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Kris

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September 23, 2026 - 2:59 pm

Hello! I am hoping someone might be able to help me understand Tobit a bit— i was reading Chapter 14 and it talks about Jerusalem and the Temple being destroyed—then everyone will be able to return, and then a temple would be rebuilt. It then goes on to mention that after an appointed time, a more grandiose temple would be allowed to be built. what is Tobit talking about here? And because this book was written in the second century BCE there was an existing temple, but it wasn’t like Solomons. So is Tobit stating that the current temple standing at the time of the writing isn’t sufficient and that eventually a better one will be built when the Messiah comes or is this regarding a third temple? Or is there some verification somewhere that the people living in this time period of the early second second century BCE were unhappy with the current lesser temple that had been built after they returned and expected a better one to replace it someday soon?

I know that in the Bible there is no mention of a third temple, but wasn’t sure if Tobit is speaking to that. Could Tobit also be trying to add in prophecy to support Ezekiel‘s temple not yet being built in his time and is that what he is talking about?

Any help that anyone can provide on this information would be greatly appreciated. I am just trying to discount this as some type of proof that there were writings about a third temple being rebuilt.

Stephen

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September 23, 2026 - 3:30 pm

Welcome Kris!

Even though scholars generally agree that Tobit was written in the late 3rd to early 2nd century BCE, the events described in the story take place during the 8th-century BCE, during the Assyrian exile (around 722 BCE). So, the prophesy of the Temple being destroyed is about the First Temple, and the prophesy of the temple being rebuilt is about the Second Temple. The biblical book of Daniel is similar in being about ancient times but actually written much later.

I’m not completely familiar with the idea of a Third temple except that it is associated with the Parousia, the “End Times”. But then you also have traditions that indicate there is no need for another Temple since God will be present with his people in the Kingdom.

Hope that helps.

Robert

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September 23, 2026 - 3:35 pm

Kris

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September 23, 2026 - 4:52 pm

For me, i grew up in a very fundamentalist religion and things like the temples were indicators of the end of the world. Being in this type of religion really messed me up so i have tried to find discrepancies to show myself not to worry about these kinds of things. I always took comfort in the fact that the bible never mentions a third temple. It freaked me out when i found out Tobit might.

Robert

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September 23, 2026 - 5:56 pm

Helen Young

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September 23, 2026 - 7:40 pm

Kris said
For me, i grew up in a very fundamentalist religion and things like the temples were indicators of the end of the world. Being in this type of religion really messed me up so i have tried to find discrepancies to show myself not to worry about these kinds of things. I always took comfort in the fact that the bible never mentions a third temple. It freaked me out when i found out Tobit might.

Hi Kris,

Welcome to the forum!

I don’t know much about Tolbit. I have heard that there were actually two temples in the 2nd Temple period. One built by the Jews newly returned from Babylon, and then one built by Herod.

I’ve had some confusion about “the end of the world” messages that we get in the bible myself. Realize, however, that at the very end of the bible, in the book of Revelation, there is the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is like 1,500 miles cubed; it is a very big place. There is also the inside of the NJ and the outside of it as well. The earth is still here. – – I’ve wondered and have even been told, by a preacher’s wife that “the end of the world” actually means the end of worldliness or a kind of worldliness, or “the end of the world as we know it,” so to speak.

I’ve also been told that “fear of God” should actually be translated as “awe of God”.

Sorry that I don’t know more, but I hope this helps.

Welcome again to the forum.

DavidFord

1759 Posts

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September 23, 2026 - 9:13 pm

“because this book was written in the second century BCE there was an existing temple, but it wasn’t like Solomons.

So is Tobit stating that the current temple standing at the time of the writing isn’t sufficient and that eventually a better one will be built when the Messiah comes or is this regarding a third temple? … I am just trying to discount this as some type of proof that there were writings about a third temple being rebuilt”

See

notes on 14:4–5 and 14:5;

verse 14:15, and its note.

Tobit 14 (NABRE)

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1 So the words of Tobit’s hymn of praise came to an end. Tobit died in peace at the age of a hundred and twelve and was buried with honor in Nineveh.

2 He was fifty-eight years old when he lost his eyesight, and after he recovered it he lived in prosperity, giving alms;

he continued to fear God and give thanks to the divine Majesty.

3 As he was dying, he summoned his son Tobiah and Tobiah’s seven sons, and commanded him, “Son, take your children 4 and flee into Media, for I believe God’s word that Nahum[a] spoke against Nineveh. It will all happen and will overtake Assyria and Nineveh; indeed all that was said by Israel’s prophets whom God sent will come to pass. Not one of all their words will remain unfulfilled, but everything will take place in the time appointed for it. So it will be safer in Media than in Assyria or Babylon. For I know and believe that whatever God has said will be accomplished. It will happen, and not a single word of the prophecies will fail.

As for our kindred who dwell in the land of Israel, they will all be scattered and taken into captivity from the good land. All the land of Israel will become a wilderness; even Samaria and Jerusalem will be a wilderness! For a time, the house of God will be desolate and will be burned. 5 But God will again have mercy on them and bring them back to the land of Israel. They will build the house again, but it will not be like the first until the era when the appointed times will be completed.[b] Afterward all of them will return from their captivity, and they will rebuild Jerusalem with due honor. In it the house of God will also be rebuilt, just as the prophets of Israel said of it. 6 All the nations of the world will turn and reverence God in truth; all will cast away their idols, which have deceitfully led them into error.[c] 7 They will bless the God of the ages in righteousness. All the Israelites truly mindful of God, who are to be saved in those days, will be gathered together and will come to Jerusalem; in security will they dwell forever in the land of Abraham, which will be given to them. Those who love God sincerely will rejoice, but those who commit sin and wickedness will disappear completely from the land.

8 , 9 “Now, my children, I give you this command: serve God sincerely and do what is pleasing in his sight; you must instruct your children to do what is right and to give alms, to be mindful of God and at all times to bless his name sincerely and with all their strength. Now, as for you, son, leave Nineveh; do not stay here. 10 The day you bury your mother next to me, do not even stay overnight within the confines of the city. For I see that there is much wickedness in it, and much treachery is practiced in it, and people are not ashamed. See, my son, all that Nadin[d] did to Ahiqar, the very one who reared him. Was not Ahiqar brought down alive into the earth? Yet God made Nadin’s disgraceful crime rebound against him. Ahiqar came out again into the light, but Nadin went into the everlasting darkness, for he had tried to kill Ahiqar. Because Ahiqar had given alms he escaped from the deadly trap Nadin had set for him. But Nadin fell into the deadly trap himself, and it destroyed him. 11 So, my children, see what almsgiving does, and also what wickedness does—it kills! But now my spirit is about to leave me.”

They laid him on his bed, and he died; and he was buried with honor. 12 When Tobiah’s mother died, he buried her next to his father. He then departed with his wife and children for Media, where he settled in Ecbatana with his father-in-law Raguel. 13 He took respectful care of his aging father-in-law and mother-in-law; and he buried them at Ecbatana in Media. Then he inherited Raguel’s estate as well as that of his father Tobit. 14 He died highly respected at the age of one hundred seventeen. 15 But before he died, he saw and heard of the destruction of Nineveh. He saw the inhabitants of the city being led captive into Media by Cyaxares,[e] the king of Media. Tobiah blessed God for all that he had done against the Ninevites and Assyrians. Before dying he rejoiced over Nineveh, and he blessed the Lord God forever and ever.

Footnotes

14:4–5 Nahum:

one of the minor prophets, whose book contains oracles of doom against Nineveh.

Here, in keeping with the period in which the story is set, the author makes Tobit speak as if the punishment of Nineveh, the destruction of Jerusalem (587 B.C.), the exile from Judah and the return, would all take place in the future.

The technique of using the facts of past history as seemingly future predictions is a frequent device of apocalyptic writers.

The good land:

a favorite name for the promised land. Cf. Dt 1:35; 3:25; 4:21–22.

14:5 Until the era…completed:

a reference to the coming of the day of the Lord, when a new, more perfect temple was to be expected. Cf. Hb 9:1–14.

14:6 Conversion of the nations is also to come with the day of the Lord.

14:10 Nadin:

in the Story of Ahiqar, the hero Ahiqar, chancellor under the Assyrian kings Sennacherib and Esarhaddon, adopts his nephew Nadin and prepares him to become his successor.

But Nadin treacherously plots to have his uncle put to death.

Ahiqar hides in a friend’s house and is finally vindicated when Nadin’s scheme is discovered.

Thereupon Nadin is thrown into a dungeon where he dies.

It was Ahiqar’s almsgiving that delivered him from death; see note on 2:2.

The Greek and Latin versions of the Book of Tobit read the name as Nadab, but the Aramaic form has the ancient name Nadin, which is also found in the fifth-century B.C. Aramaic Story of Ahiqar.

14:15 Cyaxares:

Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, and Cyaxares conquered and destroyed Nineveh in 612 B.C.; see note on 1:15.

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