Tobit chapter 3
[This chapter is in Orthodox and Catholic Bibles] Tobit prays for death. Young Sarah is severely mocked. Sarah prays for death. An unexpected answer to prayer.
The Book of Tobit is recognized as Deuterocanonical Scripture by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches
TOBIT PRAYS FOR DEATH
VERSE 1. I was grieved and wept, and prayed in sorrow, saying,
VERSE 2. “O Lord, you are righteous, and all your works and all your ways are mercy and truth, and you judge true and righteous judgement forever.
VERSE 3. Remember me, and look at me. Don’t take vengeance on me for my sins and my ignorances, and the sins of my fathers who sinned before you.
VERSE 4. For they disobeyed your commandments. You gave us as plunder, for captivity, for death, and for a proverb of reproach to all the nations among whom we are dispersed.
VERSE 5. Now your judgments are many and true; that you should deal with me according to my sins and the sins of my fathers; because we didn’t keep your commandments, for we didn’t walk in truth before you.
VERSE 6. Now deal with me according to that which is pleasing in your sight. Command my spirit to be taken from me, that I may be released, and become earth. For it is more profitable for me to die rather than to live, because I have heard false reproaches, and there is much sorrow in me. Command that I be released from my distress, now, and go to the everlasting place. Don’t turn your face away from me.”
YOUNG SARAH IS SEVERELY MOCKED
VERSE 7. The same day it happened to Sarah the daughter of Raguel in Ecbatana of Media, that she also was reproached by her father’s maidservants;
Ecbatana of Media. This was a city in western Iran.
VERSE 8. because that she had been given to seven husbands, and Asmodaeus the evil spirit killed them, before they had lain with her. And they said to her, “Do you not know that you strangle your husbands? You have had already seven husbands, and you haven’t borne the name of any one of them.
Tobit 3:8. because that she had been given to seven husbands, and Asmodaeus the evil spirit killed them, before they had lain with her. And they said to her, “Do you not know that you strangle your husbands? You have had already seven husbands, and you haven’t borne the name of any one of them.
Tobit 7:11. I have given my child to seven men, and whenever they came in to her, they died in the night. But for the present be merry.” And Tobias said, “I will taste nothing here, until you all make a covenant and enter into that covenant with me.”
Matthew 22:25. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother.
Mark 12:20. There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and dying left no offspring.
Luke 20:29. There were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless.
you haven’t borne the name of any one of them. That is, “you have had no joy with any one of your husbands” (NAB translation).
This biting comment refers to a lack of sexual joy, and not just to a lack of sexual intercourse.
Contrast Sarah’s situation with the clear Hebrew teaching about marriage and a woman’s sexual joy:
For the first year of marriage, a Jewish man was required to stay home. On a full-time basis, he was to learn how to give joy to his wife. It was a year-long sexual apprenticeship whose goal was his wife’s fulfillment. Read more »
VERSE 9. Why do you scourge us? If they are dead, go your ways with them. Let us never see either son or daughter from you.”
VERSE 10. When she heard these things, she was grieved exceedingly, so that she thought about hanging herself. Then she said, “I am the only daughter of my father. If I do this, it will be a reproach to him, and I will bring down his old age with sorrow to the grave.”
she thought about hanging herself. The cruel taunting of her father’s maidservants drove Sarah to extreme despair.
SARAH PRAYS FOR DEATH
VERSE 11. Then she prayed by the window, and said, “Blessed are you, O Lord my God, and blessed is your holy and honorable name forever! Let all your works praise you forever!
VERSE 12. And now, Lord, I have set my eyes and my face toward you.
VERSE 13. Command that I be released from the earth, and that I no longer hear reproach.
VERSE 14. You know, Lord, that I am pure from all sin with man,
VERSE 15. and that I never polluted my name or the name of my father, in the land of my captivity. I am the only daughter of my father, and he has no child that will be his heir, nor brother near him, nor son belonging to him, that I should keep myself for a wife to him. Seven husbands of mine are dead already. Why should I live? If it doesn’t please you to kill me, command some regard to be had of me, and pity taken of me, and that I hear no more reproach.”
AN UNEXPECTED ANSWER TO PRAYER
VERSE 16. The prayer of both was heard before the glory of the great God.
VERSE 17. Raphael also was sent to heal them both, to scale away the white films from Tobit’s eyes, and to give Sarah the daughter of Raguel for a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit; and to bind Asmodaeus the evil spirit; because it belonged to Tobias that he should inherit her. At that very time, Tobit returned and entered into his house, and Sarah the daughter of Raguel came down from her upper chamber.
Raphael also was sent. The compassion and mercy of God are expressed in the form of a mighty angel from heaven.
Raphael will do miraculous healing, matchmaking, spiritual combat, and will deliver from demonic possession.
TOBIT
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize, Tobit recommends fasting, Chronology
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