Texts in Conversation
Isaiah describes a future where all the nations come to Jerusalem, where the Torah will go out from Jerusalem and bring peace. Tobit echoes this image but shifts the language from “all nations” to “many nations,” perhaps softening Isaiah's universalism.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 2:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz. 2 In future days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure as the most important of mountains and will be the most prominent of hills. All the nations will stream to it; 3 many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of the God of Jacob, so he can teach us his requirements, and we can follow his standards.” For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; the Lord’s message will issue from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge disputes between nations; he will settle cases for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up the sword against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.
Date: 740–450 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Tobit 13:11
Deuterocanon
9 O Jerusalem, you holy city! he will chastise you for the works of your hands, And will again have mercy on the sons of the righteous. 10 Give thanks to the Lord with goodness, and bless the everlasting King, That your tabernacle may be built in you again with joy, And that he may make glad in you all that are captives, And love in you all that are miserable and all the generations of eternity. 11 A bright light shall shine to all the ends of the earth; Many nations shall come from afar, And the inhabitants of the utmost ends of the earth to your holy name; With their gifts also in their hands to the King of heaven, Generations of generations shall utter rejoicing in you, And your name that is elect to the generations of eternity. 12 Cursed shall be all they that shall speak a hard word; Cursed shall be all they that demolish you, And throw down your walls; And all they that overthrow your towers, And set on fire your habitations; But blessed shall be all they that fear you for ever. 13 Then go and be exceeding glad for the sons of the righteous: For they all shall be gathered together, And bless the everlasting Lord.
Date: 225–175 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... When Solomon's Temple was destroyed in 586 B.C.E., so presumably was the Tabernacle. The restoration of the Temple, like the restoration of Tobit's sight, is central to the narrator's concern and not a pious afterthought ... love [agapesai] ... those ... distressed. The word for God's love for his people is the same one as used for Tobiah's love of Sarah (agapao in 6:18); whereas Asmodeus' love for Sarah was characterized by phileo. But too much can be read into the differences between agapao and phileo, for in the Hebrew Bible the verb 'hb serves for all kinds, levels, and depths of 'love.' A bright light. Compare Isaiah 9:1. Even as the restoration of Tobit's sight marked a new beginning for him, so Jerusalem as a 'bright light' symbolizes the dawning of a new day for Israel. Many nations will come to you. 'Many" (as in Isaiah 2:3) rather than "all" as in Isaiah 2:2. Compare also Isaiah 60:5; Micah 4:2; Zechariah 8:22; Psalm 86:9; 96:7-8. Although Tobit may have confined most of his time and charity to his fellow Israelites, here Tobit's (or better, the author's) compassion and broad-mindedness are clearly evident ..."
Carey A. Moore, Tobit: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: Doubleday, 1996), 280–281.
* 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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