At the End of Suffering, Grace Keeps Covenant

Tobit’s Final Counsel Here Tobit ended his words of praise. He was fifty-eight years old when he lost his sight, and after eight years he regained it. He gave alms, and he continued to fear the Lord God and to praise him. When he had grown very old he called his son and grandsons, and said to him, “My son, take your sons; behold, I have grown old and am about to depart this life. Go to Media, my son, for I fully believe what Jonah the prophet said about Nin′eveh, that it will be overthrown. But in Media there will be peace for a time. Our brethren will be scattered over the earth from the good land, and Jerusalem will be desolate. The house of God in it will be burned down and will be in ruins for a time. But God will again have mercy on them, and bring them back into their land; and they will rebuild the house of God, though it will not be like the former one until the times of the age are completed. After this they will return from the places of their captivity, and will rebuild Jerusalem in splendor. And the house of God will be rebuilt there with a glorious building for all generations for ever, just as the prophets said of it. Then all the Gentiles will turn to fear the Lord God in truth, and will bury their idols. All the Gentiles will praise the Lord, and his people will give thanks to God, and the Lord will exalt his people. And all who love the Lord God in truth and righteousness will rejoice, showing mercy to our brethren. “So now, my son, leave Nin′eveh, because what the prophet Jonah said will surely happen. But keep the law and the commandments, and be merciful and just, so that it may be well with you. Bury me properly, and your mother with me. And do not live in Nin′eveh any longer. See, my son, what Nadab did to Ahi′kar who had reared him, how he brought him from light into darkness, and with what he repaid him. But Ahi′kar was saved, and the other received repayment as he himself went down into the darkness. Ahi′kar gave alms and escaped the deathtrap which Nadab had set for him; but Nadab fell into the trap and perished. So now, my children, consider what almsgiving accomplishes and how righteousness delivers.” As he said this he died in his bed. He was a hundred and fifty-eight years old; and Tobi′as gave him a magnificent funeral. And when Anna died he buried her with his father. Death of Tobit and Anna Then Tobi′as returned with his wife and his sons to Ecbat′ana, to Rag′uel his father-in-law. He grew old with honor, and he gave his father-in-law and mother-in-law magnificent funerals. He inherited their property and that of his father Tobit. He died in Ecbat′ana of Media at the age of a hundred and twenty-seven years. But before he died he heard of the destruction of Nin′eveh, which Nebuchadnez′zar and Ahasu-e′rus had captured. Before his death he rejoiced over Nin′eveh.

Tobit 14:1–15 — The last lesson of a man who suffered: God's mercy will not remain in the grief of exile; He will bring His people home.