A Preferential Option for the Rich: Wealth as the Facilitator for Faithfulness in the Book of Tobit

Scholars have interpreted Tobit as a paragon of piety in the Book of Tobit. A materialist reading of the tale, however, suggests that Tobit’s assets are what facilitates his religious devotion over the course of the story. In this way, the narrative establishes a rhetorical reality in which the persistence of faithfulness in exile is less a matter of resolve than the result of accumulated wealth, as well as economic systems, which make it possible to continue traditional practices while living in a foreign land. Where wealth proves most advantageous is in Tobit’s vision of the New Jerusalem. The affluent have maintained their conventional beliefs while in exile, and their wealth-enabled faithfulness forms a vetting process to determine inheritance rights in the New Jerusalem.