Tobit Burying the Dead in Defiance of the Orders of Sennacherib

The Book of Tobit is a book of scripture that is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canons. It tells the story of Tobit, a righteous Israelite of the tribe of Naphtali, living in Nineveh after Sargon II had deported the northern tribes of Israel to Assyria in 721 BC. Tobit, raised by his paternal grandmother, Deborah, remains loyal to the worship of God at the temple in Jerusalem, refusing the cult of the golden calves that Jeroboam, king of Northern Israel, set up at Dan. He is particularly noted for his diligence in attempting to provide proper burials for fallen Israelites whom Sargon’s successor, Sennacherib, has slain. For this behaviour the king seizes his property and exiles him.