A charitable altar service: The role of the tithe in the book of Tobit

Abstract

One of the main teachings conveyed by the book of Tobit is the high religious significance of almsgiving, said to be an excellent “offering” before God (4:11) and a practice that can even “save from death” and “purge away every sin” (12:9). Early on in the book, the young Tobit is depicted as scrupulous in his performance of the various tithe laws mandated in the Pentateuch, bringing his tithes each year from a considerable distance for distribution in Jerusalem (1:6–8). Interpretation of this opening vignette is frequently restricted to the question of how the author of Tobit is to be situated on the spectrum of Second Temple halakhic practice in regard to the tithe legislation—but little attention is given to the question of how the protagonist’s early tithing practice might contribute to the larger themes of the book, especially that of charity. This article argues that the presence of the tithe in Tobit 1 does indeed contribute to the book’s larger charity didactic by picking up on hints within the Pentateuch that the tithe had “sacrificial” features while simultaneously serving as a means of poor relief. This reading of the significance of the tithe sets the author of Tobit apart from at least one contemporary, Joshua Ben Sira, who was also concerned to inculcate charity but who did not rely on the image of the tithe to do so.