The
Book of Tobit is a Jewish work from the 3rd or early 2nd century BCE describing how God tests the faithful, responds to prayers, and protects the covenant community (the Israelites). It is regarded as part of the
biblical canon of the Catholic and Orthodox churches as a
deuterocanonical book, but as part of the
biblical apocrypha in some Protestant churches. This 15th-century oil-on-panel painting by
Filippino Lippi, entitled
Tobias and the Angel, depicts a scene in which Tobias, Tobit's son, goes on a journey accompanied by an angel, without realising that he is an angel, and is instructed what to do with the giant fish that he catches.
Painting credit: Filippino Lippi