Texts in Conversation
Tobit 14 and Matthew 23 both reflect a common Jewish tradition, derived from the Hebrew Bible, where sin leads to punishment, followed by exile, repentance, and eventual restoration.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Tobit 14:4
Deuterocanon
4 and go into Media, for I believe the word of God upon Nineveh, which Nahum spoke, that all those things will be, and will befall Assyria and Nineveh. And all the things which the prophets of Israel spoke, whom God sent, shall befall; and nothing shall be diminished of all the words; and all things shall come to pass in their seasons. And in Media shall be deliverance more than among the Assyrians and in Babylon; therefore I know and believe that all the things which God has spoken will be accomplished and will be, and there will not fall to the ground a word of the prophecies. And as for our kindred which dwell in the land of Israel, against all of them will God devise evils, and they will be carried captive from the good land, and all the land of Israel will be desolate, and Samaria and Jerusalem will be desolate, and the house of God will be in grief and be burned up for a time; 5 and God will again have mercy en them, and God will bring them back into the land of Israel, and they will again build the house, but not like the first, until the time when the time of the seasons be fulfilled; and afterward they will return, all of them, from their captivity, and build up Jerusalem with honour, and the house of God shall be built in her, even as the prophets of Israel spoke concerning her.
Date: 225–175 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Matthew 23:36
New Testament
33 “For this reason I am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, 34 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 35 I tell you the truth, this generation will be held responsible for all these things! 36 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it! 37 Look, your house is left to you desolate! 38 For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... This theology dominates the present text which often carries the pattern of sin—punishment—exile—repentance—return. A good many of the passages on this theme have been dated by scholars to the Persian period. Judah had been punished for her sins by being removed from the land, but the punishment was now complete, and YHWH had intervened to cause her to return. Another theme also appears: the concept of the purified remnant ... We do not have much information on the subject from the first part of the Greek period. A book such as Tobit, which is likely to be from this time, suggests how those in the Diaspora lived and thought, including how they continued to look toward Jerusalem where the surviving Israelites would return to rebuild the temple (Tobit 14:4–7). Whether the doctrine of the land was used as an excuse for Hasmonean expansion is a question, though Jubilees and the fragments of Eupolemus might suggest this ..."
Lester L. Grabbe, Judaic Religion in the Second Temple Period: Belief and Practice from the Exile to Yavneh (London: Routledge, 2000), 298–300.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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