by
Damien F. Mackey
Previously, in Part One,
A Common Sense Geography
of the Book of Tobit
I argued that Tobias (= Job)
and the angel Raphael, when
travelling to “Ecbatana” in “Media”, were going in a westerly, not an easterly direction as commonly thought: “Ecbatana”
actually being Bathania (Bashan), and “Media” being Midian.
According to my geographical
re-assessment of the Book of Tobit:
Nineveh = Nineveh
River Tigris =
River Tigris
Charan = Haran
Media = Midian
Ecbatana = Bashan
Rages = Damascus
The only geographical location
that I had not attempted to identify was the mysterious “Kaserin”, about which
we read in Tobit 11:1 (NRSA): “When they came
near to Kaserin, which is opposite Nineveh …”. The Douay version gives, for the
same verse, “Charan”: “And as they were returning they came to Charan, which is
in the midway to Ninive, the eleventh day”. This could not be correct, however,
because it is apparent from what follows that the travellers, Tobias and
Raphael, had almost arrived back home (vv. 1-6):
…. Raphael said, ‘You
are aware of how we left your father. Let us run ahead
of your wife and prepare the house while they are still on the way’. As
they went on together Raphael said to him, ‘Have
the gall ready’. And the dog went along
behind them.
-
Meanwhile Anna sat looking intently down the road by which her son would come. When she caught sight of him coming, she said to his father, ‘Look, your son is coming, and the man who went with him!’Upon proper consideration of this name, “Kaserin” - in the context of my identification of Tobias/Job with the prophet “Nahum the Elkoshite” (Nahum 1:1), or “Nahum of Elkosh”, taking this latter to be the northern Ninevite town of Al Qush:Prophet Nahum as Tobias-Job Comforted- it seems to me that the only designation to which the location of “Kaserin” could refer, “opposite Nineveh”, must be this same Al Qush (Kas-er-in), in which the “Qush” element appears to be discernible (as “Kas”).Appropriately we read about this town (http://www.atour.com/education/20040922a.html): “Since its establishment, Alqosh has played a major role of worship for early Assyrians and Jewish [Israelite] prisoners who were brought by the Assyrians during the eighth and ninth century B.C”.Exiled, that is, by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser [V].Compare this explanation with what Tobias’s father, Tobit, tells us (Tobit 1:2, 3): “ During the time that Shalmaneser was emperor of Assyria, I [Tobit] was taken captive … to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria”.Tobias (especially as Job) and his father, Tobit, were renowned for their righteousness (cf. Tobit e.g., 1:6-8; 2:1-9, 14; Job 1:1). Hence it would be fitting if the name of their home in the region of Nineveh actually translated as “The God of Righteousness”, as according to (http://www.atour.com/education/20040922a.html):
The Origin of the Name
The name Alqosh (or Elqosh) is
derived from a compound Assyrian Akkadian name Eil-Kushtu, where "Eil"
means God and "Kushtu" means righteousness or power. Therefore,
Elqosh, or as casually pronounced Alqosh, means "The God of
Righteousness" or "The God of Power." The name
"Alqosh" could also be originated from the Aramaic "Eil
Qushti," which means "The God of the Bow." Here, an association
could be drawn in conjunction with the winged disk symbol of God Ashur holding
a bow. Meanwhile, in Aramaic language, rainbow is referred to as "Qeshta
d' Maran," therefore, the meaning of the "Bow of Our Lord," is possible
as well. Alqosh is known also as Yimma d' Athor (Mother of Assyria) or Yimma d'
Mathwatha (Mother of all Villages). ….
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