Tobit 8: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Tobias is brought in to Sarah, and he burns the fish's heart and liver as Raphael told him; the evil spirit flees to the farthest parts of Egypt and the angel binds him. Tobias and Sarah pray together before they sleep, asking God for mercy and to grow old together. Raguel digs a grave during the night, then sends a servant girl who finds them both alive and asleep, and he praises God and has the grave filled in. He holds a fourteen-day wedding feast, having made Tobias swear not to leave before it ends, after which Tobias is to take half of Raguel's goods and the rest when Raguel and his wife are dead.

Claim by Claim

1. 8:1
   • They finished supper.
   • They brought Tobias in to her.
2. 8:2
   • As Tobias went in, he remembered the words of Raphael.
   • Tobias took the ashes of the incense.
   • Tobias put the heart and the liver of the fish on the ashes.
   • Tobias made a smoke with them.
3. 8:3
   • The evil spirit smelled that smell.
   • The evil spirit fled into the farthest parts of Egypt.
   • The angel bound the evil spirit.
4. 8:4
   • Tobias and Sarah were both shut in together.
   • Tobias rose out of the bed.
   • Tobias called Sarah sister and told her to arise.
   • Tobias said they should pray that God would have pity on them.
5. 8:5
   • Tobias began to speak.
   • Tobias said that God, the God of their fathers, is blessed.
   • Tobias said that God's holy and glorious name is blessed for ever.
   • Tobias asked that the heavens bless God.
   • Tobias asked that all God's creatures bless God.
6. 8:6
   • Tobias said God made Adam.
   • Tobias said God gave Adam Eve his wife as a helper and support.
   • Tobias said mankind came from Adam and Eve.
   • Tobias said God had said it is not good for the man to be alone.
   • Tobias said God had said, let us make for him a helper like himself.
7. 8:7
   • Tobias addressed the Lord.
   • Tobias said he was not taking this his sister out of lust.
   • Tobias said he was taking her uprightly.
   • Tobias asked God to ordain mercy so that he and she would grow old together.
8. 8:8
   • Sarah said Amen along with Tobias.
9. 8:9
   • Tobias and Sarah both slept that night.
   • Raguel arose.
   • Raguel went and dug a grave.
10. 8:10
    • Raguel said he feared that Tobias also might be dead.
11. 8:11
    • Raguel came into his house.
12. 8:12
    • Raguel spoke to his wife Edna.
    • Raguel told Edna to send one of the maids.
    • Raguel said the maid should see whether Tobias was alive.
    • Raguel said that if Tobias was not alive they would bury him.
    • Raguel said no one should know of the burial.
13. 8:13
    • The maid opened the door and went in.
    • The maid found Tobias and Sarah both asleep.
14. 8:14
    • The maid came out.
    • The maid told them that Tobias was alive.
15. 8:15
    • Raguel praised God.
    • Raguel said God is worthy to be praised with all pure and holy praise.
    • Raguel asked that God's saints praise him.
    • Raguel asked that all God's creatures praise him.
    • Raguel asked that all God's angels and elect praise him for ever.
16. 8:16
    • Raguel said God is to be praised because God had made him joyful.
    • Raguel said that what he had suspected had not come upon him.
    • Raguel said God had dealt with them according to his great mercy.
17. 8:17
    • Raguel said God is to be praised because God had shown mercy to two who were the only begotten children of their fathers.
    • Raguel asked God to grant them mercy.
    • Raguel asked God to finish their life in health with joy and mercy.
18. 8:18
    • Raguel ordered his servants to fill in the grave.
19. 8:19
    • Raguel kept the wedding feast fourteen days.
20. 8:20
    • Before the days of the marriage were finished, Raguel had spoken to Tobias under an oath.
    • Raguel had bound him by oath not to depart until the fourteen days of the marriage were completed.
21. 8:21
    • Raguel said that then Tobias should take half of Raguel's goods.
    • Raguel said Tobias should go in safety to his father.
    • Raguel said Tobias should receive the rest when Raguel and his wife were dead.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

8:1

The wedding night. Sarah has been married seven times before, and each husband died in the bridal chamber before the marriage could be consummated (see chapters 3, 6 and 7). Everyone in the house knows this as Tobias is brought in.

8:2

Raphael is the angel traveling with Tobias, passing as a human kinsman named Azarias; in chapter 6 he told Tobias to keep the fish's heart, liver and gall. "The ashes of the perfumes" are the hot embers in an incense burner. Burning incense in a bridal chamber was ordinary practice; what Tobias lays on the coals is not.

8:3

Egypt, and especially its far southern desert, stood for somewhere impossibly remote. Driving a spirit off to empty country far from human settlement is a standard feature of ancient exorcism texts, as is "binding" it, that is, tying or chaining it so it cannot act. The book names this spirit Asmodeus in chapter 3.

8:4

Husband and wife address each other as brother and sister throughout this book. It is partly a term of affection, familiar from ancient love poetry and marriage documents, and partly literal: Tobias and Sarah are cousins within the same family line.

8:5

In Hebrew and Greek prayer, to bless God means to praise him. "Blessed art thou, O God" is the standard opening formula of a Jewish blessing, not a wish that something be conferred on God.

8:6

Tobias is quoting Genesis 2: "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." The phrase behind "an aid like unto himself" means a counterpart, one who matches and corresponds to him. "Stay" is the old English word for a prop or support.

8:7

The Greek reads "not because of lust but in truth." A stated declaration of honest intent belongs to the formal language of marriage agreements. "Ordain" in 1611 English means simply command or decree.

8:8

"Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning "yes, truly" or "let it be so." People said it to show they agreed with a prayer.

8:9

Raguel is Sarah's father. Expecting Tobias to be dead like the seven husbands before him, he digs the grave during the night so the body can be buried before daylight.

8:12

A death on a wedding night would be public talk by morning. In chapter 3 Sarah was taunted by one of her own maids over the seven dead husbands, and Raguel is trying to spare the household another round of it. Burial on the day of death was in any case normal Jewish practice.

8:15

"Saints" in the King James simply means holy ones; standing here alongside angels, it need not mean human beings at all. "Elect" means those whom God has chosen.

8:16

What Raguel suspected was that Tobias had died in the night, like Sarah's other husbands.

8:17

Both Tobias and Sarah are only children. Where a family's name and property passed through its children, the death of an only child ended the household altogether, which is why the two fathers are mentioned.

8:19

A wedding feast normally ran seven days, as in Genesis 29 and Judges 14. Raguel doubles the usual length.

8:20

An oath was a binding legal act, not a strong promise. Once sworn, Tobias cannot leave early without breaking it.

8:21

Half of Raguel's property is Sarah's marriage portion, handed over at once instead of waiting until her father's death; the remainder comes when Raguel and Edna die. The King James slides without warning from reporting Raguel's words to quoting them, which is why the sentence ends "when I and my wife be dead."