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Tobit

About this book

Raphael Reveals His Identity

Chapter 12

1 And when the wedding feast was ended Tobit called his son Tobias, and said to him, Child, see that you give the wages to the man which went with you, so that you give him more for his wages. 2 And he said to him, Father, How much shall I give him as his wages? It is no harm to me to give him the half of the possessions which he has brought with me. 3 He has led me in safety, and he cured my wife, and brought the money with me, and cured you; how much shall I give him further as wages? 4 And Tobit said to him, It is due to him, child, to take the half of all which you had when you came. 5 And he called him and said, Take the half of all that you had when you came for your wages, and go in peace. 6 Then he called them both privately, and said to them,⁠ Bless God, and give him thanks in the sight of all that live, for the good things which he has done to you, to bless and praise his name. The words of God show forth to all men with honour and do not be slack to give him thanks. 7 It is good to keep close the secret of a king, but to confess and reveal the works of God.⁠ And confess them with honour.⁠ Do the good, and evil shall not find you. 8 Better is prayer with truth, and alms with righteousness than riches with unrighteousness;⁠ it is better to give alms than to lay up gold:⁠ 9 almsgiving does deliver from death, and it purges away all sin.⁠ They that do alms shall be fed with life;⁠ 10 they that commit sin and unrighteousness are enemies to their own life. 11 I will show you all the truth and will keep close nothing from you. Already I have shown you and have said, It is good to keep close the secret of a king, but the works of God to reveal gloriously.⁠ 12 And now, when you did pray and Sarah, I did bring the memorial of your prayer before the glory of the Lord:⁠ and when you did bury the dead, likewise.⁠ 13 And when you did not delay to rise up, and leave your dinner, but did go and cover the dead, 14 then I was sent to you to try you; and at the same time God did send me also to heal Sarah your daughter-in-law. 15 I am Raphael, one of the seven angels, which stand and enter before the glory of the Lord.⁠ 16 And they were both troubled, and fell upon their faces; and they were afraid.⁠ 17 And he said to them, Do not be afraid, peace be to you; bless God to all eternity. 18 I when I was with you, was not with you of any favour of mine, but by the will of God; bless him day by day, praise him. 19 And you behold me that I have eaten nothing, but a vision has appeared to you.⁠ 20 And now bless the Lord on the earth and give God thanks: Behold I ascend to him that sent me: write down all these things which have happened to you.⁠ And he ascended. 21 And they rose up and could no longer see him. 22 And they blessed and praised God and they gave him thanks for these his great works, how the angel of God had appeared to them.

Texts in conversation

Compare Tobit 12:8 and Gospel of Thomas 6

Deuterocanon · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

In Tobit, Raphael recommends prayer, fasting and gifts to the poor. Asked about those same practices in the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus replies with rules about honesty and behavior, directing the disciples away from questions about ritual.

Passages

Tobit 12:8

Deuterocanon
7 It is good to keep close the secret of a king, but to confess and reveal the works of God. And confess them with honour. Do the good, and evil shall not find you. 8 Better is prayer with truth, and alms with righteousness than riches with unrighteousness; it is better to give alms than to lay up gold: 9 almsgiving does deliver from death, and it purges away all sin. They that do alms shall be fed with life;
225–175 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Tobit

Gospel of Thomas 6

Nag Hammadi
5 Jesus said, “Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be revealed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.” 6 His disciples questioned him and said to him, “Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give alms? What diet should we observe?” Jesus said, “Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are disclosed before heaven. Nothing hidden will fail to be revealed, and nothing covered will remain undisclosed.” 7 Jesus said, “Blessed is the lion that the man will eat, so that the lion becomes a man. And cursed is the man whom a lion will eat, and the lion will become a man.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

References

“... Here the disciples ask questions about the trio of fasting, prayer and almsgiving, a traditional combination in both early Jewish and Christian piety (cf. e.g. Tob. 12.8; Matt. 6.1–18; 2 Clem. 16.4), and about the topic of clean and unclean foods. Rather than explicitly condemning the trio (as happens in GTh 14), here Jesus deflects the questions, probably thereby relativising these practices. Traditional Jewish and Jewish-Christian piety which consists of fasting, prayer, almsgiving and kosher eating should be rejected in favour of a simple, two-part moral code about words and deeds, involving an approximation to the ninth commandment and the golden rule in its negative form. The motivation to this ethical living is grounded in the omniscience of the divine or in the future revelation of deeds (6.4–6). GTh 6 (in conjunction with 14) thus belongs in a group of sayings critical of the institutions and customs of traditional Judaism, and of the strands of Christianity which inherited those institutions and customs from Judaism (cf. OT Scripture in GTh 52; circumcision in 53, the temple in 71; perhaps ritual washing in 89). ...”
Simon Gathercole, The Gospel of Thomas: Introduction and Commentary (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 224–225.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Tobit 12:8 and Gospel of Thomas 6

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