Tales of the Tobit and Early Notes on Sirach

I read the Tobit last week and just didn't have time to post about it.

With all due respect, it reminded me of a movie script. I could literally "see" it in my mind and found myself wondering who would be cast in its major roles.

And...I hate to admit this...but I kept thinking of "The Hobbit." Of course, I have no idea if the book of "Tobit" rhymes with "Hobbit," because I've never heard Tobit pronounced before--at least that I know of.

But I enjoyed reading it and was glad that I did.

Right now, I'm on the 3rd or 4th chapter of Sirach. (I think that's how you spell it. Even my spell-checker doesn't know.) Thus far, it reminds me of a mix of Proverbs, Song of Solomon (though I can't exactly say why...), and Polonius' speech to Laertes in Hamlet.

And, once again, I can see why the Protestants excluded it--even in the first couple of chapters, there's a reference to "penance" and an emphasis on what may be construed as a doctrine of "good works will get you to heaven." But, once again, I'm wondering why I haven't read this before or why no one ever urged me to read it. I just don't get it.

One of the sources I read online (and I can't remember which--I doubt it would be deemed a "credible" source, anyway) said that Martin Luther included these books in a separate addendum of his published Bible, because early Protestants thought there were advantages to knowing their content.

(So maybe I'm not the only one who thinks this way, after all.)

While I'm not arguing their inclusion in our modern day Bibles, I do keep wondering why we have failed to discuss them. (But then again, I suppose there's so much of the Bible we haven't read and discussed that perhaps the argument is that we should spend more time on those books we do have included in our Bibles. Okay. I get that too.)

I don't have a LOT of time to catch up on all I've missed in the Apocryphal books, but ever so often, when I'm sitting waiting in a car or elsewhere, I pull out my Iphone and Bible app and continue my readings. Because I'd just really like to know and be able to talk about it one day, if need be, at least half-way intelligently.