Texts in Conversation
In Luke, Jesus tells a parable about a host who invites the poor to their meal, a theme also found in Tobit, where a man tells his son to bring a poor exile to their feast. Both reflect a culture where honor is based on generosity and care for the poor.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Tobit 2:2
Deuterocanon
1 And when Esarhaddon was king I came home again, and my wife Anna was restored to me, and my son Tobias. And at our feast of the Pentecost, which is the holy Feast of the Weeks, there was a good dinner prepared me; and I laid me down to dine. 2 And the table was set for me, and abundant food was set for me, and I said to Tobias my son, Go, my boy, and whatever poor man you shall find of our kindred of the Ninevite captives, who is mindful of God with his whole heart, bring him and he shall eat together with me; and lo, I wait for you, my boy, until you come. 3 And Tobias went to seek some poor man of our kindred and returned and said, Father. And I said to him, Here am I, my child. And he answered and said, Father, behold, one of our nation has been murdered and cast out in the marketplace, and he has but now been strangled. 4 And I sprang up and left my dinner before I had tasted it, and took him up from the street and put him in one of the chambers until the sun was set, to bury him. 5 Therefore I returned and washed myself, and ate food with mourning, 6 and remembered the word of the prophet which Amos spoke against Bethel, saying, Your feasts shall be turned into mourning, And all your ways into lamentation. And I wept.
Date: 225–175 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Luke 14:13
New Testament
7 Then when Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. He said to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor because a person more distinguished than you may have been invited by your host. 9 So the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then, ashamed, you will begin to move to the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, go and take the least important place, so that when your host approaches he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up here to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who share the meal with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you host a dinner or a banquet, don’t invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors so you can be invited by them in return and get repaid. 13 But when you host an elaborate meal, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 Then you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Date: 75–85 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... What we see here is various books of the Apocrypha being included in part by some incomplete lists along with other complete lists who quote different parts of the Apocrypha. This data does show that at the center of the origins, Israel’s second canon was quite influential and not always separated from the primary canon in early Christianity. So, the overall canon could have embraced all of the writings which were used as backdrop for stories, narrative tales, the inspiration behind Gospel and the General Epistles for the New Testament. For example, Tobit 4:15 and Sirach 31:15 were the inspiration behind the statements in Matthew 7:12. Judith 13:18 supports the concepts in Luke 1:42. Tobit 2:2 is referred to in Luke 14:13. Even the idea of an eternal king who was not born of normal parents is entertained in Tobit 12:12 and echoed in Revelation 8:3. The teaching in 1 Timothy 1:17 is from Tobit 13:7-11. First Maccabees 4:59 is the basis for John’s in John 10:22. The Apostle Paul utilized 1 Mac 12:9 in Romans 15:4. First Maccabees 2:4-8 is used by John the Revelator in Revelation 11:19 ..."
Tom Roberts, The Prefiguring and Exaltation of Wisdom in the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha (Hellenic Orthodox University, 2016), 52–53.
* 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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