Tobit — Chapter 9

SI ME IPSUM TRADAM TIBI SERVUM NON ERO CONDIGNUS PROVIDENTIAE TUAE — Tobias acknowledges his utter inadequacy to repay Raphael: \"Even if I gave myself to you as a slave, I could not match the merit of your providential care for me.\" This is a model of humility and gratitude.

VADAS AD GABELUM IN RAGES MEDORUM — Two cities of the same name \"Rages\" appear in the book. Lapide's preferred explanation (Sanchez): \"Rages\" is a Greek-Median word from ῥήξ, meaning \"fissure, fracture,\" denoting a rough, rocky, broken place; since both cities sat in rugged terrain, both were called Rages. Alternatively Lyran and Bellarmine hold there were simply two distinct cities with the same name.

ET DICATUR BENEDICTIO SUPER UXOREM TUAM ET SUPER PARENTES VESTROS — That all who see your virtue and therefore God's blessing and prosperity upon you may bless you and say: \"Blessed be Sara who is such a worthy man's wife; blessed be the parents of both, who leave behind them such noble children.\" The honor and praise of children redounds to their parents. Basil the Emperor gave this fine advice to his son Leo: \"Do not put your loving father to shame; the sons of kings, like living images, ought to reflect the virtues of their fathers.\" Christ's wisdom caused the woman to exclaim: \"Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you\" (Luke 11:27).

SED ET CUM TIMORE DOMINI NUPTIARUM CONVIVIUM EXERCEBANT — They feasted joyfully but honestly, modestly, soberly, and chastely, lest by drunkenness or lascivious conversation they offend God and invite the demon back. Lapide urges spouses and wedding guests to ban from their tables drunkenness, quarreling, detraction, and obscene speech. He quotes Plato (De legibus VI) at length on the importance of sobriety especially at wedding feasts: \"On that day and night the betrothed most of all need to be in control of their faculties, when they undertake no small change in their life\"; drunkenness at conception produces unstable, crooked offspring. The Greek adds that Tobias blessed his wife Sara, praying she be fruitful and beget upright children.