Spiritual Combat

In the book of Tobit

Background to the book

  • The dispersion

  • Exiled Northern tribes 722BC Temple in Jerusalem destroyed 587BC

  • Written mostly in Aramaic – 200BC

Tobit acts courageously

  • Forbidden by Assyrians to bury their own dead

  • Antigone – laws of men vs. laws of the gods

  • “We must obey God rather than men”

Sufferings of the just man

  • Bird droppings cause cataracts in Tobit’s eyes

  • Doctors only make it worse

  • blindness

  • Goat in the kitchen

  • asking for death

Tobias wrestles with the fish

  • Fish tries to eat his foot

  • Raphael – “God’s remedy”

  • Fish’s liver, heart & gall

Marriage contracted before the feast

  • Tobias obeyed the Law of Moses – work first party later

Prayer before consummation

  • Sarah and Tobias pray as a couple on their wedding night Tobit 8:7-8

  • names the demon & relies on heavenly help

Healing of blindness

Tobit 12:7

  • “A king’s secret should be kept secret, but one must declare the works of God and give thanks with due honor.”

Canticle of Tobit, ch. 13

For Discussion:

  1. Have you ever felt that God had abandoned you in a struggle? What most helpful in that time?

  2. What is the most valuable lesson you learned through that suffering?

  3. Tobit is healed by his son Tobias. Has a healing come to you through family or friends?