Texts in Conversation
In Tobit, the account of tithes and offerings follows the instructions in Deuteronomy, listing grain, wine, oil, and wool as due portions for the priests. By using this language, Tobit depicts its narrative in continuity and conformity with the Torah.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 18:4
Hebrew Bible
2 They will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them. 3 This shall be the priests’ fair allotment from the people who offer sacrifices, whether bull or sheep—they must give to the priest the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach. 4 You must give them the best of your grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the best of your wool when you shear your flocks. 5 For the Lord your God has chosen them and their sons from all your tribes to stand and serve in his name permanently. 6 Suppose a Levite comes by his own free will from one of your villages, from any part of Israel where he is living, to the place the Lord chooses
Tobit 1:7
Deuterocanon
5 All my kindred and the house of Nephtalim my father, they sacrificed to the calf, which Jeroboam the king of Israel made, in Dan and on all the mountains of Galilee. 6 And I alone used often to journey to Jerusalem at the feasts, as it has been ordained in all Israel by an everlasting decree. I used to go to Jerusalem with the firstfruits and the firstlings and the tenths of the cattle and the first shearings of the sheep, 7 and give them to the priests, the sons of Aaron, for the altar, and the tenth of the grain and the wine and oil and pomegranates and the rest of the fruits to the sons of Levi, who ministered at Jerusalem. And the second tenth I tithed in money for the six years, and went and spent it each year at Jerusalem: 8 and gave it to the orphans and the widows and the proselytes who attached themselves to the children of Israel; I brought it and gave it to them in the third year, and we did eat it according to the decree which was decreed concerning it in the book of Moses and according to the commands which Deborah, the mother of Hananiel our father commanded, because my father left me an orphan when he died.
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Notes and References
"... Altogether, Tobit's particular dependence on the Torah may be best summarised in the chart on the next page. As we have already indicated, everything Tobit offers has a general basis in the Pentateuch. The idea that offerings should be a part of pilgrimages is found in Deuteronomy 16. Specific offerings are described in Deuteronomy 8, 14, and 26; Numbers 18; and Leviticus 27. Whenever possible, Tobit follows Numbers 18, supplementing it with other sources only after it has been exhausted. This, too, appears to be part of a general trend. All in all, the Book of Tobit stands out by virtues of its exhaustive detail, combining tithes and first fruits of almost every kind in rapid succession. This has been acknowledged by many scholars who are simply studying tithing or Jewish law in Second Temple times. This is so much the case that it is worth considering whether Tobit's tithing system corresponded with one that was actually ever practised or whether it is in part a literary construction ..."
Jacobs, Naomi S.
"And I Saw that the Delicacies were Many": A Commentary on Food and Eating in the Book of Tobit
(pp. 44-45) Durham University, 2007
* 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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