Readings:
Malachi 3-4
Tobit 6-7

Malachi 3-4

Todays reading from Malachi starts out with a prophecy of a coming messenger who will come and prepare the way before God himself arrives to visit his people. Looking back at this we can clearly see the role of John the Baptist being foretold. He came to make the crooked paths straight and to level the road, to prepare the people for their long awaited messiah.

This is also the message that closes the book out; God is coming to visit his people and it will be a terrible day for those who’ve engaged in all the sins that the people were exiled for, because they haven’t learned their lessons and continue in sin, but it will be a great day for those awaiting the messiah.

The final couple of verses are the reason that people often thought John the Baptist was a resurrected Elijah, and why the apostles asked Jesus how the common understanding of that prophecy was wrong. They assumed this because they fully believed that Jesus was the messiah, but they didn’t see Elijah anywhere around so they assumed that people had misread that passage. But Jesus corrected them that Elijah did indeed come first,

10 And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Eli’jah must come?”
11 He replied, “Eli’jah does come, and he is to restore all things;
12 but I tell you that Eli’jah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands.”
13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

Matthew 17:10-13

Tobit 6-7

Tobias and the disguised Raphael make camp by a river and a large fish tries to eat Tobias, but he throws it onto the land and they eat it for dinner. Raphael tells him to save some of the organs to use in an exorcism and in a healing, and this is where some people have a problem with this book. They say that it is essentially a bit of magic or witchcraft here, but I see it more as an act of faith and many early Christians viewed it as a foreshadowing of Christ.

The fish was an early Christian symbol for Jesus, that was revived in bumper stickers in the 20th century, and so the early Christians who were familiar with this symbolism would naturally associate it with a fish that’s so important to the story in an Old Testament book. The angel tells him to use the heart and liver as a type of incense during an exorcism of the demon that is controlling Sarah’s life by killing any potential suitor. If we stretch the fish/Jesus analogy then the heart and liver are both very bloody organs, and the blood of Christ drives out demons. It’s a pretty good fit.

Raphael tells him they have to make a stop at Sarah’s house and he fills him in on the situation, which Tobias seems to have heard about too. If he heard of this demon, then he probably already knew that he was the next closest kin and had the rights to marry this only child of a wealthy family, but decided against pursuing that because of the demon.

He may have heard the story and knew her family situation, but it seems like Raphael sealed the deal when he mentioned her piety and character, and that Tobias and her were meant to be together by the will of God.

Tobias, Raphael and the family of Sarah have a meal together where Tobias is formally given Sarah as his wife. Sarah’s mother takes her away to prepare their bridal chamber and she begins to weep. It fades into the background as just part of the story, as if it’s like saying you stepped on an ant or a bug splatted on your windshield, but this woman has gone through this marriage ritual seven times (this being the eighth) and every time it ends with her husband being murdered by a demon. That would be traumatic a single time, I can’t imagine what going through that seven times would be like. This is why she’s weeping thinking about what’s coming that night.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Tobit 8-10
2 Thessalonians 1