Tobias leaveth his dinner to bury the dead: he loseth his sight by God’s permission, for manifestation of his patience.
Tobias to burie an Israelite that is slaine in the streete, leaueth his dinner and ghestes. 10. Is made blind by Gods permission, for manifestation of his patience. 19. His Wife getteth her liuing by worke, 22. and for a scrupulous Word, reprocheth his sinceritie.
1But after this, when there was a festival of the Lord, and a good dinner was prepared in Tobias’s house,Dopo tali cose essendo venuto un giorno di festa del Signore, ed essendo preparato in casa di Tobia un buon pranzo,BVT after these thinges, when there was a festiual day of our Lord, and a good dinner was made in Tobias house,Post hæc vero, cum esset dies festus Domini, et factum esset prandium bonum in domo Tobiæ, 2He said to his son: Go, and bring some of our tribe that fear God, to feast with us.Egli disse al suo figliuolo: Va, e conduci alcuni della nostra tribù, timorati di Dio a far banchetto con noi.he sayd to his sonne: Goe, and bring some of our tribe, that feare God, to make merie with vs.dixit filio suo: Vade, et adduc aliquos de tribu nostra, timentes Deum, ut epulentur nobiscum. 3And when he had gone, returning he told him, that one of the children of Israel lay slain in the street. And he forthwith leaped up from his place at the table, and left his dinner, and came fasting to the body.E quegli essendo andato gli riferì al suo ritorno, come uno de' figliuoli d'Israele scannato giaceva fulla piazza. Ed egli immantinente alzatosi da mensa, lasciato il desinare, si portò digiuno, dov'era il cadavere:And when he had gone, returning he tolde him, that one of the children of Israel lay slayne in the streate. And he forth with leaping vp from his place at the table, leauing his dinner, came fasting to the bodie:Cumque abiisset, reversus nuntiavit ei unum ex filiis Israël jugulatum jacere in platea. Statimque exiliens de accubitu suo, relinquens prandium, jejunus pervenit ad corpus: 4And taking it up carried it privately to his house, that after the sun was down, he might bury him cautiously.E presolo lo portò occultamente a sua casa, per poi seppellirlo con sicurezza dopo il tramontar del sole.and taking it vp caried it to his house secretely, that when the sunne should be downe, he might warely burie him.tollensque illud portavit ad domum suam occulte, ut dum sol occubuisset, caute sepeliret eum. 5And when he had hid the body, he ate bread with mourning and fear,E nascosto che ebbe il cadavere, mangiò del pane piangendo, e tremando,And whē he had hid the bodie, he eate bread with mourning and trēbling,Cumque occultasset corpus, manducavit panem cum luctu et tremore, 6Remembering the word which the Lord spoke by Amos the prophet: Your festival days shall be turned into lamentation and mourning.Ricordandosi di quelle parole dette dal Signore per Amos profeta: I vostri giorni festivi si convertiranno in lamentazioni, e in lutto.remembring that word, which our Lord sayd by Amos the Prophet: Your festiual dayes shal be turned into lamentation and mourning.memorans illum sermonem, quem dixit Dominus per Amos prophetam: Dies festi vestri convertentur in lamentationem et luctum.
7So when the sun was down, he went and buried him.E tramontato il sole, andò, e lo seppellì.But when the sunne was downe, he went, and buried him.Cum vero sol occubuisset, abiit, et sepelivit eum. 8Now all his neighbours blamed him, saying: once already commandment was given for thee to be slain because of this matter, and thou didst scarce escape the sentence of death, and dost thou again bury the dead?Or tutti i suoi parenti lo sgridavano, dicendo: Già per questa ragione fu dato l'ordine di farti morire, e a mala pena ti sottraesti agli artigli della morte, e di nuovo tu vai a seppellire i morti?And al his neighbours rebuked him, saying: Euen now thou wast commanded to be slayne because of this matter, and thou didest scarce escape the commandment of death, and doest thou burie the dead agayne?Arguebant autem eum omnes proximi ejus, dicentes: Jam hujus rei causa interfici jussus es, et vix effugisti mortis imperium, et iterum sepelis mortuos ? 9But Tobias fearing God more than the king, carried off the bodies of them that were slain, and hid them in his house, and at midnight buried them.Ma Tobia temendo più Dio, che il re, trafugava i corpi degli uccisi, e li nascondeva in sua casa, e nel mezzo della notte li seppelliva.But Tobias more fearing God, then the king, in hast tooke the bodies of them that were slayne, and hid them in his house, and at midnight buried them.Sed Tobias plus timens Deum quam regem, rapiebat corpora occisorum, et occultabat in domo sua, et mediis noctibus sepeliebat ea. 10Now it happened one day that being wearied with burying, he came to his house, and cast himself down by the wall and slept,Or egli avvenne, che un giorno tornando stanco da seppellire, giunto a sua casa; si gettò vicino al muro, e si addormentò,And it happened that on a certayne day, being wearied with burying, coming into his house he had cast himself downe by the wal, and slept,Contigit autem ut quadam die fatigatus a sepultura, veniens in domum suam, jactasset se juxta parietem, et obdormisset, 11And as he was sleeping, hot dung out of a swallow’s nest fell upon his eyes, and he was made blind.E da un nido di rondini cadde dello sterco caldo sugli occhi di lui addormentato, ond'ei rimase cieco.and as he was sleeping, hote dung out of the swallowes nest fel vpon his eyes, and he was made blinde.et ex nido hirundinum dormienti illi calida stercora inciderent super oculos ejus, fieretque cæcus. 12Now this trial the Lord therefore permitted to happen to him, that an example might be given to posterity of his patience, as also of holy Job.E il Signore permise, che questa tentazione gli venisse, affinchè avessero i posteri un esempio di pazienza simile a quello del santo Giobbe.And this tentation therfore our Lord permitted to chance vnto him, that an example might be geuen to posteritie of his patience, also of holie Iob.Hanc autem tentationem ideo permisit Dominus evenire illi, ut posteris daretur exemplum patientiæ ejus, sicut et sancti Job.
13For whereas he had always feared God from his infancy, and kept his commandments, he repined not against God because the evil of blindness had befallen him,Imperocchè avendo egli sempre temuto Dio fin dalla sua fanciullezza, e osservati i suoi comandamenti, non si querelò di Dio per la tribolazione mandatagli della cecità.For whereas he feated God alwaies from his infancie, and kept his commandmentes, he grudged not agaynst God for that the plague of blindnes had chanced to him,Nam cum ab infantia sua semper Deum timuerit, et mandata ejus custodierit, non est contristatus contra Deum quod plaga cæcitatis evenerit ei, 14But continued immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life.Ma si mantenne saldo nel timore di Dio, rendendo a Dio grazie ogni giorno della sua vita.but continewed immoueable in the feare of God, geuing thankes to God al the dayes of his life.sed immobilis in Dei timore permansit, agens gratias Deo omnibus diebus vitæ suæ. 15For as the kings insulted over holy Job: so his relations and kinsmen mocked at his life, saying:E come il beato Giobbe era schernito dai re, così i parenti, e congiunti di questo si burlavano del suo modo di vivere, e dicevano:For as the kinges insulted against blessed Iob: so his parentes and cosins derided his life, saying.Nam sicut beato Job insultabant reges, ita isti parentes et cognati ejus irridebant vitam ejus, dicentes: 16Where is thy hope, for which thou gavest alms, and buriedst the dead?Dov'è la tua speranza, per cui tu facevi limosine, e seppellivi?Where is thy hope, for the which thou didest bestowe almes and burials?Ubi est spes tua, pro qua eleemosynas et sepulturas faciebas ? 17But Tobias rebuked them, saying: Speak not so:Ma Tobia, gli sgridava, dicendo: Non parlate così:But Tobias rebuked them, saying: Speake not so:Tobias vero increpabat eos, dicens: Nolite ita loqui: 18For we are the children of saints, and look for that life which God will give to those that never change their faith from him.Perocchè noi siamo figliuoli de' Santi, e aspettiamo quella vita, che Dio a quelli darà, i quali giammai non mancano a lui di fede.because we are the children of holie ones, and looke for that life, which God wil geue to them, that neuer change their faith from him.quoniam filii sanctorum sumus, et vitam illam expectamus, quam Deus daturus est his qui fidem suam numquam mutant ab eo. 19Now Anna his wife went daily to weaving work, and she brought home what she could get for their living by the labour of her hands.E Anna tua moglie andava tutti i giorni a tessere, e delle fatiche delle sue mani portava a casa, quel che potea comprar da mangiare.But Anna his wife went dayly to weauing worke, and she brought the gaines of her handie labour, which she could get.Anna vero uxor ejus ibat ad opus textrinum quotidie, et de labore manuum suarum victum quem consequi poterat, deferebat.
20Whereby it came to pass, that she received a young kid, and brought it home:Avvenne pertanto, che essendole stato dato un capretto lo portò a casa:Whereby it came to passe, that she receiuing a kid of goates had brought it home:Unde factum est ut hædum caprarum accipiens detulisset domi: 21And when her husband heard it bleating, he said: Take heed, lest perhaps it be stolen: restore ye it to its owners, for it is not lawful for us either to eat or to touch any thing that cometh by theft.E, suo marito avendolo sentito belare, disse: Badate, che per disgrazia non sia stato rubato; rendetelo ai suoi padroni, perchè non è lecito a noi di mangiare, nè di toccare cosa rubata.the voice whereof bleating when her husband had heard, he sayd: Take heed, lest perhaps it be stollen, restore ye it to his owners, because it is not lawful for vs either to eate anie thing of theft or to touch it.cujus cum vocem balantis vir ejus audisset, dixit: Videte, ne forte furtivus sit: reddite eum dominis suis, quia non licet nobis aut edere ex furto aliquid, aut contingere. 22At these words his wife being angry answered: It is evident thy hope is come to nothing, and thy alms now appear.A queste parole irata, la la moglie di lui rispose; E cosa chiara, che è andata in fumo la tua speranza; e ora si vede il frutto di tue limosine.To these wordes his wife being angrie answered: Thy hope is become vayne manifestly, and thine almes now haue appeared.Ad hæc uxor ejus irata respondit: Manifeste vana facta est spes tua, et eleemosynæ tuæ modo apparuerunt. 23And with these and other, such like words she upbraided him.E con queste, e simili parole lo maltrattava.And with these, and other such like wordes she vpbrayded him.Atque his et aliis hujuscemodi verbis exprobrabat ei.
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Calmet
House. The law authorized such feasts, Deuteronomy 12:12, and 14:28. Tobias complied with it, by inviting also the poor servants of God. Greek, "I lay down to eat." This custom prevailed in the East. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Tribe. Greek, "brethren indigent, and who remembers God." (Haydock)
Worthington
All had not given way to idolatry. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Street. Asarhaddon did not protect the Israelites, which renders the elevation of Akikar to the highest dignities suspicious. (Calmet)
Haydock
But the king and his minister might not be able to prevent all murders. (Haydock)
Menochius
Fasting. The ancients seldom eat anything before noon. Greek, "Before I had tasted, I leaped up and took him to a house, till the sun should be set," (Haydock) to prevent any danger from the Assyrians. (Menochius)
Calmet
lf he did not employ another, he must have eaten alone, being rendered unclean. This seems to have been the case; and hence he did not enter his own house, but lay down by the wall. (Calmet)
Haydock
Greek and Hebrew mention, that he washed himself before he eat. (Haydock)
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Calmet
But. This version is not in Greek or Hebrew. (Calmet)
Worthington
True zeal is not repressed by fear, as charity expels it, 1 John 4:(Worthington)
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Now. Greek, "And that very night I was."
Haydock
He came. Greek, "I lay myself down, being defiled, beside the wall of the court, and my face was uncovered." (Haydock)
The touching the dead rendered a person unclean, Numbers 19:11.
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Year of the World 3295.
Serarius
Swallow's. Greek denotes "sparrows," or any other small birds: strouthia. (Serarius)
St. Athanasius
Eyes. Greek observes that they were "opened." Hebrew, "by chance." Yet "hares, and many men, sleep with their eyes open," (Pliny XI 37.) as was here the case. (St. Athanasius, Synops.)
lf not, the dung might insinuate itself by rubbing. It is extremely caustic. (Vales. 42.; Aldrov.17.; etc.)
Calmet
The blindness of Tobias was only a suspension of sight. (Calmet)
Calmet
Blind. Greek, "white specks or skins came upon my eyes, and I went to the physicians, but they afforded me no relief. But Achiachar fed me (Haydock) till I (or he) went to Elymais;" Hebrew of Fagius, "into Germany." (Calmet)
Haydock
Almniim. (Haydock)
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Now. This is omitted in Greek and Hebrew as far as ver. 19. St. Ambrose says beautifully, that Tobias "was more grieved that he could yield no assistance to others, than for the loss of his sight."
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Calmet
Kings. So Job's three friends are here called, because they were princes in their respective territories, (Challoner) like the petty kings of Palestine, in the days of Abraham and of Josue. They are styled kings in the Greek version of Job. (Calmet)
Worthington
Relations, (parentes.) His father and mother were dead. (Worthington)
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Saints; Abraham, etc. Thus Mathathias encouraged his children; (1 Machabees 2:50.) and no argument can be more forcible. Dice puer virtutem ex me, verumque laborem Sis memor, et te animo repetentem exempla tuorum Et pater Aeneas et avunculus excitet Hector. -----Virgil, Aeneid xii.
Life eternal. These grand truths were more developed, as the Messias was nearer at hand.
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Work. This was usually the employment of women. The great charities of Tobias, physicians, etc., had reduced him to poverty.
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Menochius
Kid, which had not left off sucking. Greek adds, that this was given besides the usual wages. (Menochius)
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Theft. He was the master of the family, and knew that there was no money in the house, so that he was not guilty of rash judgment, (Menochius) though his wife might naturally be offended.
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Haydock
At. Greek, "but she said: It was given to me in addition to my wages. Yet I did not give credit to her, and I ordered her to restore it to its owners; and I blushed for her. But she replied: Where are thy alms-deeds and thy just works? Behold, all things are known with thee. Then, through grief, I wept," etc. (Haydock)
Menochius
Hope in God, who nevertheless leaves us in distress. (Menochius)
Haydock
She indirectly finds fault with Providence, which increases the grief of Tobias; or, at least, she insinuates that he must have been a hypocrite, as the friends of Job unjustly argued, from his being afflicted. (Haydock)
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Kings.... So Job’s three friends are here called, because they were princes in their respective territories.
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Al the people of the tenne tribes did not serue Ieroboams golden calues, but some feared God & consequently refrayned from euil. Prou. 3. at least from idolatrie
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Concordance Amos. 8. v. 10.
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True zele is not hindred from workes of mercie by feare of death: because perfect charitie casteth out feare. I, Ioan 4.
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Both elder and yonger sorte of his kinred derided him, not his proper parentes, for he was depriued of father and mother when he was a child, as it semeth. c. 1. v. 4.
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 22.87
… So, in the Song of Songs, the spouse, who is the Church, is called a well of living water; or again, the number seven represents the Holy Spirit, as in the number of days in Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came from heaven. We learn also from the book of Tobit, that Pentecost was the feast of seven weeks.
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.2
… I was also the foot of the lame, and the father of the weak.” Of this same matter in Tobit: “And I said to Tobias, My son, go and bring whatever poor man thou shalt find out of our brethren, who still has God in mind with his whole heart. Bring him hither, and he shall eat my dinner together with me. Behold, I attend thee, my son, until thou come.”
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Origen † AD 254 A Letter to Origen from Africanus About the History of Susanna 1
2. Moreover, how is it that they who were captives among the Chaldæans, lost and won at play,
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.16
96. Tobit also clearly portrayed in his life true virtue, when he left the feast and buried the dead,
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Care to Be Had for the Dead 5
… Whence also the funerals of the just men of old were with dutiful piety cared for, and their obsequies celebrated, and sepulture provided: and themselves while living did touching burial or even translation of their bodies give charge to their sons. Tobias also, to have by burying of the dead obtained favor with God, is by witness of an Angel commended.
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 35.3
… But how can he on whom the light does not shine but stumble in the way? And hence, in such a way, we have need of seeing, in such a way it is a great thing to see. Now Tobias had the eyes in his face closed, and the son gave his hand to the father; and yet the father, by his instruction, pointed out the way to the son.
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Mortality 10
… and even him also his wife tried to pervert, saying, “Where are thy righteousnesses? Behold what thou sufferest!”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.7
… “How broad and spacious is the way which leadeth unto death, and many there are who go in thereby: how straight and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!” Of this same thing in Tobias: “Where are thy righteousnesses? behold what thou sufferest.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 38.15
… He cried out because of the kid, lest it had come of theft; he did not like to hear the sound of any stolen thing in his house; and she, maintaining what she had done, reproached her husband; and when he said, “Restore it if it be stolen;” she answered insultingly, “Where are thy righteous deeds?”
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1. When it was a feast day. — Pentecost, as the Hebrew and Greek texts have. For on this day especially one must be called to works of charity. For these are the works of the Holy Spirit, whose feast is celebrated at Pentecost, Acts ii, 1 and seq.
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4. And when the sun had set, carefully (secretly, lest anyone accuse him before the king, and thus he would incur danger to his life, as he had done in chapter 1, verse 22), he would bury him. — "By the prohibition," says St. Ambrose, chapter 1, "he was not so much restrained as incited, lest he should seem to abandon the duty of piety through fear of death: the penalty of death was the price of mercy." The same in book I of the Offices, chapter iv: "Tobias," he says, "expressed the form of piety more evidently, when, leaving the feast, he buried the dead, and invited the poor to the table of a poor man's food." And St. Augustine, in the book On Care for the Dead, chapter 1 and following: "Tobias," he says, "by burying the dead merited God, as the Angel testifies, is commended." For burial is the final office of mercy, a debt of nature, as it were an honor to the deceased and a consolation to their relatives, and a desire of nature. Hear St. Ambrose here, chapter 1 and ii: "This is a great work. If we are commanded to cover the naked living, how much more ought we to cover the bodies of the dead? If we are accustomed to conduct the living to distant places, how much more those who have departed to that eternal home, from which they shall not return? Nothing is more excellent than this office, to confer it upon one who can no longer repay you, to protect from birds of prey, to protect from beasts a sharer of nature. Wild beasts are reported to have shown this humanity to the bodies of the dead; shall men deny it?" Add that the bodies of the faithful saints ought to be buried, so that by this we may testify faith and hope in the resurrection, namely that they are not cast away like the carcasses of horses and dogs, whose souls perish with their bodies, but are buried, so that they may rise again in soul and body to immortal life. Again, through burial great honor is paid to the virtue of saints and martyrs: whence there was such care among the first Pontiffs to bury the martyrs; indeed St. Nicomedes by burying the body of St. Feliculas the Martyr, and St. Justin the presbyter that of St. Lawrence, and many others through the burial of martyrs, obtained the laurel crown of martyrdom. Thus Marcianus, when afterwards he came upon the body of one recently slain, and wished to bury it, was seized as if he had killed him, and therefore condemned to death; but by God's providence it came about that the author of the slaying was discovered, and thus Marcianus was freed, as Evagrius says, book II, chapter 1. And by this work Marcianus merited to be raised to the empire, and to become the husband of St. Pulcheria, sister of the Emperor Theodosius, than whom no emperor was better, none stronger, none more pious: thus Baronius in the year of Christ 450.
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10. And it came to pass that on a certain day (in Greek, that same night, which namely followed the day of Pentecost, of which verse 1 speaks), he cast himself beside the wall. — The Hebrew adds: And I did not immediately enter my house, because I was unclean from contact with the dead (from the contact with the dead whom he had buried according to the law of Numbers xix, 11 and 16); but I slept, with eyes open, outside the courtyard beside the wall under the open sky, where swallows nest, and cast their droppings to the ground, and with them they defiled everything.
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11. And from the nest of swallows warm droppings would fall upon his eyes as he slept, and he would become blind. — "Swallows:" The Greek texts have sparrows; but the Septuagint translates sparrows for the Hebrew sipporim, that is, birds, as Vatablus translates it. Now our author understood from the circumstances of the place that these birds were most certainly swallows; for their droppings blind the eyes; whence also another Hebrew text has here deror, that is, a free bird, namely a swallow, which flies freely and converses freely with men, and nests in roofs, as Rabbi David says. Whence that symbol of Pythagoras: "Do not have swallows under the same roof," that is, beware of commerce with the garrulous and whispering, as St. Jerome explains from Aristotle in his Apology against Rufinus, and Clement of Alexandria, book V of the Stromata, chapter iii. Thus also by the Latins any birds are sometimes called sparrows, as Serarius shows here. And he would become blind, — because swallow droppings are dry, hot and burning, and therefore dry up the moisture of the eyes, and thus naturally blind them. So Francis Valesius, Sacred Philosophy, chapter xlii. Therefore Lyra less correctly denies this blinding power to swallow droppings. More probably Dionysius and Valesius think that Tobias was not blinded, but only a white film and membrane was drawn over his eyes: which surgeons then drawing out with a needle restore the eyes to their freedom and sight, concerning which matter more in chapter vi, verse 9. Moreover for this reason young swallows living among their parents' droppings are blinded, but their sight is restored to them again by their parents through an herb which is called celandine. Hear Tertullian, book On Penance, chapter xiv: "The swallow, if she has blinded her young, knows how to restore their sight again with her celandine." And Pliny, book VIII, chapter xxvii: "Celandine, most salutary for sight, swallows have shown, healing the troubled eyes of their young." And book XXV, chapter viii: "With this (celandine) swallows have restored sight to the eyes of their young in the nest, as some wish, even when the eyes have been torn out." This is wonderful, as much as that which the same Pliny writes, book X, chapter xxxvii, that the eyes of swallows that have been torn out grow back. Aelianus asserts the same thing, book III, chapter iii; and he cites Aristotle, but incompletely. For the words of Aristotle, book VI of the History of Animals, chapter v, are: "The eyes of young swallows, if one troubles them with a pointed instrument, heal again, and afterwards completely recover the power of sight." Now it is quite another thing, says Aldrovandus in his work on the Swallow, page 663, to recover troubled sight, another thing for torn-out eyes to grow back, which Aelianus and Pliny assert. The same Aldrovandus, page 689, asserts from Dioscorides and Avicenna that the ash of a young swallow sprinkled with honey upon the eyes dispels their dimness by the light brought, indeed that the bile and cold droppings (for the hot are acrid and burning, whence they blinded Tobias) of swallows are equally effective, from Albert the Great. Tropologically, Blessed Peter Damian, book II of Letters, letter 12, and in order 33: "What," he says, "do lightly flying swallows signify but the light manners of flatterers and smooth speakers? who, while they soothe with the sweetness of their flattering speech, while they anoint the head of the hearer with the oil of flattery, blind the inner eyes, lest they enjoy the light set free." Again Dionysius the Carthusian: To the sleeping Church, he says, droppings sometimes fall from the nests of heretical swallows, and we see many blinded. Moreover in book II, chapter lvi, Thomas of Cantimpré explains how to bees swallows and harmful birds are, that is, to pious and chaste souls demons, "It can," he says, "and another kind of temptation, the vexation of swallows, whose droppings Tobias was blinded by, or of other birds, signify, so that under the appearance of virtues we are wrapped in the darkness of vices; for example: someone seeks to become rich and to gather riches, so that at the end he may make a fuller will, and make Christ his heir, who abandoned his abundance, or the lords of the earth, or parents, or his clients, or any most wicked plunderers as possessors. We see this especially in clerics, whose goods ought to be the goods of the poor, and what overflows to them every day should not be in a purse or in a chest, but should be liberally distributed to the unworthy mouth of the hungry and to the bellies of the starving."
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12. The Lord permitted this temptation to befall him for this reason, that an example of his patience might be given to posterity, just as also in the case of holy Job. — Tobias therefore and Job are two examples and mirrors of patience, to be continually beheld and imitated by all the blind and afflicted; for nothing evil befalls any faithful person except by God's certain foreknowledge and will directed toward him, either to purge him from vices, or to perfect him in virtue and patience, and thus to increase his merits and rewards in heaven. Thus God permitted the just Abel to be slain by fraternal impiety; Abraham to be tested by the holocaust of his dearest son; Joseph to be wickedly sold by his brothers; Moses together with the whole people of Israel to be oppressed by the cruel tyranny of Pharaoh; David to be subjected to the implacable hatred of King Saul; Susanna to be exposed to the calumnies of the unchaste; the Prophet Isaiah to be sawn asunder in the midst of a saw; Daniel to be cast to the lions. See St. Chrysostom, hom. 1 to the people, who recounts ten reasons on account of which God permits the Saints to be afflicted. Truly St. Augustine, serm. 226 De Temp., which is concerning Tobias, says: "For this reason, he says, he incurred the destruction of blindness so that he might receive an Angel as physician."
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13. He was not grieved against God, — so as to murmur, or complain, and say: Lord, why didst thou permit me, engaged in thy work, namely in the burial of the dead, to be befouled by a swallow and blinded? Hear St. Ambrose, lib. De Tobia, cap. ii: "The prophet, wearied by so holy an office, while he rests beside the wall of the courtyard, when dung falling from a sparrow's nest came upon him, blindness with a white film came upon his eyes, and he neither complained nor groaned, nor said: Is this the reward of my labors? He grieved rather at being deprived of his services than of the gift of his eyes: nor did he regard blindness as a punishment, but as an impediment." Moreover the Greek texts and from them St. Ambrose add: And white films came upon my eyes. And I went to physicians, and they did not help me; but Achiacharus (my nephew from my brother) nourished me, until I made progress to Elymaida, for the sake of avoiding danger, concerning whom in the last chapter. For it appears that Tobias after his blindness was again accused by someone before the king and despoiled of his goods, but as the Greek and Hebrew have it, he was raised up and sustained by Achiacharus. Achiacharus moreover seems on that account himself to have suffered calumny, as is said in Greek in the last chapter, and then Tobias, either was banished, or fled to Elymaida, as we read in the Greek. Thus Serarius and others.
2:14
14. But he remained unmoved in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life. — This is an act of heroic patience, this is the state of a holy and perfect man, who, despising all earthly things, both adverse and prosperous, dwells in mind in the heavens, and already begins and foretastes heavenly happiness. Thus Job, afflicted on all sides, said in chapter 1, verse 21: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, as it hath pleased the Lord so it is done; blessed be the name of the Lord." In all adversities therefore give thanks to God, and thou shalt be holy, nay blessed. Moreover the Author of Questions from Both Testaments in St. Augustine, Questions 119: "How praiseworthy, he says, holy Tobias is, we are taught by Scripture, whose devotion neither captivity diminished, nor the loss of his eyes persuaded him to cease blessing God: nor did exhausted substance turn him from the way of justice and truth. For necessity proves the just man. To preserve equity in poverty, this is true and perfect justice. Whence from some devotion is diminished, thence Tobias, worthy of praise, makes increase." And shortly after: "The mind of holy Tobias, raised up to God, neither broken by captivity, nor humbled by want." Thus the Saints in blindness gave thanks to God with Tobias, nay they loved blindness. St. Didymenius the martyr was blind, and when Julian the Apostate reproached him for his blindness: "I truly, said Didymenius, give eternal thanks to God the best and greatest, that I do not see Julian." Finally, on account of the excellent work done for the Christian law, and the overthrown monstrosities of the pagans' idols, he was cast into the Tiber and from thence migrated to heaven; this one blind man saw more than all the eye-bearing worshippers of phantoms. Didymus, the teacher of St. Jerome, was blind, whom Jerome himself calls his seeing one. Spes the Abbot was blind for 4 years, whose soul at death flew to heaven in the form of a dove, as St. Gregory testifies, book IV of the Dialogues, chapter 10. See more in our Matthew Rader, part III of the Viridarium, chapter 3. St. Audomarus, bishop of Ternani, was blind in the year of the Lord 658, who when he had recovered through St. Vedastus the use of sight long since lost, is said to have borne it with an ill spirit, and obtained by prayers that the reopened lights should again be veiled by returning blindness, which he said was sent to him by God for his salvation. He saw what benefit blindness brought, and how many occasions of evils it cut off. That nun with John Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 96, sent out her eyes torn out to a young man captivated by the appearance of her eyes, and thus compelled him so that she made him a most approved monk. St. Aquilinus in the time of Clovis, created pontiff of Evreux, begged from eternal light that it would close to him the mortal lights of his eyes, so that he might contemplate the heavenly light with the stronger eyes of his mind: he obtained it, and nevertheless performed the duty of the Pontificate excellently in preaching. Thus his life has it in Surius on the 19th of October.
2:15
15. For as the kings insulted blessed Job. — Hence it is clear that the friends of Job, namely Eliphaz, Baldad and Sophar, were kings, that is, rulers and princes of certain towns, concerning which there is more in Job cap. ii and the last. These had come to console Job, but in place of consolation they brought desolation; for they accused him of grave crimes, as though on account of these he were so dreadfully chastised by God: whence it is clear that they insulted Job. Is it not in cap. vi, verse 23, that they are said to have "detracted from the words of truth?" verse 26: "to have composed words only for reproving, and to have uttered words into the wind, to have rushed upon the orphan, and to have wished to subvert a friend?" Is it not in cap. xiii, 4, that they are called "fabricators of falsehood, and cultivators of perverse doctrines?" cap. xvi, 9: "speakers of falsehood?" and cap. xix, 2: "How long, says Job, do you afflict my soul, and wear me down with words? Behold ten times you confound me, and are not ashamed oppressing me. You rise up against me, and reproach me with my reproaches." Finally, who is a graver witness or judge against them than God himself? Certainly to one of them, cap. xlii, verse 7, God cries out from heaven: "My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends; because you have not spoken unto me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath." Thus Serarius. Moreover, Job while still living is called blessed, because, as St. James says, cap. i, 12: "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life." "Blessed was Job," says St. Fulgentius, epist. II, cap. ix, "when he lived justly in riches; but more blessed when he proved himself more just in poverty. Blessed was he when surrounded by ten children; but more blessed when struck at once by the bereavement of all, he remained immovable in the love of God. Blessed also was he in the health of his body; but he became more blessed in his wound. More blessed also in a heap full of filth, than in a palace adorned with marbles."
2:16
16. Where is thy hope? — As if to say: Thy hope hath deceived thee, and it was false and deceptive; for thou didst hope through almsdeeds to obtain from God all prosperous things, and behold God hath blinded thee through the burial of the dead, and hath deprived thee of thine eyes. For what is more unhappy and miserable than to be bereft of eyes and to be blind?
2:18
18. We are sons of the saints, — namely of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, etc.; therefore let us imitate their faith, hope, patience and constancy in adversities. The afflicted Christian says the same thing: I am a son of Christ; therefore I will continually gaze upon His passion and cross, and imitate His patience. I am a son of the holy Apostles and Martyrs, such as St. Paul, St. Lawrence, St. Stephen, St. Vincent, etc., who endured so much and such great things for Christ: therefore I will follow them, and I will bear even my small suffering for the love of Christ liberally and bravely. For I am a son of the Saints, and therefore I myself am holy, that is, faithful, dedicated to God, and called by Him to perfect holiness, which consists in patience. "For patience hath a perfect work," James i, 4. And we await that life which God will give to those who never change their faith from Him. — Tobias answers appropriately to those insulting him: "Where is thy hope?" as if to say, My hope is not directed to present goods, but to future ones. For I hope for another life after this, a blessed and eternal life, which God will give to those who persist constantly in faith and hope in Him through all adversities whatsoever. This hope of another and happy life stirred up the seven Maccabean brothers to overcome, indeed to despise, the frying pans, drums, racks and all torments; whence they said intrepidly to Antiochus the tyrant: "Thou indeed, most wicked one, destroyest us in the present life, but the King of the world will raise us up after death for His laws in the resurrection of eternal life," II Mach. ix. The same thing the other martyrs felt and said, almost all of them, who, as the Apostle says, Hebr. xi, 37: "Were stoned, were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, etc., not accepting redemption, that they might obtain a better resurrection;" because Christ Himself also, as He says in the same place, cap. xii, 2, "having joy set before Him (of the soon-to-come resurrection and glorious ascension) endured the cross, despising the shame." Whom St. Francis imitates: "So great," he says, "is the glory which I await, that every punishment delights me."
2:20
20. Whence it came to pass that having taken a kid of the goats he brought it home, — into the house. The Greek texts add that this kid was given as a gift to Anna over and above the payment for her weaving; and when Tobias did not fully believe Anna saying this, she became angry and mocked him saying: "Thy hope hath become vain, etc." Tobias had occasion to doubt concerning theft, both because such a kid had never appeared in his home, nor is such a thing usually given as payment to weavers, nor had he ever received such a one, and Anna had brought it; and because Anna was poor: he therefore feared lest poverty had compelled her to bring a wandering and lost kid into the house; and also because he himself was most devoted to justice, and a most bitter hater of theft, and equally of the most tender and delicate conscience: "For it is the mark of good minds to fear guilt, where there is no guilt," says St. Bernard. In a similar manner, in the utmost scarcity of all things, and when bread was offered divinely in famine, "fearing lest perhaps it might be another's, and he might perpetrate guilt as it were from piety," St. Sanctulus hesitated to set it before his hired servants, according to St. Gregory, Dialogues lib. III, cap. xxxvii.
2:22
22. To this his wife answered in anger: Plainly thy hope hath become vain, and thy alms have now appeared to be vain, — since through them thou hast brought me and thyself and our whole family into such great poverty, blindness and distress. Learn here from Tobias to receive curses, nay even injuries also from intimate friends for benefits done, and to bear them constantly. This is the reward of patience, this is its crown, that it itself provoke a new passion, and in it be crowned with new and greater patience. Hear St. Augustine, sermon 48 on Matthew: "How great is thought to be the misfortune of men, who do not see this bodily light! Is someone blinded? straightway it is said: He hath an angry God; he committed some evil. This the wife of Tobias said to her husband. He cried out on account of the kid, lest it should be from theft: he was unwilling to hear the sound of theft in his house. She defending her deed, struck her husband with reproach; and when he said: Return it, if it be from theft; she answered in return: Where are thy justices? How blind was she, who defended the theft? and how much light did he see, who commanded the theft to be returned! She was without in the light of the sun, he was within in the light of justice. Which of them was in the better light?" And St. Cyprian, in the book On Mortality: "And Tobias after great works, after many and glorious praises of his mercy, having suffered blindness of eyes, fearing and blessing God in adversities, through that very ruin of his body, grew unto praise, whom also his wife attempted to corrupt, saying: Where are thy justices? behold what thou sufferest. But he, stable and firm about the fear of God, and armed for every endurance of passion with the faith of religion, did not yield to the temptation of his weak wife in sorrow, but rather merited God by greater patience, whom afterwards the angel Raphael praises." In like manner St. Saturus, steward of the house of Huneric the Arian king, when by him with the greatest threats, and then by his own wife with many tears he was urged to Arianism, answered intrepidly with St. Job: "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women. I would fear, woman, if there were only the sweetness of this bitter life; by artifice, spouse, thou ministerest to the devil. If thou didst love thy husband, thou wouldst never draw thy own husband to the second death. Let them tear away my children, separate my wife, take away the substance of my Lord, I secure in the promises will keep my word: If any man hath not left wife, children, fields, or house, he cannot be my disciple. What more? the woman departing with her children refuted, Saturus is comforted, is hurried to the crown, is stripped, is worn down by punishments, is dismissed a beggar." Thus Victor of Utica, book I of the Persecution of the Vandals, near the end.
Virtues corresponding in Job and Tobias Job and Tobias were in many things very similar: first, in profuse almsgiving, and in every office of mercy, such as Job praises of himself in chapter xxxi, and Tobias here, chapter i. Secondly, in constant endurance of adverse things, especially poverty, blindness, and diseases, nay even in giving of thanks. For these are themselves great benefits of God, as being matter of great virtue, and of great reward. Therefore patient Job said: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." The same said Tobias. Thirdly, Tobias endured all these things on account of the hope of future blessed life, verse 18. So also Job, chapter xix, 25: "I know," saith he, "that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth. And again I shall be clothed with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see God my God, etc., this hope of mine is laid up in my bosom." Fourthly, Job was mocked by his wife and friends, but he mocked those who mocked; so also Tobias. Fifthly, God restored to Tobias the riches taken away and his sight; so also to Job, in the last chapter, He gave back all things doubled.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
2:6
Amos (Hebrew 'Āmōs «Who Bears a Burden», distinct from the name of Isaiah’s father 'Āmōs «Robust»)
… The divine authority of the book is attested in Tob. 2:6, in the allusion of I Mach. 1:41 (Am. 8:10) and in the quotation by St. Stephen (Acts 7:42).
2:10
Ahiqar (Aramaic Ahia-Iaqar: 'The Brother Is Precious' or 'Dear')
… He is mentioned by the Vulgate, under the name Achior (v.) only in Tob. 11:20 (joined with Nabath), as a kinsman of Tobit; six other times (Tob. 1:21-22; 2:10; 11:17-18; 14:10, 15) by the Greek Septuagint Bible (under the name Achiacharos, Codex Sin. Achicharos) and by the ancient Latin versions (under the name Achichar).
2:12
Ezek. 14 recalls Job for his righteousness (v. 20; cf. Job 12:4; Gen. 6:9 for Noah), together with Noah and Daniel (cf. Ecclus. 49:9); James 5:11 recalls him rather for his patience: cf. Tob. 2:12-15 (only in the Vulgate). …
2:19
… Her irascible character showed itself in a quarrel with her blind husband who, hearing the bleating of a kid received by A. as wages, feared it was a theft (Tob. 2, 19-23), and on the occasion of their son's journey to Rages (Tob. 5, 23-25; 10, 4-7). Her sadness turned to jubilation when, from the hill where she often went to scan the horizon, she caught …
2:21
1. Scriptural sources. - In the Old Testament see, for example, Ex. 22:1-3; Tob. 2:21; Ex. 33:14-15. In the first two passages indicated, it is even required to give back something more than what was taken: Si quis furatus fuerit boves, aut ovem, et occiderit vel vendiderit, …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.