Tobit Chapter 3 Summary - Key Points & Themes

Read Tobit Chapter 3 Summary

Grieved, Tobit prays to the just God, confesses the sins of his people and asks to die rather than live under false reproaches. On the same day in Ecbatana in Media, Sara, daughter of Raguel, is taunted by her father's maids because the evil spirit Asmodeus has killed her seven husbands on their wedding night; she thinks of hanging herself but, unwilling to shame her father, she too prays to be taken from the earth or spared the reproach. Both prayers are heard before God, and the angel Raphael is sent to heal Tobit's eyes, give Sara to Tobias as his wife and bind Asmodeus.

Characters in This Chapter

Tobit

Devout exile in Nineveh who buries the dead, is blinded and healed

Tobias

His son, who travels to Media, marries Sara and heals his father

Raphael

Angel sent by God, disguised as Azarias, who guides Tobias and binds the demon

Places in This Chapter

Nineveh

Assyrian capital where Tobit lives in exile, buries the dead and is blinded; his last words announce its fall

Tigris River

River where Tobias, guided by the angel, catches the fish whose heart, liver and gall will heal

Jerusalem

City where young Tobit went up with his tithes, and whose rebuilding in glory his final hymn foresees

Ecbatana

City of Raguel in Media, where Tobias marries Sara and the demon is driven out

Position in Book

Tobit's Trials in NinevehChapters 1-2

Two Prayers HeardChapters 3

On the same day Tobit in Nineveh and Sara in Ecbatana pray to God, and Raphael is sent to heal them both.

A Father's CounselChapters 4

The Journey with the AngelChapters 5-6

Marriage and DeliveranceChapters 7-9

Return and HealingChapters 10-11

The Angel RevealedChapters 12

Tobit's Hymn and Last WordsChapters 13-14