Book of Tobit provides template for the geography of Job-Tobias
by Damien F. Mackey However, apart from the seeming advantages – but also the difficulties, e.g. the “midway” factor – the Book of Tobit gives no indication whatsoever that Tobias had dwelt anywhere other than Nineveh, for the duration of his long life, except that he had headed to Ecbatana in Media after the death of his parents, where he had lived out the remainder of his life (Tobit 14:12-15). 1. Born in the land of Naphtali If Tobit 1 is following a strict chronological sequence, then young Tobias was born in Naphtali shortly prior to the tribe’s captivity by Shalmaneser ‘the Great’ (who is my Tiglath-pileser, cf . 2 Kings 15:29). Thus Tobit tells in his Autobiography (1:9-10): “When I became a man I married Anna, a member of our family, and by her I became the father of Tobias. Now when I was carried away captive to Nineveh …”. Tobias, who is my Job, may have been too young t...