This book tells the story of Tobit, son of Tobiel, son of Hananiel, son of Aduel, son of Gabael of the family of Asiel, of the tribe of Naphtali, who during the reign of Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, was taken captive from Thisbe, which is south of Kedesh Naphtali in upper Galilee, above and to the west of Asser, north of Phogor. (Tobit 1:1-2)

The night before my marriage, for the first time, I read pieces of the Book of Tobit. I have not read it in the twenty-six years since.

The story of Tobit is part of the Septuagint. But it was not included in the Jewish canon formulated following the destruction of Herod's temple. Tobit was accepted as canonical by the Council of Carthage (397 AD) and the Council of Trent (1546 AD). But most Protestants have excluded it from accepted scripture. Anglicans treat Tobit as a good "example of life and instruction of manners," but not as a source of doctrine.

The book is believed to have been written in the third century BC probably in Aramaic. The setting for the book is the eighth century BC following the exile of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria.