11:1 After these things Tobias went his way, praising God that he had given him a prosperous journey, and blessed Raguel and Edna his wife, and went on his way till they drew near unto Nineveh. 2 Then Raphael said to Tobias, You know, brother, how you did leave your father: 3 Let us haste before your wife, and prepare the house.

BEDE. The divine grace goes on ahead to enlighten the blindness of the Jews, and in their own scriptures they will recognize that Christ is true God and man. After acknowledging the right faith, which is like seeing the angel and their son whom they had not seen for a long time, they will rejoice greatly and by participating in the heavenly mysteries will join themselves to the Holy Church which was gathered among the Gentiles. [Bede the Venerable, Allegorica interpretatio in Tobiam PL 91. 933C}°

11:4 And take in your hand the gall of the fish. So they went their way, and the dog went after them.

BEDE. The dog thus was rejoicing with fawning tail as it visited again the dwellings of the masters from which it had long been absent. [Bede the Venerable, Allegorica interpretatio in Tobiam PL91.934A]©

11:5 Now Anna sat looking about toward the way for her son. 6 And when she noticed him coming, she said to his father, Behold, your son comes, and the man that went with him.

AMBROSE. When we miss someone and hope for their coming, do we not direct our eyes to where we hope they will come from And so, after long contenting ourselves with daily expectation, we lose our strength. So did Anna, looking round the road, keep a restless watch for her son’s coming (Tob. 10:7). So did prophet David, having set lookers-out in a tower, desire eagerly, as a solicitous father, to ask a man who came running from the battle about his son’s health (2 Kgs. 18:24). So does a wife of tender age, on a watchtower on the seashore, await her husband’s coming with indefatigable expectation, so that every time she sees a ship, she imagines that her spouse is sailing over there, and she fears that someone else should gain the privilege of seeing her beloved before she does, and that she should not be able to be the first one to say, “I see you, my husband”, as Anna said to her son, “I see you, my son; from henceforth I am content to die” (Tob. 11:8) (5), that is, because the sweetness of the much-desired sight would cause her not to feel the pain of death. [Ambrose of Milan, Expositio in psalmum David, PL 15 118.11.9. 1351C ]®

11:7 Then said Raphael, I know, Tobias, that your father will open his eyes. 8 Therefore, you anoint his eyes with the gall, and being pricked therewith, he shall rub, and the whiteness shall fall away, and he shall see you. 9 Then Anna ran forth, and fell upon the neck of her son, and said unto him, Seeing I have seen you, my son, from henceforth I am content to die. And they wept both.

11:10 Tobit also went forth toward the door, and stumbled: but his son ran unto him, 11 And took hold of his father: and he strake of the gall on his fathers’ eyes, saying, Be of good hope, my father.

BEDE. So teachers rejoice over accomplishing their work when they realize that by their ministry the Jews will be gathered by the Lord. Even as they promise Christ’s coming grace to all the elect, they rejoice over obtaining their eternal reward, shared by all the elect, and they gladden the hearts of those to whom they preach concerning it. [Bede the Venerable, Allegorica interpretatio in Tobiam PL 91.934A ]?

11:12 And when his eyes began to smart, he rubbed them;

BEDE. The Lord also reveals more fully to believers how great is the evil of the ancient serpent. For that serpent, who once was eager to devour Christ in his suffering, has himself been struck down for this instead and lost his own members, that is, those he had previously held. [Bede the Venerable, Allegorica interpretatio in Tobiam PL 91. 934B]®

11:13 And the whiteness pilled away from the corners of his eyes: and when he saw his son, he fell upon his neck.

BEDE. And so the Jews still have a veil before their heart because they do not perceive Christ’s grace. They have a white film because they seem pure and righteous to themselves in comparison to all others, but they have it like an egg’s membrane because they prolong their spiritual blindness in the foolish and empty hope that the Messiah is yet to be born in the flesh, yet to liberate them, and yet to give them a great kingdom throughout the world. But those among them from whom the fog of error will be removed will acknowledge that the Christ has come already and redeemed the world by his blood. [Bede the Venerable, Allegorica interpretatio in Tobiam PL91.934D]™

BEDE. Likewise, there is no truth in them who seem wise to themselves, saying, Can we ourselves be blind (Jn. 9:40), while those inwardly aware of their own fragility and ignorance who know how to say, My God, enlighten my darkness (Ps. 18:28), will be blessed in the Lord with the light of life. [Bede the Venerable, Allegorica interpretatio in Tobiam PL 91.934C ]®

AMBROSE. These are signs not of human but divine virtue, to open the shadows of perpetual night for the blind, to heal the wounds of covered eyes with infused light, to bring hearing to the ears of the deaf, to reshape limbs freed from loosed fetters, to recall the dead to the light with restored strength. All these things were rare or non-existent before the Gospel. Tobit received eyes: one is for an example, and yet the remedy was from an angel, and not from man. [Ambrose of Milan, Expostio Evangelii secundum Lucam, PL 15.5.7.1663C ]®

11:14 And he wept, and said, Blessed are you, O God, and blessed is your name forever; and blessed are all your holy angels: 15 For you have scourged, and have taken pity on me: for, behold, I see my son Tobias. And his son went in rejoicing, and told his father the great things that had happened to him in Media.

CHRYSOSTOM. For God could never suffer those who have endured so many and so great evils, and who have spent all the present life in trials and dangers without number, to be without a recompense of far greater gifts; and if he could not suffer this, it is certain that he has prepared another, a better and brighter life, in which he will crown those who have wrestled in the cause of godliness, and proclaim their praises in the presence of the whole world. So that when you see a just man straitened and afflicted; and in sickness, and in poverty, as well as innumerable other woes, till he ends this present life; say to yourself, that if there were no resurrection and judgment, God would not have permitted one, who endured such great evils for His sake, to depart hence without enjoying any good thing; from whence it is evident, that for such He has prepared another life, and one which is sweeter and much more endurable. For if it were not so, then he would not suffer many of the wicked to luxuriate through the present life; and many of the just to remain in ten thousand ills: but since there is provided another life, in which he is about to recompense every man according to his deserts; one for his wickedness, another for his virtue; on that account he forbears, while he sees the former enduring evil, and the latter living in luxury. [John Chrysostom, on the Statues, Homily 1.20 NPNF s.1 v.9]

11:16 Then Tobit went out to meet his daughter in law at the gate of Nineveh, rejoicing and praising God: and they which saw him go marveled, because he had received his sight. 17 But Tobias gave thanks before them, because God had mercy on him. And when he came near to Sara his daughter in law, he blessed her, saying, You are welcome, daughter: God be blessed, which has brought you unto us, and blessed be your father and your mother. And there was joy among all his brethren which were at Nineveh. 18 And Achiacharus, and Nasbas his brother’s son, came: 19 And Tobias’ wedding was kept seven days with great joy.