More Thoughts on Tobit and the Deuterocanonical Scriptures

I, Tobit, walked in the ways of truth and righteousness all the days of my life.  I performed many acts of charity for my kindred and my people who had gone with me in exile to Ninevah in the land of the Assyrians. (Tobit 1:3 NRSV)

What we have in Tobit is the story of a gentleman who has been faithful all of his life.  He was raised a Jew, became a Jew when he reached adult age, and remained a Jew despite any trials that he may have encountered.  We will talk about how faithful he was in a moment.  For now, let it suffice to say that we have a story about a very faithful, God-fearing man.

Before we go any further, I want to make a couple of things clear.

There’s Something Missing From Our Bibles

This past week, my small group spent most of the time discussing Philippians 1:6.  I came away thinking that the basic idea of the verse is that, no matter what may be happening, God is not finished with you yet.  The verse, a much over-quoted one, says it this way:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (ESV)

We got to talking about some Scriptural analogies for this, things like Job and some personal life experiences and I got to thinking about a little story about a man named Tobit.