jan 1, 350 BC - Tobit ~

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"The date of Tobit is uncertain. The last historical event mentioned is the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple (515 BCE). We may posit a date before the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes (168 B.C.E.) since the historical summary in chapter 14 makes no reference to it--a glaring omission in a book so concerned with sin, punishment, and Israel's suffering. Many scholars suggest that the reference to 'the prophets' (14:5) does not allow a date before 200 B.C.E., when the prophetic corpus was presumably canonized. However, the author need not be referring to the whole collection of prophetic writings as we know them, and he does not speak of 'the Law and the Prophets' together, thus implying canonicity of the latter. Like the other Apocrypha, the book of Tobit is preserved in manuscripts of the Greek Bible and its daughter translations. Its origin as a Semitic text has generally been recognized, however, and the Dead Sea Scrolls have preserved fragments of one Hebrew and four Aramaic manuscripts of the book.” (Nickelsburg 2005:35)

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