Eie<'e of silver. 111 ; it cuso introduces two long original prayers, V Tobias and Sarah, in the bridal chamber, ch. 8. \'ulg- <*nly gives Sjirah's praver thus : ' Be merciful to us, O Lord, be merci- ful, and let us both grow old healthily together,' H'O.— ^,) HQ has a few unique readings: f,g. 'dust'for *dun';.'2l0; *ring' for 'hond.'tr*; and that Tobias put the heart of the Ush on a ci-jvter and burnt it under Sarah's clothes. It is verv brief, but agrees closely with Aram.: e^g. HO uid Arauu oni^' say that
788
TOBIT, BOOK OF
TOBIT, BOOK OF
the fish 'sought to eat the bread of the youth,' 62. — (x) Ilala is a close translation of K. We have collated only the text given by Neubauer. Its chief eccentricity is the spelling of proper names. Bihelfor Thisbe, 1^ ; Kaphain for Phogor, 12; Bathania for Eobatana, ffi\ Anna (so Vulg.) for Edna, wife of RagueL It states that Raphael read the prayers before God, rji- ; and gives 'didrachma' for 'drachma,' 61'-*. — (x) \'ul;jate, Jerome omits (with HL)all mention of Ahi^ar, except in 11-0, which is probably an interpolatiuiL He also omits the patriarchs in 4'- ; thefateof Nadab, 14io ; and the fate of Nineveh, 14i5, But he has several additiona Some we have mentioried under HL. Others are Sarah's prayer, 313 j and her self-vindication, 3'^^-. These are found in HL, but in more biblical language ; but Vulg. alone states that Tobias, father and son, remained three hours on th^'ir faces before Raphael, 12— ; that the dog wagged its tail, 119; that the coating of an egg peeled off Tobit's eyes, 1114; that Tobias held his father half an hour, 1114 ; and closed the eyes of Raguel in death, 1415. Scholars have often pointed out the indications in Vulg. of the fact that Jerome was a Christian and an ascetia Even if pro^^sionall.v we concede that he had an Aram. MS before him, which in the narrative resembled HL, Jerome's personal influence can still be traced. The three nights' continence we should have to surrender (tJlSfT-)^ as this is in HL : but HL does not contain '2i^, where in Vulg. Tobit savs, ' We are sons of God, and wait for tliat iife which God is about to give ' ; 80 129 1213 911.
iii. Original Language. — We wish now to adduce evidence, which we trust will be regarded as conclusive, that the original language was Ara- maic. (1) The Aram, form -nnN (Heb. -nsx) is found in X 14" 'ABovpeia., and 14* '-Affrip. (2) If we accept alphabet 69 in Euting's Tabula Script urce Ara- nuiicce as an approximation to the Aram, alphabet used {ex hypotliesi) in the original copy of Tobit, we find that it explains tlie diverse form of many proper names, as in each case the letters con- founded are very similar : e.g. n'hd in K 5'^ for n-ycc* in B ; nDD:y for icio'^c' ; mnjD in K 1" + for DnnjD ; 'js'ay HF 9' for Vnd: ; lis in N 1' for lya ; '^.tin for Vnivi ; 'icp in X 10" for "03 in Syr. (3) The variants in the VSS are often po-sisible render- ings of the same .'Vramaic word. ' The mountain of Ararat,' 1" (Bx, Syr., It.), and 'the land of Ararat ' (Aram. HM, HF), are possible renderings of "Be (Sclnvallj', hliolicon, 37). ' Thou judgestyor ever,' 3-, [Bx, It.] 'Thou judgest the world,' [Aram., HM], give D'?yS ; 5' 'Wait young man' [X Sjt.], ' Wait a little ' [Aram. HM], give Tyt ; 2* ' I left the meal' [x Vulg.], 'I left the table' [Aram. HM, It.], give unns^. In Pal. Syr. at Ac 16" this word is used for rpivtiav. In 4" Jerome has constitue for iKx^or, thus giving to iip, imperative of Aram. -01 ' to pour out,' the meaning of Heb. in or 130. (4) In other instances the variants yield similar Aramaic words —
1< K, Eebi, ItoU
Syriac lis nb
IIM, HF 1>S .s-B, Aramaic
Ilala la KB
ItaU 2« B
N
Itala 2i» KB
HK, It. a
4a K
HF 81' K, HF
Itala S> K
Itala ion B
M
11" B
H
was btiilt In It
'J3nN
was prophuvd In It
•3jnN
Ood gave roe ^t^p^w
icniDT
God gave me favour
uninm
I gtoU the bodies
naiJ
I wrapped . . .
nDJV
all the./fna7iti4^ of the kin^om K:3rn
all the care . . .
Krcn
your pleamtres
pa-ma?
your icaya
fa''}'i!s
your songi
pa'nac'
Achiacharus nourished me
oj-15
Ach. persuaded me
O-.j
bury me honourably
im.ia
bury me immtdiuUiy
inina
Take her
n^Kb
Agk tor her
nS W
bound him forthwith
•an
returned forthwith
iin
Honour thy father
Tin
Beium to thy father
rq
daubed It on hU eye*
nz
blew into bis eyei
n'£x
121s KB thou didst cover tlie dead rivpi?
Syriao thou didst carry aiiay, etc. nipc
1214 KB sent me to heal thee KD'D
Itala „ „ to test thee K"SO
144 N our brethren shall be eouTtted pi'isn' B „ , shall be scattered pcnEn-
145 M the time of the seaaont K'Ziy HF „ „ one aon '» oVy Itala „ „ eurgingt l«'337V
iv. Historical Character.— This was ne«ei called in question until Luther did so. The minuteness of its details has often been adduced as evidence of its historicity, and it must be ad- mitted that there is nothing in it so marvellous and superstitious as to be incredible to educated men of antiiiuity. The angelophany is only a sliglit amplification of Gn 18 ; possession by un- clean spirits was a recognized belief, and exorcism by fumigation was recognized in medical science. W. R. Smith quotes from I;Caswini, i. 132, that ' the smell of the smoke of crocodiles' liver cures epi- lepsy, audits dung and gall cure Leucoma ' (£nt,-.yc. Brit.' art. ' Tobit '). Without calling in question that the book probably rests on a real history, the following considerations forbid our regarding it as being what it claims to be, viz. a narrative wTitten in the 7th cent. B.C. :— (1) It contains historical errors, (o) It was Tiglath-pileser who took Naph- tali and Zebulun into captivity (B.C. 734), not Shalmaneser, 2 K 15-^. (j3) Sennacherib was not Shalmaneser's son (1"), but the son of Sargon a usurper. (7) It is implied in l* that Tobit was a boy at the time of Jeroboam's revolt from the house of David. (5) The occurrence of Ahasuerua (14") and Aman (A W>) ought not to be pushed. 'Affiripos in B is a scribe's blunder for 'Adovplas in X, and 'Audi' in A is due to the same cause, taking 'Axiixapos for Mordecai. — (2) It is a geographical error to put the Tigris between Nineveh and Ecbatana ; and also to state (so X Aram. HM, It.) that llhagae is two days from Ecbatana. B omits the ' two days ' ; but in 6' says that Ecbatana was ' nigh unto Rhagie.' It took the army of Alexander 10 days to march from one to the other (Arrian, iii. 20).— (3) The spirit and theological tone belong to a later date.