I would like to submit some reflections I have been doing, hoping that there is someone around who would consider them of some value.
To be honest, I suspect that early Christians had much more consideration of this book, and were much more aware than we are today of the references to the Gospels that it contains.
I have been thinking about Gen 3, 1-13 and I think the entire story is built as a refutation of these verses.
According to the Bible, God uses the water to separate His reality from ours (Gen 1,6-8). And after the flood to separate the action of His holiness from sinfulness: the flood kills everything 'with the breadth of life in its nostrils' (Gen 7, 17-24), and submerges the fallen sons of God (Gen 6,4) for whom there is no space in Heaven, actually creating an appropriate place to them: the abyss (Sirach 40,10-11, Job Ch. 40-41).
Now: the scene in Tobit 6,2-18 is crucial in making the change happen. The fish, able to descend to the abyss although not belonging to it (See Jonah, as well), has what it is needed to win a creature of the abyss (Asmodeus). It is with the heart and liver of the fish, which symbolise, If I remember well, will and sentiments-emotions, that it is possible to keep away the evil forces which destroyed the originary harmony existing between man and woman.
I don't mean to offend my readers, but I would just like to point out that in Greek ΙΧΘΥΣ is the acronym for Jesus Christ Son of God, and I suspect that early Christians read it this way.
Finally, in Chapter 11,13 Tobit can open his eyes and see the light where in Gen 3,7 Adam and Eve open their eyes and see their misery.
I know it's a fairy tale -and indeed I am quite aware of how distant from reality it is- but it's a meaningful one.
