Tobit

TOBIT

Objectives:

  1. Children should be able to identify the Apocrypha as books that are in the Septuagint Greek Bible but not the Hebrew Bible.
  2. Children should be able to tell the story of Tobit.

Possible Lesson Plan:

During the sad days when the Jewish people were held as slaves by the Assyrians, there lived a man named Tobit. Tobit was a godly man who lived in Galilee and was taken to Assyria as a slave, along with his wife Anna. Tobit and Anna had a son named Tobias. Tobit and Tobias, even though they were captives of the Assyrians, helped their fellow-Hebrews whenever they could. Because of this, the king Esarhaddon did not like Tobit and Tobias and made their lives hard. Finally, Tobit became blind when a bird damages his eyes while he was asleep; he could not see at all. Life seemed hopeless, and Tobit prayed to God that he should die.

At the same time, in Ecbatana, there lived a Hebrew girl named Sarah. She was also praying to God. Seven times she was married; and seven times the demon Asmodaeus killed her new husband on their wedding night.

One day, Tobit sent his son Tobias to Media to collect ten silver coins that he had left there with a friend; they needed the coins to live since Tobit could not work.  He hired a man named Azariah as a traveling companion, but Azariah was really the angel Raphael, sent by God to heal both Tobit and Sarah.  As they traveled by the river Tigris, Tobias caught a fish. Azariah told him to save the heart, liver, and gall of the fish. Soon Tobias arrived in Ecbatana. There he met Sarah. They were cousins! Tobias fell in love with Sarah and they decided to get married. On their wedding night, Tobias burned the heart and liver of the fish; the awful smell drove the wicked demon away to Egypt. Sarah and Tobias were saved!

Tobias returned home to his father. What rejoicing! He had been gone so long that Tobit had thought he had been killed. Tobias rubbed his father’s eyes with the gall of the fish. Tobit could see again!  They thanked God for His faithfulness and goodness in sending the angel Raphael to help them. Tobit then warns Tobias to leave Ninevah because God would soon destroy Assyria for its wickedness. He also promises that God would allow the people of Israel to rebuild the holy Temple in the future.

  1. Open with prayer.
  2. Tell the story of Tobit (use highlighted words for the game board):

 

  1. Learning Game: Make the game below. Making the game too time-consuming? Use the game provided and play, reviewing the people and places as you land on them. Just print on cardstock. Cut out spinner and add paperclip and brad for the spinning part. 

  1. Discussion: What is the Apocrypha? (books contained in the Greek version of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint, but not in the Hebrew. Why do some Christians include it in their Bible and some do not?

 

  1. Make a game. Draw an S-shaped game path on a piece of poster board. Divide into spaces. On each space, write the name of a character, a place, or a thing from the story. Make a spinner from a small paper plate. Divide it into 3 sections. Label each section “people”, “places”, or “things”. Attach cardboard spinner with brad. When each player spins, he moves to the next space on the board of that category.

 

  1. Close with prayer.