before the “Book of Judith” in the Slavic and Russian Bibles the “Book of Tobit” is placed (in the LXX and in the Vulgate the books of Tobit and Judith usually stand between the book of Nehemiah and the book of Esther). Like both of the books mentioned above and some others, the book of Tobit is not found in the Hebrew Bible, but only in Greek and other translations of the Bible. All these books, which were not included in the sacred canon of the Palestinian Jews, accepted by the Christian Church, although they were in the Alexandrian canon of the Hellenistic Jews, are, as is known, called non-canonical in the Orthodox Church; Moreover, the Orthodox Church view of these books is equally alien to the extremes of Catholicism (which calls non-canonical books Deuterocanonical) and Protestantism (where the view of these books as apocrypha predominates): not recognizing these books as completely equal to divinely inspired canonical writings, the Orthodox Church, however, considers non-canonical books to be close in spirit to canonical ones, compiled in the light of books divinely enlightened writers, and therefore highly important and useful; - according to St. Athanasius the Great, non-canonical books “are appointed by the fathers to be read by converts and those wishing to be proclaimed by the word of piety” (S. Athanasii Opp. t. 1. Colon. 1686, pag. 39–40). Such high authority has long belonged and still belongs in the Christian Church, in particular, to the book of Tobit. Although neither Josephus, nor Philo, nor the Talmud has direct evidence about Tobit and the book of Tobit, nor is there such evidence in the New Testament (where only individual expressions are similar in thought or in the form of presentation to passages from the book of Tobit, for example, Matthew VII:12; Luke VI:31, fn. Tobit. IV:15; Luke 14:13, fn. Tobit. IV:7–16 ; Ин XVI:5 , сн. Тов. XII:20 ; 1Сол IV:5 , сн. Тов. VII:7 ; 1Тим VI:19 , сн. Тов. IV:9 ; Откр. VIII, 2–4 , сн. Тов. VII:15 ; Откр. XXI:18–19 , сн. Тов. XIII:16–17 ), however, in the ancient Christian Church the book of Tobit enjoyed general fame and high respect, and in some Churches it even had liturgical use on a par with the books of the Holy Scriptures. Many fathers and teachers of the Church highly valued the book of Tobit, for example, St. Athanasius the Great and St. John Chrysostom everyone includes this book, without any restrictions, in his “Review” (Synopsis) of the books of the Holy Scriptures. This significance of the book of Tobit in the Christian Church is based on the purely historical nature of this book, which in general and individual dates is in complete agreement with other Old Testament and other historical indisputable data, and on the moralizing purpose of the book’s narrative. As can be seen from the very title of the book in the LXX Τωβίτ, Τωβείθ (Τοβείτ, Τοβιτ), in the Vulgate Tobi, Tobias, liber Tobiae, liber utriusque Tobiae, its content is a narrative about the fate, trials and happiness of a pious Israelite of Assyrian times captivity of Tobit and his son Tobias. The church-traditional view is adopted, according to the testimony of Tov. XII:20, XIII:1, to Tobit himself - alone or together with his son - and the writing of the book itself, except for its final chapter XIV. And indeed, the whole situation of the book becomes incomparably more understandable if we assume the origin of the book shortly after the events described in it and precisely from the main persons of the story, or at least from a person close to the family of Tobit, than with the numerous assumptions of Western critical biblical scholars, who push back the writing of the book of Tobit not only to the period after the Babylonian captivity, but even to the first centuries of Christianity. The book of Tobit was originally written in Hebrew or Biblical Apamaic, as the blessed one clearly testifies. Jerome calling the book of Tobit Librum, chaldaeo sermone conscriptum (Migne. Patrol, curs. Compl. lat. t. XXIX, col. 23–26). and Origen (Epist. ad African, c. 13. Migne. Patrol, pp. gr. t. XI, col. 80). Ho existing Hebrew book texts: a) Hebraeus Munsteri, – published by Seb. Münster in 1516 in Constantinople (then in 1542 in Basel and several times later, for example, Neubauer in Oxford in 1978) and b) Hebraeus Fagii, ed. Paul Phagius in Izna in 1542, obviously of later origin (they were not known to Blessed Jerome), reflect the views of Talmudism and rabbinism and for the study of the text and content of the book are of much less importance than the Greek text of the book, especially according to the Sinai copy of this text - Latin texts - pre-Jerome ancient Latin translations and the translation of Blessed. Jerome - Vulgate, Syriac text and Chaldean or Aramaic text. Translations of very late origin: Ethiopian, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Slavic, etc. Until recently, there were only a few short treatises in Russian about the book of Tobit: 1) Holy. G. I. Smirnova-Platonova. Essay on the book of Tobit - in “Orthodox. Review,” 1862, No. 10; 2) and 3) brief historical information about the book of Tobit is given in academic lectures - Met. Moscow Philareta. About the so-called apocryphal books - in “Read. General Loves. spirit. enlightenment,” 1876, May, – and Met. Kievsky Arseny. Introduction to the sacred books of the Old Testament - in “Proceedings of Kiev. Spirit. Academy" for 1872 and separately. Kyiv 1873; 4) and 5) comments on the book of Tobit of an interpretative nature - from Archpriest. M. Kheraskova. Review of historical books of the Old Testament. Vladimir-on-Klyazma. 1879; With. 398–411 and D. Afanasyev. Historical books St. Scriptures of the Old Testament, Stavropol 1886, p. 369–335. In 1901, a special study was published about the book of Tobit by professor Kyiv. Spirit. N. M. Drozdov Academy. On the origin of the book of Tobit. Bibliological research. Kyiv 1901, p. 640. This is a major and in all respects excellent scientific work, representing the last word of science on textually critical, historical-exegetical, historical and other aspects of the scientific study of the book of Tobit. With the venerable work of Prof. We use Drozdov a lot when compiling our “Commentary on the Book of Tobit.”