Tobit 9: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Tobias asks his traveling companion, whom he calls Azarias, to go to Gabael in Rages of Media, collect the money left there, and bring Gabael to the wedding, since Raguel has made him swear not to leave and his father is counting the days. Raphael goes, stays with Gabael, hands over the written note, and receives the sealed bags of money. The two of them come back early in the morning to the wedding, and Tobias blessed his wife.

Claim by Claim

1. 9:1
   • Tobias called Raphael.
   • Tobias spoke to Raphael.
2. 9:2
   • Tobias addressed Raphael as Azarias.
   • Tobias called him brother.
   • Tobias told him to take a servant with him.
   • Tobias told him to take two camels.
   • Tobias told him to go to Rages of Media, to Gabael.
   • Tobias told him to bring back the money for him.
   • Tobias told him to bring Gabael to the wedding.
3. 9:3
   • Tobias said Raguel had sworn an oath.
   • Tobias said the oath was that he should not depart.
4. 9:4
   • Tobias said his father was counting the days.
   • Tobias said that if he stayed away long, his father would be very grieved.
5. 9:5
   • Raphael went.
   • Raphael lodged with Gabael.
   • Raphael gave Gabael the written bond.
   • Gabael brought out the bags, which were sealed.
   • Gabael gave the bags to Raphael.
6. 9:6
   • They rose early in the morning together.
   • They came to the wedding.
   • Tobias blessed his wife.

Words Worth Explaining

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

9:1

Raphael is an angel. He is traveling with Tobias disguised as an ordinary man, and Tobias has no idea who he really is.

9:2

"Azarias" is the name Raphael gave when Tobias hired him as a traveling companion at the start of the journey; Tobias still has no idea who he really is. "Brother" here is a polite form of address between kinsmen, and the supposed Azarias had claimed to be a relative of the family. The money is the silver (ten talents, in Tobit 1:14) that Tobias's father Tobit had left on deposit with Gabael years earlier, before the family's fortunes collapsed. Media was the region east of Assyria, in what is now northwestern Iran; Rages and Ecbatana, where Tobias now is, were both cities in it, with Rages several days' travel further on. Camels are the pack animals for the load of silver, and a servant to help drive them.

9:3

Raguel is Sarah's father, and now Tobias's father-in-law. He had put Tobias under oath to stay for the full fourteen days of the wedding celebration, twice the customary seven. An oath was a binding legal and religious act, not a courtesy Tobias could quietly set aside, so he has to send someone else in his place.

9:4

Tobias's parents are back in Nineveh, and his father is blind. Tobit had calculated how long the round trip should take, so every day past that count would be read at home as evidence that the journey had ended badly.

9:5

The King James "handwriting" does not mean penmanship. It means a written bond: the document recording the deposit and proving who had the right to claim it back. Some ancient copies of Tobit say the document had been cut in two when the money was left, each man keeping half, so that the halves had to be matched before payment. The bags are sealed with stamped clay or wax bearing the owner's mark; intact seals showed the silver had not been touched since the day it was handed over.

9:6

"Both together" means Raphael and Gabael, who travel back to the wedding feast in Ecbatana. To bless someone here is to speak a set form of words over them, a formal spoken blessing rather than a compliment or a private good wish.