Tobit 14:1-15: a reflection

1Then Tobit finished giving thanks. 2He was fifty-eight years old when he lost his sight. After eight years, he received it again. He gave alms and he feared the Lord God more and more, and gave thanks to him. 3Now he grew very old; and he called his son with the six sons of his son, and said to him, “My child, take your sons. Behold, I have grown old, and am ready to depart out of this life. 4Go into Media, my child, for I surely believe all the things which Jonah the prophet spoke of Nineveh, that it will be overthrown, but in Media there will rather be peace for a season. Our kindred will be scattered on the earth from the good land. Jerusalem will be desolate, and the house of God in it will be burned up, and will be desolate for a time. 5God will again have mercy on them, and bring them back into the land, and they will build the house, but not like to the former house, until the times of that age are fulfilled. Afterward they will return from the places of their captivity, and build up Jerusalem with honor. The house of God will be built in it forever with a glorious building, even as the prophets spoke concerning it. 6And all the nations will turn to fear the Lord God truly, and will bury their idols. 7All the nations will bless the Lord, and his people will give thanks to God, and the Lord will exalt his people; and all those who love the Lord God in truth and righteousness will rejoice, showing mercy to our kindred. 8And now, my child, depart from Nineveh, because those things which the prophet Jonah spoke will surely come to pass. 9But you must keep the law and the ordinances, and show yourself merciful and righteous, that it may be well with you. 10Bury me decently, and your mother with me. Don’t stay at Nineveh. See, my child, what Aman did to Achiacharus who nourished him, how out of light he brought him into darkness, and all the recompense that he made him. Achiacharus was saved, but the other had his recompense, and he went down into darkness. Manasses gave alms, and escaped the snare of death which he set for him; but Aman fell into the snare, and perished. 11And now, my children, consider what alms does, and how righteousness delivers.” While he was saying these things, he gave up the ghost in the bed; but he was one hundred fifty eight years old. Tobias buried him magnificently. 12When Anna died, he buried her with his father. But Tobias departed with his wife and his sons to Ecbatana to Raguel his father-in-law, 13and he grew old in honor, and he buried his father-in-law and mother-in-law magnificently, and he inherited their possessions, and his father Tobit’s. 14He died at Ecbatana of Media, being one hundred twenty seven years old. 15Before he died, he heard of the destruction of Nineveh, which Nebuchadnezzar and Ahasuerus took captive. Before his death, he rejoiced over Nineveh.

The book of Tobit closes with an old man's peaceful death and his parting words to his son. Tobit had lost his sight and received it back, and through it all he had grown to fear God more and more and to give thanks. Now, near the end, he gathers his family and speaks not with fear but with faith, confident that God's promises will hold, that judgment will come on the proud city and mercy will return to God's people.

His counsel is simple and weighty: keep God's law, and show yourself merciful and righteous. Consider what almsgiving does, he says, and how righteousness delivers. Tobit had spent his life in acts of mercy, often at real cost, and as he dies he commends that same path to his children. He looks ahead in hope to a day when all nations will turn to fear the Lord and bury their idols, and God will gather and exalt his people. Then, at peace, he gives up his spirit.

There is a beauty in a life that ends like this, faithful to the end and full of hope. Tobit's dying words point you toward two things worth building a life on: steady obedience to God and a life of mercy toward others. These are not glamorous, but they are what he wanted to pass on, and they are what endure. Live now the kind of life you would want to commend at the end, marked by faith in God's promises and generous mercy to those in need.

Lord, Tobit died in peace, faithful to the end, commending to his children a life of obedience and mercy. Help me to build such a life now, one I could commend at the end without shame. Give me steady trust in your promises and a heart generous toward those in need, so that whenever my own end comes, I may meet it, as he did, in faith and hope. Amen.