2. The religious character of the book is one of its most important and interesting features, inasmuch as it shows the phases of faith which obtained prior to the advent of Christ, and exjilains many points in the New Test. Few probably can read the book in the Sept. text without assenting to the favorable judgment of Luther on its merits. Nowhere else is there preserved so complete and beautiful a picture of the domestic life of the Jews after the lieturn. There may be symptoms of a tendency to formal righteousness of works, but as yet the works are painted as springing from a living faith. The devotion due to Jerusalem is united with definite acts of charity (i, 6-8) and with the prospect of Avider blessings (xiii, 11). The giving of alms is not a mere scattering of wealth, but a real service of love (i, 16, 17; ii, 1-7; iv, 7-11, Hi), though at times the em- phasis which is laid upon the duty is exaggerated (as it seems) from the special circumstances in which the writer was placed (xii. 9 ; xiv, 10), Of the special pre- cepts one (iv, 15, o fiKytlc; fir]Stpi Troirjdyt) contains the negative side of the golden rule of conduct (Matt, vii, 12), which in this partial form is found among the max- ims of Confucius.
"But it is chiefly in the exquisite tenderness of the portraiture of domestic life that the book excels. The parting of Tobias and his mother, the consolation of Tobit (v, 17-22), the affection of Raguel (vii, 4-8), the anxious waiting of the parents (x, 1-7), the son's re- turn (ix, 4; xi), and even the unjust suspiciousness of the sorrow of Tobit and Anna (ii, 11-14) are painted with a simplicity worthy of the best times of the patri- archs. Almost every family relation is touched upon with natural grace and affection : husband and wife, parent and child, kinsmen, near or distant, master and servant, are presented in the most varied action, and al- wavs with life-like power (i, 22; ii, 10, 13, 14; v, 14, 1.5,"l7-22 ; vii, 3-8, 16; viii, 4-8 ; x, 1-7; xi, 1-13 ; xii, 1-5, etc.). Prayer hallows the whole conduct of life (iv, 19; vi, 17; viii, 5-8, etc.); and even in distress there is confidence that in the end all will be well (iv, 6, 14, 19), though there is no clear anticipation of a future personal existence (iii, G).
The most remarkable doctrinal feature in the book is the ])rominence given to the action of spirits, who, while they are conceived to be subject to the passions of men and material influences (Asmodreus), are yet not affect- ed In- fiodily wants, and manifested only by their own will (Kaphael, xii, 19). Powers of evil {caij^tuviov, TTvivf-ia TTOvqpui', iii, 8, 17; vi, 7, 14, 17) are represent- ed as gaining the means of injuring men by sin, while the}- are driven away and bound by the exercise of faith and prayer (viii, 2,3). On the other hand. Ra- phael comes among men as " the healer" (comp. Dill- mann, Da.s Euch Henoch, c. 20). and, by the mission of God (iii, 17; xii, 18), restores those whose good actions he has secretly watched (xii, 12, 13), and "the remem- brance of whose prayers he has brought before the Holy One" (xii, 12). This ministrj' of intercession is else- where expressly recognised. Seven holy angels, of whom Raphael is one, are specially described as those " which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of (iod" (xii, 15), It is char- acteristic of the same sense of the need of some being to interpose between (iod and man that singidar ))romi- nence is given to the idea of" the glory of (Jod," before which these archangels appear as priests in the holiest place (viii, 15; xii, 1.5); and in one passage "the angel of God" (v, 16, 21) occupies a position closely resembling that of the Word in the Targums and Philo {l>e Jfiif. Num. § 13, etc.). Elsewhere blessing is rendereil to "all the holy angels" (xi, 14, ivXoytifievoi as contrasted with eii\oy))T()(; ; comp. Luke i, 42), who are themselves united with " the elect" in the duty of praising God for- ever (viii, 15).
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This mention of " the elect" points to a second doc- trinal feature of the book, which it shares with Banich alone of the Apocryphal writings, the firm belief in a glorious restoration of the Jewish people (xiv, 5 ; xiii, 9-18 ). But the restoration contemplatetl is national, and not the work of a universal Saviour. The Temple is described as " consecrated and built for all ages'" (i, 4), its feasts are " an everlasting decree" (yer. 6), and when it is restored " the streets of Jerusalem shall say . . . Blessed be God which hath extolled it forever" (xiii, 18). In all there is not the slightest trace of the belief in a personal jNIessiah.
Comparisons have often been made between the Book of Tobit and Job, but from the outline which has been given it is obvious that the resemblance is only super- ficial, though Tobit ii. 14 was probably suggested by Job ii, 9, 10, while tlie differences are such as to mark dis- tinct periods. In Tobit the sorrows of those who are afllicted are laid at once in prayer before God, in per- fect reliance on his final judgment, and then immedi- ately relieved by Divine inter|)osition. In Job the real contliot is in the soul of the sufferer, and his relief comes at length with humiliation and repentance (xiii, 6). The one book teaches by great thoughts; the other by clear maxims translated into touching incidents. The con- trast of Tobit and Judith is still more instructive. Tliese books present two pictures of Jewish life and feeling, broadly distinguished in all their details, and yet mutu- ally ilhistrative. The one represents the exile prosper- ous and even powerful in a strange land, exposed to sudden dangers, cherishing his national ties, and look- ing with unshaken love to the Holy City, but still main- h' occupied by the common duties of social life ; the other portrays a time of reproach and peril, when na- tional inde|)endence was threatened, and a righteous cause seemed to justify unscrupulous valor. The one gives the popular ideal of holiness of living, the other of courage in daring. The one reflects the current feel- ing at the close of the Persian rule, the other during the struggles for freedom.