published by A. Jellinek (Leips. 1855-58). The whole MS. is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford {Cud. Vri 124). See Fiirst, Bibl. JuJ. iii, 427 ; (iriitz, Gesch. d. Juden, vi, 159; Valio, Cyclop. &.v.\ Etheridge, /H/roJ. ^o lleb.TAt- enilure, p. 233, 40f); De' Rossi, IHziomirio iStoi-ico (Ger- man transl.), p. 314; Z\.\nz,Gotttsd. ro;7/-ay(', p. 293-295. (B.I'.)
Tobi'as (Tw/3iac), the Greek form of the name Tobiah or Tobijuh, as it occurs of two men in the Apoc- rypha.
1. The son of Tobit, and central character in the book of that name. See Totu r. Book ok.
2. The father of Hyreainis, apparently a man of great wealth and reputation at Jerusalem in the time of Se- leucus I'hilopator (2 Mace, iii, 11). B.C. cir. 187. In the high-priestly schism which happened afterwards [see MiixtiLAUs], " the sons of Tobias" took a conspicu- ous part (Josephus, Ant. xii, 5. 1). One of these, Jo- seph, who raised himself by intrigue to high favor with the Egyptian court, had a soti named Hyrcamis (ibid. 4, 2). It has been supposed that this is the Hyrcanus re- ferred to in 2 Mace, iii, 11 ; and it is not impossible that, for some unknown reason (as in the case of the Macca- bees), the whole family were called after their grand- father, to the exclusion of the father's name. On the other hand, the natural recurrence of names in succes- sive generations makes it more probable that the Hyr- canus mentioned in Josephus was a nephew of the Hyr- canus in 2 Mace. (comp. Ewalil, Gesch. d. Volkts Isi'ael, iv, 309; Grimm, Ad Mace. loc. cit.). — Smith.
To'bie, the name of a district (r« Tii}f3iov v. r. T()('/3(oii; Vulg. loca Tubin), where, in the time of the JNIaccabees, was an extensive colony of Jews (1 iMacc. v, 13); probably identical with the land of Tob ((). v.) mentioned in the history of Jephthah (Judg. xi, 3, 6).
To'biel (Tw/3i/jX, for Heb. bx-'ii::. r/oodness of God; comp. Tubuel), the father of Tobit and grand- father of Tobias (Tobit i, 1).
Tobi'jah (Heb. Tobiudh, n^^aVJ [once (Zech. vi, 10) in the prdlonged fortn Tvbii/a'hn, ^^^''''Z'\'.^~\. (joodness of .fehorah), the natue of two men. See also Tobiah; Tobias.
1. (Sept. Tioftlac, but some INISS. omit ; Vnlg. Tho- bias.) The eightli named of the nine Levites sent by Jehoshaphat to teach the law in the cities of Judah (2 Chron. xvii, 8). B.C. 910.
2. (Sept. 01 xP'I'^'l^oi aliTi'fc:, Vulg. Tobias.) Sec- ond named of the three or four representative men of the Jewish captives in the time of Zechariah, in whose presence the prophet was commanded to take crowns of silver and gold and put them on the head of Joshua the high-priest (Zech. vi, 10, 14). B.C. 519. Rosenmiiller conjectures that he was one of a deputation who came up to Jerusalem from the Jews who still remained in Baby- lon with contributions of gold and silver for the Tem- ple. But Maurer considers that the offerings were pre- sented by Tobijah and his companions, because the crowns were commanded to be placed in the Temple as a memorial of their visit and generosity. See Zkcha- KiAH.
To'bit (Sept. Tioftfl^, Toififir, T(o/3(V; Vulg. To- bias; Vet. Lat. Tobi, Thobi, Tobis), the son of Tobiel and father of Tobias (Tobit i, 1, etc.). The name ap- pears to answer to ^^i::, Tobi, which occurs frequently in later times (Fritzsche, /If/ Tob. i, 1), and not (as ^^^elte, EinleiUing,\).&o) to tT^niZJ, Tobiah; yet in that case Ta)/3((,-, according to the analogy of Aiviq C')!?), would have been the more natural form. The etymol- ogy of the word is obscure. Ilgen translates it sim])ly " my goodness;" PVitzsche regards it as an abbreviation of n^ni::, comparing MtXxi (Luke Iii, 24, 28), "^pTn, etc. (Ad Tob. loc. cit.). The form in the Vulg. is of no weight against the old Latin, except so far as it shows the reading of the Chaldaic text which Jerome used, in
TOBIT, BOOK OF
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TOBIT, BOOK OF
wliich the iilentity of the names of the father and son is directly atiinned ( i, 9, Vulg. ).— Smith. See Tobit, Book ok.
TOBIT, Book of, one of the deutero-canonieal books of t lie OKI Test., standing in most editions fif the orig- inal lietween tlie Epistle of Jeremiah and the BooU of Judith, but in the A. V. between "2 Ksdr. and Judith. (The following account of it is mainly based upon (iius- burg's art. in Kitto's Cychpcedia, with large additions, especially from Smith's Dicf. of the Bible.)
I. Title. — In the Greek the book is called simply To- hit (Tw/3(r, Tai/3a'r) in the old AISS. At a later time the opening words of the book, Hi/SAoc; Xdywr Toifitr, were taken as a title. In Latin MSS. it is styled Tobits, Liber Thobis, Lihei- Tobiw (Sabatier, p. 706), Tobit et To- bias, Liber utriusqne Tobicc (Fritzsche, Einleit. § 1). In the A. V. it is superscribed "The book of the words of Tobit, etc., wdio, in the time of Enemessar (Shalmane- ser), king of the Assyrians, was led captive out of This- be, which is at the right hand of Kydios of Nephthalim in (ialilee, above Aser."' The word Tobit is probably a Hebrew form n''ri"Z3, signifying r/oodness, a name very appropriate in a narrative of virtue suffering, yet re- warded.