In Tobit’s hope it is especially by practicing almsgiving that the Israelite exiles will turn to God and obey him, with the result that he will turn to them and restore them. If they do not turn their face from the poor, God will no longer turn his face from them. It seems possible therefore that the names Anna and Phanuel belong to an exilic family deeply impressed by the eschatological piety of the book of Tobit. Such a suggestion coheres well with the rest of Luke’s characterization of Anna. Indeed,
Page 98