The Book of Tobit – Introduction and Overview

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Introduction, Background & Overview

A Coptic Orthodox Icon of Tobias and the Archangel RaphaelSo … what in the world is the Book of Tobit?

I’m sure that’s what most people unfamiliar with the Latin or Eastern Orthodox canon of the old testament scriptures are thinking right about now. In this post, I’m going to do my best to give you a brief overview and introduction to this important work from an Orthodox perspective, including details like the historical context, who wrote it, what it teaches us as Christians, and so forth.

I’m currently teaching a Bible Study class at our parish on this particular scripture, so as I go through and prepare my notes for each week, I will reformat and upload them to this blog as time permits. Please feel free to use and share these at your own parish or for your own study, so long as you link back to here as the source. I must note, as well, that I’m dependent upon a great deal of great reference material for most of this (see the bottom of this post), so this information may not come off as incredibly groundbreaking to many of you. My main intention with this study is to simplify everything for the casual reader, so as to be able to approach Tobit for the first time and without confusion.

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Saint Paul and the Apocalyptic Visions of Second Temple Judaism

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An Orthodox Icon of the Prophet EnochAs I continue to examine Second Temple apocalyptic literature, it seems more and more likely that St Paul was drawing on his vast knowledge of this work at times in order to help make illustrations or “give wings” to many of the themes and ideas he was espousing throughout his epistles in the early years of the Church.

For example, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, St Paul makes a connection between the culmination of the priesthood of Melchizedek and Jesus Christ Himself. He of course makes reference to Psalm 109:4 (LXX): “The Lord swore and will not repent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’”  Beyond this, he also intimates that the Melchizedek order was always superior to that of the Levites (e.g. 7:4-10), and that a “change in the priesthood” necessitated a “change in the law” (liturgically speaking, cf. 7:11-12) as well.

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True Prayer and the Spirit

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Orthodox Icon of Saint Innocent of Alaska

“The Holy Spirit teaches true prayer. No one, until he receives the Holy Spirit, can pray in a manner truly pleasing to God; because if anyone who does not have the Holy Spirit begins to pray, his soul is distracted in different directions from one thing to another, and he cannot fix his thoughts on any one thing. Moreover, he does not know properly either himself or his own need, or how to ask or what to ask of God, in fact he does not even know what God is like. But a person in whom the Holy Spirit dwells knows God and sees that He is his Father, and knows how to approach Him, and how to ask and what to ask of Him. His thoughts during prayer are orderly, pure, and aspire to a single object – God. And by prayer he can do literally anything, and can even move mountains from place to place.”

Saint Innocent of Alaska, Indication of the Way Into the Kingdom of Heaven, p. 33

The “Song of Simeon” and the Bible

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The Great Library of Alexandria

The Great Library of Alexandria (established during the reign of Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphius, c. 283-246 BC, and originally organized by a student of Aristotle) contained an innumerable amount of manuscripts, works and scrolls from all over the world.

In order to ensure everything possible was included in their library, the Egyptians would even require their citizens (and even foreign travelers through Egypt) to hand in their own personal scrolls for copying so that they could be added to the overall collection. It is during the reign of Ptolemy II that the sacred scriptures of the Hebrew people were translated into the Greek language – which was the lingua franca of the world at this time – in order to be included in the Alexandrian library’s already impressive collection of scrolls.

In order to have the scriptures accurately translated into Greek, Ptolemy II summoned 70 scribes from the Hebrew people to Alexandria. These were scribes and elders who were familiar with both the languages and the scriptures themselves. Initially, the Pentateuch (the first five “Books of Moses”) was alone translated, with the rest of the scrolls to follow. In an event that was no doubt guided by the Holy Spirit, all 70 scribes ended up translating identical copies of the books from Hebrew into Greek, with no variations whatsoever.

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Making Goliath a Giant

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“According to the DSS [Dead Sea Scrolls] and LXX [the Septuagint], Goliath was six and a half feet tall, which at the time of David would certainly have been considered a giant stature. Human beings were generally much shorter than they are now. By the time of the Masoretes in the late first millennium [AD], almost two thousand years after the era of Goliath, six and a half feet tall was no longer so impressive. Thus the Masoretes amended the text, adding another three feet to Goliath’s stature, and that is why many Bibles today have Goliath at nine and a half feet tall.”

Thom Stark, The Human Faces of God: What Scripture Reveals When it Gets God Wrong (And Why Inerrancy Tries to Hide It)

Resources for Those Interested in the Orthodox Faith

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As you can see above, I’ve added and expanded some of the other individual pages on this blog, for the sake of Orthodox seekers, inquirers, catechumens and the newly-Chrismated/Baptized. To summarize:

First, there is a disclaimer that explains the intentions of this blog and the many shortcomings. Lord, have mercy.

Second, there is a helpfully organized archive of various articles or posts from over the years, arranged by topic (broadly speaking). This provides a quick-reference starting point for whatever subject it is you’re interested in learning more about.

Next, I have put together a brief outline of “how to pray” in the Orthodox manner for those interested in such things (which is hopefully everyone). This is a simple and ancient daily assembly of prayers that can be said at home (in the morning and evening as a starting point). Your prayer life can and will grow from there.

Closely connected to Orthodox prayer is our “confession of faith” or “Symbol of Faith” (a.k.a. the Nicaean-Constantinopolitan Creed). It would be helpful to learn and memorize this confession and to make it part of one’s daily prayers (and not only reciting it on Sunday during the Liturgy).

And finally, there is a brief introduction to the Orthodox Church written for those with little-to-no knowledge of the Church at all (which is, sadly, a surprisingly large number of people in America today). This can be a helpful starting place for anyone interested in the Faith or for those trying to explain it to an outsider.

I pray these resources are helpful for you in your own journey of Faith. Please forgive me for any errors or causes of offense therein. Lord, have mercy on me the sinner!

Hypocrisy as the American Dream

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AntigoneNo doubt the result of several fairly recent historical developments, American “Christianity” has produced a whole generation of hypocrites. The hypocrisy of which I’m speaking is found most commonly at the individual level and is part and parcel of our relativistic, “whatever works for you” culture. To put it in fancy, theological words, American Christians have become ontologically and epistemologically Modalists.

Modalism (or Sabellianism) was a heresy that spread in the first few centuries of the Church and espoused that God was one Person but that He simply took on different “modes” or “forms” (as a single Person). God the Father was one “form,” and then He revealed Himself as the “form” of God the Son and then finally as God the Holy Spirit. At no one time were all three “forms” existing concurrently. It was as if God simply put on a different “mask” whenever it suited Him. This is a denial of the Orthodox view of the Trinity, of course, wherein God is three Persons in one Essence (without beginning or end).

Unfortunately, as an aside, there are many actual Modalist movements in the world today, such as some branches of Pentecostalism. Really, any “church” that emphasizes the Holy Spirit over Christ and the Father are semi-Modalist in scope, and this is easy to spot because of their emphasis on “experiences” of the Holy Spirit and ecstatic, chaotic nonsense – while they de-emphasize or undermine the role of the Church (which is the Body of Christ) and His Incarnation and role as its Head (remember, Christ said He would never leave us – cf. St Matt. 28:18-20) as well as the leadership role of men (a de-emphasis of the role of God the Father in the union of the Trinity) in the Church. In other words, just turn your television to TBN and you’ll see this clearly.

The word “hypocrite” comes from the Greek ὑπόκρισις which can mean “play-acting” or “coward” depending on the context, and was also used in reference to a stage actor in the ancient world. In other words, someone who played several different characters on stage was a “hypocrite,” as he adorned different masks, costumes and voices to play varying characters. He was not a solitary Person with a single “form,” but a Person with multiple “forms” or appearances, depending on the context (and never more than one “form” at once).

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