Before I start, I must make it clear that this book was indeed in the King James Bible. It has held a place among the sacred text for thousands of years.
The King James 1611 had the Book of Tobit in it.
Tobit 4:7-9 is read in the Anglican offertory.
My source is the evangelical ISBE
Tobit, Book of - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Now the issue is what the text says.Ill keep it short and simple.
The text has the angel Raphael telling Tobit this while they were in Persia.
quote:
Tobit 12:15
I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One.
Revelation 1:4. 3:1,4:5, and 5:6 has the "seven spirits". There is no other parallel to Revelation in the entire Bible except the text of Tobit.
The Zoroastrian religion has the 7 Amesha Spentas. Good Spirits that are aspects of the supreme God Ahura Mazda. That is a major issue of interest in this thread.
Back to Raphael.
The notes in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website have this for verse 12 of chapter 12(I quoted verse 15).
quote:
* [12:12] Raphael is one of the seven Angels of the Presence, specially designated intercessors who present prayers to God. Angelology was developing in this period. The names of two other of these seven angels are given in the Bible: Gabriel (Dn 8:16; 9:21; Lk 1:19, 26) and Michael (Dn 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 9; Rev 12:7). See 1 Enoch for the names of the rest.
Tobit, CHAPTER 12 | USCCB
A fundamentalist can question if Raphael should be considered for real if the Book of Tobit is to be rejected. I should keep that in mind. The seven spirits ARE taken to be actually existing,by fundamentalists, as the book of Revelation has them.But the precedent for the "7 spirits" still remains in the Book of Tobit.
The interesting thing is that the 7 Amesha Spentas of Zoroastrianism have demonic enemies.
quote:
Aeshma...is the Younger Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's demon of "wrath."
....
In the hierarchy of Zoroastrian demons (daevas) that mirrors a similar hierarchy of divinities, Aeshma is opposed to Asha Vahishta, the Amesha Spenta that is the hypostasis of "Truth." This opposition also reflects Aeshma's position as messenger of Angra Mainyu (Yasht 19.46), for in the hierarchy of divinities, Asha is the messenger of Spenta Mainyu, the instrument through which Ahura Mazda's realized ("created by His thought") creation.
....
Aeshma distracts from proper worship, distorting "the intention and meaning of sacrifice through brutality against cattle and violence in war and drunkenness."[3] (Yasna 10.8, Yasht 17.5)
Aeshma - Wikipedia
Spenta Mainyu is the Holy Spirit, the enemy of Aeshma who is an important spirit for Angra Mainyu (the Devil of Zoroastrianism).
But why do I bring up Aeshma?
Guess what?
This character is presented as an existing spirit in the King James Bible (1611)!
Here is the Catholic Bishops Bible text for chapter 3 with note.
quote:
7
On that very day, at Ecbatana in Media, it so happened that Raguel’s daughter Sarah also had to listen to reproaches from one of her father’s maids.
8
For she had been given in marriage to seven husbands, but the wicked demon Asmodeus* kept killing them off before they could have intercourse with her, as is prescribed for wives. The maid said to her: You are the one who kills your husbands! Look! You have already been given in marriage to seven husbands, but you do not bear the name of a single one of them.
....
* [3:8] Asmodeus: in Persian aeshma daeva, demon of wrath, adopted into Aramaic with the sense of the Destroyer. It will be subdued (8:3) by Raphael (v. 17), whose name means God has healed.
Tobit, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB
Here is the King James text.
TOBIT CHAPTER 1 KJV-Bible, King James Version
The evangelical International Standard Bible Encyclopedia backs up the translation note of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The eventual removal of the Book of Tobit, by Protestants, in the later versions of the King James Bible will enable one to dismiss the text as unhistorical and uninspired. But one still has to deal with the fact that it was a Persian setting when the "seven" spirits or angels were first mentioned. Nothing else is in the Old Testament.
I'm sure the issue will be ignored and explained away.
When does it end?
When does the ignorance end?