Geography of the Book of Tobit presents a fascinating challenge

by Damien F. Mackey Introduction Upon finishing my most recent article: Search for the Median empire (8) Search for the Median empire with its radical re-location of the land of Media (based on Royce Erickson), I thought to reconsider my geography of the Book of Tobit and its troublesome “Media”, as discussed in a now old article, “A Common Sense Geography of the Book of Tobit”. Having done that, I came to realise that I must now put aside the latter article and attempt to create a new and (hopefully) more accurate one. This one. Here, firstly, I shall recall what I wrote at the beginning of “A Common Sense Geography of the Book of Tobit”, in which the geographical problem is plainly set out, followed by my first attempt at a solution. After that, I can proceed with a new, and hopefully more satisfactory, account of the geography of the Book of Tobit. The Problem In my “A Common Sense Geography of the Book of Tobit” article, I began: To a good friend who wrote this about the geography of the Book of Tobit: Tobias and the Tigris. Several possibilities exist here. It is not unknown for several streams to bear the same name, nor is it impossible that the swiftest road into Media was a highway which was accessed by Tobias traveling to the real Tigris River to connect with this route. …. I would reply: What I have often argued with early Genesis, especially the Six Days and the Flood, is that a ‘surface’ reading of a biblical text may sometimes lead one to a conclusion that is far from what the original scribe(s) intended, and often far also from common sense. Such I believe to be the case, too, with standard versions of the Book of Tobit with regard to its geography. If we would believe the text as it currently stands, the angel Raphael was leading young Tobias (my prophet Job) a merry dance inasmuch as, with a starting point at Assyrian Nineveh, and with the aim of arriving at Rages near Ecbatana in Media – Ecbatana being some 185 miles east of Nineveh – the angel brings Tobias in the evening to the river Tigris, directly west of Nineveh. No wonder then that, on this basis, The Jerusalem Bible says that “the geography is inexact”, and that Fr. D. Dumm (article, “Tobit”) in The Jerome Biblical Commentary, exclaims that: “[The angel] Raphael knows the journey of life far better than the route to Media!” Unfortunately, though, Fr. Dumm just leaves it at that, without being willing, or able, to defend the accuracy of the Bible with a proper explanation of what is happening here. My previous solution But we need to go to other versions of the Book of Tobit to find the solution. [See above map for the standard locations of Nineveh, Tigris, Medes, Ecbatana] There is no geographical support in the Book of Tobit for an eastwards journey, from Nineveh to the classical Media (Ecbatana and Rhages): For one, the River Tigris is west of Nineveh; And, whilst the Median Rhages is in the plain, with Ecbatana being in the mountains, the Book of Tobit has Ecbatana in the plain and Rages in the mountains (see below); And again, Charan (Haran), in Syria, is, according to the Douay version of Tobit, ‘midway’ between Nineveh and ‘Media’; And furthermore, whereas the journey from Tobit’s Ecbatana to Rages normally took “two full days”, the almost 200-mile journey from the Median Ecbatana to Rhages would have taken significantly longer. In fact it took the army of Alexander the Great 11 days at full gallop to march from the one to the other. Rightly then does Jan Simons observe (according to a Median context) that the journey referred to in the Book of Tobit “would be a forced ‘journey of two days’ even for an express messenger”. Thankfully, however, there are versions of the Book of Tobit that set us aright, with Ecbatana becoming “Bathania” (the Roman province of Batanaea), that is, the fertile Bashan, east of the River Jordan in Palestine, and Media becoming “Midian”. Thus the angel Raphael knows exactly what he is doing. Why, did he not inform the anxious Tobit that he knew the way thoroughly (as an angel would know)? So we find that the real angel Raphael was escorting the young Tobias, not eastwards, but westwards from Nineveh, to the Tigris crossing, then to Haran, and on to Bashan (where the angel then leaves on an early flight for Damascus). I discussed all of this in Volume Two of my thesis [2007], A Revised History of the Era of King Hezekiah of Judah and its Background http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/5973 (Chapter 2, pp. 38-40), where I had specifically claimed that “Rages”, a city in the mountains, must be the city of Damascus that dominated the province of Batanaea” (p. 39). Damascus, almost 700 m above sea level, is actually situated on a plateau. Secondly, I gave there very specific geographical details in order to identify this “Rages” in relation to “Ecbatana” (Tobit 5:6), which I had in turn identified (following the Heb. Londinii, or HL, fragment version of Tobit) with “Bathania”, or Bashan (possibly Herodotus’ Syrian Ecbatana as opposed to the better known Median Ecbatana). According to Tobit, “Rages is situated in the mountains, two days’ walk from Ecbatana which is in the plain”. Now Damascus is precisely two days’ walk from Bashan in the Hauran plain, as according to Jâkût el-Hamawi who says of Batanaea’s most central town of Nawâ …: “Between Nawa and Damascus is two days’ journey” (as quoted on p. 39). What further consolidates the fact that Tobit’s ‘Ecbatana’ was in a westerly direction, rather than an easterly one, is that his son Tobias, leaving Nineveh, arrived at the Tigris river in the evening; an impossibility were he heading for Median Ecbatana in the east. And, according to the Vulgate version of Tobit, Charan, that is, Haran, is situated “in the halfway” between Nineveh and Ecbatana. The traveller is clearly journeying towards the west. Whilst Bible scholars today tend to dismiss the whole geography of the Book of Tobit as nonsensical, a simple adjustment based on a genuine version (Heb. Londinii), makes perfect – even very precise (“two days walk”) – sense of it. …. The testimony of Jâkût el-Hamawi here was an absolute clincher for me … when trying to make sense of the geography of the Book of Tobit …. [End of quotes] Was I completely happy with this attempt to restore, in the face of criticism, the geography of a book of the Bible, depicting it as a westward, not an eastward, journey? Nineveh = Nineveh River Tigris = River Tigris Charan = Haran Media = Midian Ecbatana = Bashan Rages = Damascus Well, yes I was, basically, although there were still a few little knots and niggling points that I thought perhaps could be considered later. The time has now come to consider these knots and niggles. A new assessment The positives What is still patently clear to me is that the travelling party, Raphael and Tobias, could not possibly have been, as the commentators think they were, heading eastwards from Nineveh to the traditional land of Media because of the fact that the travellers arrived at the Tigris river in the evening, and that, later, they came to Charan (Haran/Harran). Therefore, I am completely happy with my first three of these six name identifications: Nineveh = Nineveh River Tigris = River Tigris Charan = Haran Media = Midian Ecbatana = Bashan Rages = Damascus It is quite possible (without hurting my reconstruction in the slightest) that “Nineveh” here was actually Calah (Nimrud), that is, Nineveh in the Genesis and Jonah sense of “the great city” complex (Genesis 10:11-12): “From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city”. Cf. Jonah 3:3: “So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey”. For Tobit and his wife were taken into captivity by the Assyrian king, “Shalmaneser”, who, given that the family was Naphtalian, must also have been king Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 15:29): “Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maakah, Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor. He took Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and deported the people to Assyria”. To where did Tiglath-pileser remove (deport and resettle) his Israelite captives? Why, to “Calah” (greater Nineveh) and, most interestingly, to “the cities of the Medes” (2 Kings 18:11): “The king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah [Calah], in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes”. The negatives Here begin the knots and niggles as referred to above. Media, Ecbatana, Rages It had occurred to me that, if Tobit’s Ecbatana was actually Bashan, as I thought it was, then why were not his relatives, Raguel and family, too (presumably also Naphtalians), in captivity away from Israel? And, whilst Bashan (Bathania) was a pretty good linguistic fit for Ecbatana - and ancient writers have, indeed, testified to more than one Ecbatana - Midian was not totally convincing for the Bashan region; though it was far more fitting for there than was the traditional land of Media (and its Ecbatana). While the name Rages (Rhages Raghai) did not fit at all for Damascus (as I had identified it), the topography and distance (as according to Jâkût el-Hamawi) seemed to me to be a perfect fit. Finally, Charan (Haran/Harran) was not really midway between Nineveh and Bashan. I had taken Tobit 10:13: “And as they were returning they came to Charan, which is in the midway to Ninive …”, as being like a casual observation of a traveller, without being meant to be geographically precise. Even after reading Royce (Richard) Erickson’s mind-blowing (2020) article: A PROBLEM IN CHALDAEAN AND ELAMITE GEOGRAPHY (3) A PROBLEM IN CHALDAEAN AND ELAMITE GEOGRAPHY with its own Tiglath-pileser-like ‘deportations’ of the lands of Chaldea, Elam, Media and Persia hundreds of kilometres to the NW of where they are conventionally situated, I had persisted with my article, “A Common Sense Geography of the Book of Tobit”, without making any alterations, thinking that it was essentially correct - whilst being aware that it might eventually need to undergo some degree of tweaking. The truth is that Royce Erickson’s article makes all the difference to the geography of the Book of Tobit, showing that the angel Raphael knew perfectly well to where he was leading young Tobias, and that the book’s Media, Ecbatana and Rages do not stand in need of special interpretation. Thanks to Royce Erickson, an ancient may now do once again as the travelling party had done in the Book of Tobit, head westwards from “Nineveh” (Calah?) to the Tigris river, and on to Haran, and then on to Ecbatana and Rages in the land of Media. And Haran can once again be, as old Tobit had known it, “in the midway to Ninive”. Royce Erickson’s Figure 1 here shows his proposed identification of Ecbatana as Abadaniye in his (revised) land of Media: Funnily, the occasional map will show a land of Media much, much further westwards than would conventionally have been expected. Now, whether Royce Erickson’s version of Ecbatana, as the admittedly very like-named Abadaniye, is the correct one remains to be determined. If one is to take seriously the information in the book of Tobit, then Ecbatana, in a plain, must be within two days’ walk of a place called Rages, in the mountains. And Haran must be midway between Ecbatana and Nineveh. Regarding this last point, Abadaniye would appear to be perhaps a bit too far westwards to enable Haran to qualify as a midway point. Just a thought for further consideration.