The Good Book Club: Week 30
Isaiah closes with the greatest chapter in the book, Tobit shows us how God responds to two prayers with one angel
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This Week
We are reading:
Isaiah 52-66
Tobit 1-14
Proverbs 10:29-32, 11:1-24
Summary
Isaiah ends this week with the Suffering Servant passage, a clear foretelling of Jesus. God’s big promise includes an end to this suffering and a new heaven and earth.
And then we are moving to a bit of a less common choice: Tobit.
Tobit is part of the Deuterocanon — books included in the original Catholic and Orthodox Bibles and omitted in Protestant traditions. Martin Luther and the Reformers wanted to align the Protestant Old Testament canon with the shorter Hebrew Masoretic Text, rather than the longer Greek Septuagint used by the early church. Judaism rejected Tobit in the 2nd century, post Jesus. It’s not totally clear why the Reformers would switch to the Hebrew text 1500 years later when the Jews obviously had a vested interest in denying Jesus as the Messiah for that entire time, but I of course have my theories and that’s one of the reasons we are reading and discussing this text. Tobit specifically has some interesting insight on angelology and demonology.
Whether or not you consider Tobit Scripture, it’s a remarkable piece of ancient Jewish literature written during the exile period, and it illuminates the world we’ve been reading about in a unique way.
I found an illustrated pdf of the Book of Tobit for those with Protestant Bibles who need access to this text. You can also switch to a Catholic translation in the Bible app and have easy digital access to all the texts of the deuterocanon.
And Proverbs, as always, continues to provide comfort and wisdom alongside everything else we are reading.
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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:
Day 201 — Monday, 7/20 — Isaiah 52-55, Proverbs 10:29-32
Day 202 — Tuesday, 7/21 — Isaiah 56-59, Proverbs 11:1-4
Day 203 — Wednesday, 7/22 — Isaiah 60-63, Proverbs 11:5-8
Day 204 — Thursday, 7/23 — Isaiah 64-66, Proverbs 11:9-12
Day 205 — Friday, 7/24 — Tobit 1-4, Proverbs 11:13-16
Day 206 — Saturday, 7/25 — Tobit 5-9, Proverbs 11:17-20
Day 207 — Sunday, 7/26 — Tobit 10-14, Proverbs 11:21-24
Day 201 — Monday, 7/20 — Isaiah 52-55, Proverbs 10:29-32
Jerusalem is called to awake from captivity and dignify themselves again. The Suffering Servant describes a man who is despised, rejected, a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering, pierced for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities — yet who will save Israel. This was written 700 years before Jesus.
God graciously and urgently invites all who are spiritually hungry and thirsty to come to Him. The metaphorical invitation to eat and drink with God comes to full fruition with the Last Supper in the New Testament.
“No weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
and this is their vindication from me,”
declares the Lord.
Isaiah 54:17
Day 202 — Tuesday, 7/21 — Isaiah 56-59, Proverbs 11:1-4
The vision keeps expanding. God’s house is for all people and the marginalized are welcomed into his covenant family.
The people complain that their fasting hasn't drawn God's attention and God reveals that true fasting involves freeing the oppressed, feeding the hungry, and caring for the poor.
We once again see how human rebellion has created a massive separation from God and no human can save themselves, requiring God to step in as a “Divine Warrior."
Day 203 — Wednesday, 7/22 — Isaiah 60-63, Proverbs 11:5-8
The Servant declares He is anointed by the Spirit of the Lord to bring “good news to the poor”, heal the brokenhearted, and announce the year of the Lord’s favor.
A brilliant picture of the restoration of Jerusalem: The glory of the Lord will rise upon the city, and the nations and kings of the earth will bring their wealth into it. God declares that Jerusalem will no longer be called “Forsaken” or “Desolate,” but rather “Hephzibah” (My Delight is in Her) and “Beulah” (Married).
Day 204 — Thursday, 7/23 — Isaiah 64-66, Proverbs 11:9-12
God’s culminating response is the new creation vision: a new heavens and a new earth.
Isaiah ends with a contrast between the ultimate destinies of the righteous and the wicked. God emphasizes that He values a humble and contrite heart over external religious sacrifices. While it has been intermittently dire throughout, the book ends on a universal note, stating that all of humanity will ultimately come to worship God, while the rebellious will face eternal judgment.
And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.
Isaiah 64:8
Day 205 — Friday, 7/24 — Tobit 1-4, Proverbs 11:13-16
And now for something completely different (it’s not that different): Tobit. Tobit is part of the Deuterocanon, also called the Apocrypha — books included in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, not in most Protestant ones. Our reading plan includes it as historically significant Jewish literature from the exile period, as well as exploring why this particular text may have been left out of the Protestant canon.
A devout Israelite living in exile in Nineveh, Tobit keeps burying the bodies of executed Jews despite it being illegal and dangerous. He is left with only his wife and son. Then he goes blind, his wife has to support them, and he prays to die.
Simultaneously, in a city far away, a young woman named Sarah has had seven husbands, each killed by the demon Asmodeus on their wedding night before the marriage could be consummated. She also prays to die.
Both prayers are heard in the same moment and God sends the angel Raphael to intercede. He will heal Tobit’s eyes and arrange the marriage of Sarah to Tobit’s son, Tobiah.
Day 206 — Saturday, 7/25 — Tobit 5-9, Proverbs 11:17-20
Raphael appears to Tobiah in disguise, presenting himself as a traveling companion who knows the road to Media. Tobit interrogates him about his family lineage before agreeing.
A great fish leaps from the river and tries to swallow Tobiah’s foot. Raphael tells Tobiah to keep the organs as they make good medicine, and that if he burns the heart and liver the smoke will drive out demons, and the gall can heal his father’s eyesight. (I should link to Cod Liver Oil here lol.)
Tobiah arrives, meets Sarah, and Raphael negotiates the marriage. On their wedding night he burns the fish organs as instructed. The demon flees to Egypt, Raphael follows and binds him. Tobiah and Sarah pray together before they sleep. Her father digs a grave, just in case, but both survive the night.
Day 207 — Sunday, 7/26 — Tobit 10-14, Proverbs 11:21-24
Tobiah returns home with his bride, the money he was sent to collect, and the cure for his father’s blindness.
Raphael reveals himself to be an angel and tells them that he heard Tobit and Sarah’s prayers and interceded with God (a scriptural example of the saints and angels hearing our prayers and interceding on our behalf).
Before he dies, Tobit’s final instructions to his son are leave Nineveh, because it will be destroyed. He dies at 112, having lived his final years with gratitude and at peace.
I so appreciate all of those who are continuing the conversation in the comments and the chat! I love hearing what’s resonating with you all each week.