Tobit — Chapter 1

TOBIAS EX TRIBU ET CIVITATE NEPHTALI — Tobias was of the tribe of Naphtali, from the city called Nephtali or Thisbe (the Greek has Thesbe), in the region of Upper Galilee. Lapide notes that this Thisbe is the same from which Elias the Thesbite (1 Kgs 17:1) took his name. The tribe of Naphtali in Upper Galilee was called \"Galilee of the Gentiles\" both because Solomon gave a portion of it to Hiram king of Tyre (whose Tyrians settled there), and because the kings of Israel ruling from Samaria held it subject. Upper Galilee is so called because the Jordan springs from it, flowing as from a higher place to a lower, just as Upper Germany is that part adjacent to the nascent Rhine.

CUM CAPTUS ESSET IN DIEBUS SALMANASAR — Tobias was taken captive in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was also the ninth and last year of Hosea king of Israel, when Salmanasar deported the ten tribes to Assyria (4 Kgs 17–18). Although Salmanasar's father Teglatphalasar had already carried many captives from the ten tribes, Salmanasar removed all the rest. Tobias nonetheless did not desert the way of truth — the way of the true faith, religion, charity, and virtue — remaining virtually alone as a genuine and pious worshiper of God. Lapide lauds this as an example for Catholics in England, Scotland, and Saxony persecuted for the faith. He cites the Hebrew proverb: \"A myrtle is always a myrtle even among nettles,\" and Gregory the Great (I Moral. 1): \"As it is a graver fault not to be good among the good, so it is an immense glory to have remained good even among the wicked.\"

ITA UT OMNIA QUAE HABERE POTERAT...IMPERTIRET — Despite his captivity, Tobias daily shared whatever he could of his goods with his fellow Israelite captives, to console them in captivity, relieve their hunger and poverty, and keep them in the true faith lest they apostatize to the Assyrian idols. Lapide enumerates seven virtues of Tobias before his marriage: (1) constancy in faith; (2) charity toward his countrymen (v.3); (3) flight from evil company (v.5); (4) observance of the divine law (v.6); (5) piety toward God (v.6); (6) faithful offering of all tithes and first-fruits (v.6); (7) observance of the other precepts of the law from childhood (v.8).

CUMQUE ESSET JUNIOR OMNIBUS, NIHIL TAMEN PUERILE GESSIT IN OPERE — Though the youngest of all in his tribe of Naphtali, Tobias behaved with the gravity and seriousness of an elder man, not with childish levity. Lapide parallels St. Malachias bishop of Ireland (Bernard, Vita Malachiae): \"He bore the ways of an old man while still a boy, free from childish wantonness.\" Augustine (Ps. 111): \"Let your old age be childlike and your childhood elderly — that is, let your wisdom be without pride and your humility without folly, so that you may praise the Lord from now and unto ages.\"

CUM IRENT OMNES AD VITULOS AUREOS...HIC SOLUS FUGIEBAT CONSORTIA OMNIUM, SED PERGEBAT IN JERUSALEM — While all others went to worship the golden calves erected by Jeroboam (1 Kgs 12:28), Tobias alone fled their company and traveled to Jerusalem to adore the true God in the Temple. \"Alone\" means practically alone; the Greek and Hebrew note that Ananias and Jonathan went with him. Tobias was thus a sun of Israel, shining alone. Lapide cites Nazianzus praising Basil for similarly avoiding the corrupt ways of Athens, and Epictetus (Ench. 19) on being ready to be mocked for pursuing wisdom. Tobias went to Jerusalem especially on the three great annual feasts — Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles — as required by the Law (Exod. 23:14).

IN TERTIO ANNO — The third-year tithe was the third kind of tithe prescribed by Deuteronomy 14:22. Lapide refers to his commentary on Deuteronomy 14 for a full discussion of the three types of tithes required by the Mosaic Law. This verse marks the transition in Lapide's enumeration: seven virtues of Tobias before marriage (vv.1–8) are followed by seven virtues after marriage (vv.9–25).

CUM VERO FACTUS ESSET VIR, ACCEPIT UXOREM ANNAM — Tobias waited until manhood (the virile age) to marry, since marriage requires strength, both to beget sound offspring and to bear the burdens of the conjugal state. Lapide cites Aristotle (Pol. VII.16) on the disorders of youthful marriages: \"The unions of the young are improper for begetting children; in all animals the young are born imperfect, females more often than males.\" Yet on account of the heat of youth and the danger of incontinence, it may be safer for many to marry sooner rather than await full maturity.

FILIUM AB INFANTIA DEUM TIMERE DOCUIT ET ABSTINERE AB OMNI PECCATO — Tobias taught his son from infancy to fear God and abstain from all sin, as David (Ps. 33:12) and Solomon (Prov. 4:4; Sir. 30:4) also instructed their children. Lapide cites St. Blanche's famous admonition to her son St. Louis, king of France: \"Fly from sin: I would rather see you die than commit a mortal sin against your God.\"

CUM OMNES EDERENT EX CIBIS GENTILIUM, ISTE NUNQUAM CONTAMINATUS EST — Even while all the other captive Israelites ate the food of the Gentiles — whether meats sacrificed to idols or meats forbidden by the Mosaic Law (such as pork) — Tobias was never defiled. He followed the example later imitated by Daniel (Dan. 1), Eleazar, and the Maccabees (2 Macc. 6–7), who preferred to be tortured or fried in a pan rather than eat pork forbidden by the Law.

ET QUONIAM MEMOR FUIT DOMINI IN TOTO CORDE SUO; DEDIT ILLI DEUS GRATIAM IN CONSPECTU SALMANASAR REGIS — Because Tobias remembered the Lord with his whole heart — applying his entire heart to knowing and fulfilling in all things God's law and will — God rewarded him with three signal privileges through the king's favor. First (v.14): he received liberty to go wherever he wished and do whatever he chose. Second: he received abundant gifts and resources, from which he gave ten talents to Gabael and generous alms to the needy Hebrews. Third (Greek): he was made the king's buyer and steward over all the royal household — its provisions, clothing, horses, arms, and estates — a position of the highest honor and great income, like Joseph's position over Pharaoh's house (Gen. 45).

ET EX HIS QUIBUS HONORATUS FUERAT A REGE, HABUISSET DECEM TALENTA ARGENTI — The ten talents of silver Tobias received from the king represented an enormous sum, though the exact value is uncertain since we do not know whether these were Babylonian, Persian, or Hebrew talents. Lapide surveys various estimates: Serarius calculates 3,072 French crowns; others compute 6,000 crowns; Cardanus (De Libris suis) gives 5,000 ducats. The passage demonstrates both the opulence God granted to Tobias and the breadth of his charity toward Gabael and other needy Hebrews.

ET CUM MULTA TURBA GENERIS SUI GABELUM EGENTEM VIDERET...DEDIT ILLI MAIORATO PONDERE ARGENTI — Tobias lent a large weight of silver to the needy Gabael of the tribe of Naphtali, in the country of the Medes, taking a written bond (chirograph) as a prudent security. The Greek word used (ἀπέθηκεν, \"deposited\") implies the money was both a deposit and a loan, without any interest or compensation for loss of profit or opportunity cost. St. Ambrose (De Tobia, 24): \"He sought no pledge, demanded no guarantor; he had lent his means to his neighbor, from whom in all his life in such great need he demands nothing back. When he saw himself worn out, he disclosed it to his son as a deposit — not so much desiring repayment as anxious lest he defraud his heir.\"

POST MULTUM VERO TEMPORIS, MORTUO SALMANASAR, CUM REGNARET SENNACHERIB FILIUS EJUS...ET FILIOS ISRAEL EXOSOS HABERET — After Salmanasar's death, his son Sennacherib took the throne and conceived a great hatred for the Israelites, especially after the slaughter of 185,000 of his soldiers by the Angel of the Lord in Judea in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign.

TOBIAS QUOTIDIE PERGEBAT PER OMNEM COGNATIONEM SUAM, ET CONSOLABATUR EOS, DIVIDEBATQUE UNICUIQUE PROUT POTERAT DE FACULTATIBUS SUIS — Tobias went daily among all his kinsmen and relatives, consoling them in their captivity and distributing from his own goods to each according to what he could.

ESURIENTES ALEBAT, NUDISQUE VESTIMENTA PRAEBEBAT, MORTUOS SEPULTURA SOLLICITUS EXHIBEBAT — These are the works of corporal and spiritual mercy — feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, burying the dead — through which Tobias piously and holily exhausted his resources and strength, and thereby nearly obtained the crown of martyrdom. Lapide notes that St. Januarius, St. Marius with his wife Martha and sons, and many others who visited, fed, and buried the bodies of martyrs thereby obtained the martyr's crown. St. Malachias bishop of Ireland similarly devoted himself to burying the poor dead, and when his own sister reproached him: \"Let the dead bury their dead,\" he responded with patience and persevered undaunted.

AT UBI NUNTIATUM EST REGI, JUSSIT EUM OCCIDI, ET TULIT OMNEM SUBSTANTIAM EJUS — Tobias willingly accepted the plundering of all his goods, flight, exile, and even a sentence of death for the sake of faith and charity; he was thus a confessor and martyr by desire. Lapide quotes St. Ambrose (De Tobia 1): \"For the virtues with which he was adorned he underwent the hardship of captivity, bearing it humbly and patiently, lamenting more the common injury than his private loss; nor despairing that his virtuous service profited nothing, but rather deeming that reproach a lesser price than the punishment of his sins.\" Bernard (Sent.): \"Martyrdom without blood is threefold: frugality amid abundance (as in David and Job); generosity amid poverty (as exercised by Tobias and the widow in the Gospel); chastity in youth (as practiced by Joseph in Egypt).\"

TOBIAS VERO CUM FILIO SUO ET CUM UXORE SUA FUGIENS, NUDUS LATUIT — Tobias fled with his son and wife and hid in hiding. The Hebrew text states that Tobias remained in hiding for nineteen days.

POST DIES VERO 43 OCCIDERUNT REGEM FILII IPSIUS — After 43 days (from the flight and the catastrophe in Judea), Sennacherib's own sons killed him. Lapide refers to 4 Kings (2 Kgs) 19:37 for fuller discussion.

ET REVERSUS EST TOBIAS IN DOMUM SUAM, OMNISQUE FACULTAS RESTITUTA EST EI — Tobias returned home and had most of his goods restored — though not all, since much had been consumed, pillaged, and dissipated by the king's officials and soldiers, as is clear from the fact that his wife Anna had to work at weaving to earn a livelihood (ch. 2:19). St. Ambrose: \"Scarcely at last, through a friend, stripped of his patrimony, poor and an exile, was he restored to his own.\" Both the Hebrew and Greek add that Tobias was restored to his goods through Achiacharus (Akikar), his nephew (son of his brother Anael), who was held in great honor by Esarhaddon (Greek: Sacherdonos), successor of Sennacherib, in whose service Achiacharus held five great offices: chief cupbearer, keeper of the signet ring, governor of the Assyrian empire, comptroller-general, and second in command.