Chapter Reflection

This final chapter depicts an elderly Tobit preparing his family for a future where geopolitical upheaval and divine faithfulness intersect. He stands at the end of a long life characterized by both physical darkness and restored light, using his final breath to urge his son to flee the impending doom of Nineveh. There is a profound tension between the visible luxury of a great city and Tobit’s certainty of its coming desolation based on the words of the prophets. He envisions a grand cycle of exile and return, where even a burned temple is not the end of the story, but a precursor to a global turning toward truth. The chapter emphasizes that righteousness and almsgiving are not just private virtues but shields that preserve a family through generations of national collapse. As Tobias eventually settles in Media and hears of Nineveh’s fall, the narrative closes with a sense of quiet justice and the endurance of a family that lived by mercy while empires crumbled.

Generational WisdomRestorative MercyProphetic Certainty

Tobit 14

1So Tobit made an end of praising God.

2And he was eight and fifty years old when he lost his sight, which was restored to him after eight years: and he gave alms, and he increased in the fear of the Lord God, and praised him.

3And when he was very aged he called his son, and the sons of his son, and said to him, My son, take thy children; for, behold, I am aged, and am ready to depart out of this life.

4Go into Media my son, for I surely believe those things which Jonas the prophet spake of Nineve, that it shall be overthrown; and that for a time peace shall rather be in Media; and that our brethren shall lie scattered in the earth from that good land: and Jerusalem shall be desolate, and the house of God in it shall be burned, and shall be desolate for a time;

5And that again God will have mercy on them, and bring them again into the land, where they shall build a temple, but not like to the first, until the time of that age be fulfilled; and afterward they shall return from all places of their captivity, and build up Jerusalem gloriously, and the house of God shall be built in it for ever with a glorious building, as the prophets have spoken thereof.

6And all nations shall turn, and fear the Lord God truly, and shall bury their idols.

7So shall all nations praise the Lord, and his people shall confess God, and the Lord shall exalt his people; and all those which love the Lord God in truth and justice shall rejoice, shewing mercy to our brethren.

8And now, my son, depart out of Nineve, because that those things which the prophet Jonas spake shall surely come to pass.

9But keep thou the law and the commandments, and shew thyself merciful and just, that it may go well with thee.

10And bury me decently, and thy mother with me; but tarry no longer at Nineve. Remember, my son, how Aman handled Achiacharus that brought him up, how out of light he brought him into darkness, and how he rewarded him again: yet Achiacharus was saved, but the other had his reward: for he went down into darkness. Manasses gave alms, and escaped the snares of death which they had set for him: but Aman fell into the snare, and perished.

11Wherefore now, my son, consider what alms doeth, and how righteousness doth deliver. When he had said these things, he gave up the ghost in the bed, being an hundred and eight and fifty years old; and he buried him honourably.

12And when Anna his mother was dead, he buried her with his father. But Tobias departed with his wife and children to Ecbatane to Raguel his father in law,

13Where he became old with honour, and he buried his father and mother in law honourably, and he inherited their substance, and his father Tobit’s.

14And he died at Ecbatane in Media, being an hundred and seven and twenty years old.

15But before he died he heard of the destruction of Nineve, which was taken by Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus: and before his death he rejoiced over Nineve.

Who God is

How do you perceive a God who allows His house to be desolate for a time, yet promises to gather all nations to bury their idols and praise Him?

The condition of man

When you consider Tobit’s focus on alms and mercy as the only secure inheritance for his children, what does it suggest about the true source of a person's security in an unstable world?