Tobit

Tobit, BOOK OF, an apocryphal book of the Old Testament, probably written by a Hellenist of Egypt towards the middle of the 2nd century B.C. It describes the misfortunes, patience, and ultimate deliverance of Tobit, a Jew of the tribe of Naphtali, who had been carried captive to Nineveh. Deprived, of the riches he had acquired as a trader through his disobedience to a royal edict which forbade the burial of his countrymen, and reduced to the lowest depths of misery, he sends his son Tobias to Media to demand the repayment of a loan. Tobias, who is protected by the angel Raphael, not only obtains the money, but slays a fish (probably the crocodile) in the Tigris, the heart and liver of which serve as a charm against the demon Asmodeus, whilst its _ gall cures his father's blindness. From the traces of Zoroastrianism apparent in the tale, it may be gathered that it was based on an Iranian legend.