Finally, Tobit's request for death (v. 6) has an analogy in the prayers of Job (Job VII:15), the prophet Elijah (1 Kings XIX:4; cf. Commentary, Vol. II), and others, although, of course, this petition has only a relative value and significance (cf. Jonah IV:3 ff.). It goes without saying, however, that these similarities between the book of Tobit and other biblical books cannot speak in favor of the opinion (Eichhorn and others) that in Book II. Tobit we have a free imitation or development of the reports of other books of the Bible.

7. On that very day it also happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, in Ecbatana of the Media, was reproached by her father's handmaidens 8. because she was given to seven husbands, but Asmodeus, the evil spirit, put them to death before they were with her as a wife. And they said to her, Are you not ashamed that you have strangled your husbands? You have already had seven, but you have not called yourself by the name of any of them. 9. Why should we be beaten for them? They are dead: follow them too, so that we may never see your son or daughter! 10. When she heard this, she was very sad, so that she decided to take her own life, but she thought, "I am alone with my father; if I do this, he will be dishonored, and I will bring his old age with sorrow to hell. 11. And she prayed at the window and said, "Blessed are you, O Lord my God, and blessed is your holy and glorious name forever: may all your creatures bless you forever!" 12. And now to Thee, O Lord, I turn my eyes and my face; 13. I pray, take me away from this land, and do not let me hear any more reproach! 14. You know, O Lord, that I am clean from all sin with my husband 15. And she did not profane my name, nor the name of my father, in the land of my captivity; I am my father's only-begotten, and he has no son to succeed him, nor a near brother, nor a brother's son to whom I can keep myself as a wife: seven have already perished with me. Why should I live? And if it does not please Thee to put me to death, then be pleased to look upon me and have mercy on me, so that I may hear no more reproach!

7–15. Nor is there anything artificial or contrived between the time and content of the prayer of Tobit and that of Sarah, the daughter of Raguel (v. 7), nor is there anything artificial or contrived in the fate of these persons: piety, suffering, undeserved reproaches, etc. "The similarity is... not so great that life cannot present similar cases. The simultaneity of the prayer of Tobit and Sarah for deliverance from suffering or the sending of death is also not impossible" (Prof. Drozdov, p. 306).

Instead of Ecbatan (v. 7 in Greek, Slavic, Russian), the Vulgate calls the Para (in Rages, civitate Medorum), of which in V:8 Vulg. it is noted that Ragi is located on Mount Ecbatana (quae posita est in monte Ecbatanis).

Sarah's sevenfold marriage (v. 8) is rare, but not impossible (Matthew XXII:25-32); although, as an extraordinary event, it was the subject of reproaches from Sarah's maidservants, who falsely accused her of murder (v. 8-9). The real culprit of the instantaneous death of each of Sarah's seven husbands (each time before their actual conjugal cohabitation with her) was the evil spirit or demon Asmodeus ('Ασμοδαίος τό πονηρόν δαιμόνιον), v. 8. Attempts have been made to explain the meaning of this name from the Aryan root, but these attempts are doubtful and aimless, since the word Asmodeus is satisfactorily explained from the Hebrew-Aramaic root: shamad to destroy, to destroy, so that Asmodeus is a destroyer, a destroyer, which fully corresponds to the destructive activity of Asmodeus, according to the book of Tobit (Tob III:8; VI:13-14),[7] and finds a complete analogy in the name of the evil spirit of the destroyer Abaddon (in Greek, Apollyon, Rev. IX:11). The main point in the concept of Asmodeus, according to this etymology, is that destruction for people is a fundamental feature in general in the biblical concept of the evil spirit – Satan and demons. However, the attempt of some scholars (Benfey, Dillmann, Langin, Rim, Koguga, etc.) to connect the name of Asmodeus with one of the evil spirits or maidens of the Avesta, the aeshma-daeva, the demon of carnal passion, is not without a certain degree of probability and a certain amount of significance, since this is exactly what Asmodeus appears in the book of Tobit (VI:14). (See A. Glagolev, The Old Testament Biblical Teaching on Angels, Kiev, 1900, pp. 690-695; Prof. Drozdov, op. cit., pp. 381-393.)

Sarah prayed fervently "at the window" (v. 11), Slavic: at the window, Greek: προς τη θυρίδι, "in the upper room", είς to υπερώον (no Sinaitic. LXX), i.e., on a mezzanine on the flat roof of a house, which was usually used for rest, solitude, and prayer (Dan VI:10; Acts XX:8-9; I:13–14). To stand in prayer at an open window (Dan. VI:10, Heb. 11) in the direction of the holy land, Jerusalem, and the temple (1 Kings VIII:44) was an ancient custom, established especially during the captivity, and legitimized by the traditional law of Judaism (see Commentary, Vol. II, p. 463).

The content of Sarah's prayer (vv. 11-15), in addition to general biblical ideas, contains direct references to the individual features of Sarah's life and suffering (vv. 14-15), especially to her preservation of chastity (v. 14).

16. And the prayer of both was heard before the glory of the great God, and Raphael was sent to heal them both: 17. To take off the eyesore from Tobit and Sarah the daughter of Raguel, to give to Tobiah the son of Tobit to wife, binding Asmodeus, the evil spirit; for Tobias is destined to inherit her. "And at the same time Tobit, on his return, went into his house, and Sarah the daughter of Raguel came down from her upper room.

16–17. The prayer of both sufferers, Tobit and Sarah, was heard. In the accepted Greek text LXX and Slav. in v. 16 it is erroneously read ενώπιον τής δόξης τού μεγάλου Ραφαήλ καί απεστάλη — "And the Lord heard the prayer of both, before the glory of the great Raphael, and was sent..." But in the code 64, 243, 248, in the Complex. and Aldus. ed., as well as in the Sinai List, after μεγάλου there is Θεού, and the conjunction και comes before Ραφαήλ or before απεστάλη. Russian. The translation correctly conveys the idea of the original text. The name of the angel Raphael, as one of the highest seven angels who stand before God (Tob XII:15), is found only in the book of Tobit and later in the so-called Book of Enoch (ch. IX:1; X:4; XX:3; XL:9) (see Das Buch Henoch, ubers und erklart von A. Dillmann and the Book of Enoch: A Historical-Critical Study, Russian Translation and Explanation of the Apocryphal Book of Enoch). (Kazan, 1886). Prof. Archpriest. A. V. Smirnova). Pre-exilic biblical writing does not know the names of angels. Only in the book of the prophet Daniel (chapters VIII, IX, X, XII) are two names of angels mentioned for the first time – Gabriel and Michael. Just as these two names, being proper names, have, however, in their meaning, a common meaning, expressing different aspects of the relationship of angels to God, the world and people (see A. Glagolev, Old Testament Biblical Teaching on Angels, pp. 361-377), so the name Raphael, derived from Heb. "rapha," to heal, to heal, and "el," God, indicates the mission for which Raphael was sent by God to earth (III:17; XII:14), namely, for the healing (ίασασθαι) (v. 17), or the deliverance of Tobit from blindness, and Sarah from the mental ailments or sufferings which the demon had inflicted upon her. And in the Book of Enoch (chapter XL:9) Raphael is credited with healing, as having been appointed over all diseases and wounds of the sons of men. But in the book. Enoch's idea of the angel Raphael is mixed with the later angelological views of Judaism, while in the book of Tobit the pure biblical teaching about angels is preserved, with the addition of some details concerning their external appearance on earth (Chapter V:4 ff.) and the position of Raphael in the heavenly hierarchy (XII:15). Cm. by A. Glagolev. Old Testament Biblical Teaching on Angels, pp. 407-410, and Prof. Drozdov, pp. 368-381.

Chapter IV

1–21. Being in distress and awaiting death, Tobit recalls the money given to Gibael for safekeeping (I:14), informs Tobias about it, and at the same time teaches him a number of moral instructions about reverence for his mother (vv. 3-4), about the fear of God and godliness (5-6), about charity and alms (7-11), about purity and chastity (12-13), about justice and honesty, benevolence and generosity (14-17), modesty, prudence, devotion to the will of God (18-19). 1. On that day Tobit remembered the silver which he had given to Gabael in the Ragas of the Medes, 2. And he said to himself, I asked for death; why then shall I not call my son Tobias to tell him these things before I die?

1–2. Instead of money, the book of Tobit speaks everywhere of silver, αργύριον (IV:1; V:2–3, 18; IX:2; X:2, 11; XII:3), as in cuneiform documents, money is often called silver: this is explained by the absence of minted coins in Assyro-Babylonia before the Persian rule; instead of coins, pieces or ingots of metal were used, the relative value of which was determined by weight; For this reason, in Assyro-Babylonian business documents, the expression "weighed" so much money is often encountered, just as in the case of the ancient Hebrews, among whom the minting of coins appeared only after the Babylonian captivity, the term "to weigh, weigh, weigh" was usually attached to money (ingots or plates) (Hebrew schaqal (jackal), Genesis XXIII:16; Isaiah XLVI:6; Jeremiah XXII:10.

The 10 talents of silver placed by Tobit at Gibael (v. 14, chapter I) represented a considerable weight of more than 25 poods, so Gabael, returning the bags of silver to Tobit (IX:2, 5), laid them on two camels, and the value of this silver extended, in our money, to more than 23,000 rubles (see Prof. Drozdov, pp. 490-491).

3. And having called him, he said, "My son! when I die, bury me and do not leave your mother; honor her all the days of your life, do what is pleasing to her, and do not grieve her. 4. Remember, my son, that she had many sorrows because of you even during pregnancy. When she dies, bury her beside me in the same coffin. 5. Always remember, my son, the Lord our God, and do not desire to sin or transgress His commandments. All the days of thy life thou shalt do righteousness, and walk not in the ways of iniquity. 6. For if you do what is right, you will succeed in your deeds, as all those who do righteousness. 7. Give alms from your possessions, and let not your eyes spare when you give alms. Do not turn away your face from any beggar, then the face of God will not turn away from you. 8. When you have much, give alms out of it, and when you have little, do not be afraid to give alms, and little by little; 9. You will store up for yourself a rich treasure for the day of need, 10. For alms deliver from death and do not allow to descend into darkness. 11. Alms are a rich gift for all who do it before the Almighty. 12. Beware, my son, of every kind of debauchery. Thou shalt take for thyself a wife of the tribe of thy fathers, but thou shalt not take a foreign wife, who is not of thy father's tribe, for we are the sons of the prophets. From ancient times our fathers are Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Remember, my son, that they all took wives from among their brethren, and were blessed in their children, and their descendants shall inherit the earth. 13. Therefore, my son, love your brethren, and do not exalt thy heart before thy brethren, or before the sons and daughters of thy people, lest thou take a wife from them, for from pride perdition and great disorder, and from lewdness impoverishment and ruin; lewdness is the mother of hunger. 14. Do not let the wages of the hired man who will work for you spend the night with you, but give it immediately, and you will be rewarded if you serve God. Be careful, my son, in all your actions, and be prudent in all your conduct. 15. What you yourself hate, do not do to anyone. Thou shalt not drink wine to the point of drunkenness, and let not drunkenness walk with thee in thy way. 16. Give to him who hungers for your bread, and to the naked from your garments; From everything in which you have an abundance, do alms, and let not your eyes be spared when you give alms. 17. Distribute your bread at the tomb of the righteous, but do not give it to sinners. 18. Ask every prudent person for advice, and do not neglect useful advice. 19. Bless the Lord God at all times and ask Him that your ways may be right, and that all your deeds and intentions may prosper, for no nation has power over the success of undertakings, but the Lord Himself sends down all good things and despises whom He wills according to His will. Remember, my son, my commandments, and let them not be blotted out of your heart!