There is a remarkable agreement among the textual witnesses, including VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition), in this little section. Except for the Aramaic, which goes its own strange way, all forms of the story which have come down to us are very similar in content and order. 3. ‘Devoured by the fish’, is probably an addition. 4–5. If the Greek, 5:19, was correct in recording that the proffered wages amounted to ‘a drachma a day’, the father and son are now exceedingly more generous.

§ b. 6–22 Raphael reveals his Identity–6. The Angel probably took them aside into an inner room of the house to reveal his secret. The first point of his revelation was the mercy of God; in fact, this is the core of Raphael’s whole message. 7. What the king deigns to reveal to his subjects should be treated confidentially; still, in the case of God, whose works are always eminently just and good, there is no need of secrecy. 8. Raphael proceeds somewhat obliquely: first, he shows the value of good works, works which Tobias and his son had done; then he will explain why, despite these good deeds, they had to suffer. It is here, particularly, that the Angel stresses the value of almsgiving. Some forms read: ‘Prayer is good with truth’. 9. Clearly states the value of good works. 10. As good deeds lead to eternal life, wicked deeds lead to death. ‘Enemies of their own life’, i.e. those who do evil, kill themselves. Some argue that since this is not necessarily true of mortal life, the reference must be to eternal life and death.

§ c. 11–13. The revelation of the secret proper. The whole life of Tobias was mysterious, enigmatic: although from his youth he had been faithful to God, he seemed to gain no reward but rather more and greater afflictions. Now all is made clear: God permitted Tobias to suffer in order to try him. While he was suffering, Raphael was interceding for him before the throne of God. 15. Previously the Angel had opened out to Tobias the secret of the forces at work in the life of the pious Israelite, now Raphael reveals the secret of his own person. He is an Angel, and amongst these heavenly spirits one of a special order who assist at the throne of God, i.e. who constantly see God face to face and receive from him special revelations. He is ‘one of the seven’: the number ‘seven’ probably refers to a special group holding a particularly important office, rather than to an exact number. It is not unlikely that the term ‘seven’ is an allusion to Median court terminology, because at that time among the Medes the celebrated ‘seven counsellors’ were familiar to everyone, cf. Esd 7:14. There is no evidence, however, to support the view of some scholars who profess to see here a reference to the Zoroastrian teaching on the spirits who stand about the throne of Ahura-Mazda. There is nothing but a very superficial similarity between the spirits of Parseeism and the Angels of the Bible; the basic doctrines of each are poles apart.

§ d. 16–17. There was a belief among the Hebrews that whoever looked upon an angel would die at once, see Jg 6:22; 13:21 f. Hence Tobias and his son were greatly frightened when Raphael revealed his identity. This circumstance as well as the consoling words of the Angel recall other similar angelic appearances in Scripture, v.g. Dan 10:12; Lk 1:13, 30. 18. There is no need of fear, because the Angel has been with them at God’s command. Angels are sent to men by the will of God. 19. The second part of this verse, in most forms of the text, declares, ‘and I did neither eat nor drink’. St Jerome probably attempted to clarify this by showing that the Angel was sustained otherwise than by natural food. 20. Raphael’s special mission from God was now finished. Many forms have ‘write down all these things …’, cf. § 300e. 21–22. Only VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) extends their prayer, ‘for three hours’.

§ e. 13:1–10 The Canticle of Tobias: First Part. This section contains the fifth prayer of the book. Although longer, in general form it is similar to the others already mentioned, cf. 3:1. These two final chapters form a sort of epilogue. 2. See above, 11:17. By the ‘hand of God’ is usually meant his Power, or his Providence guiding all things. 5. The children of Israel had brought chastisement on themselves by their own sins; they will be saved solely through God’s mercy. 7. What he recommends to others, Tobias will do himself. The poetic parallelism noticeable throughout this passage is more striking here if the Old Latin form is followed: ‘I confess him in the land of my captivity, and I show forth his power and majesty before a sinful nation’.

§ f. 11–23 Canticle: Second Part. Whereas the first part of Tobias’ prayer, or canticle, was almost wholly taken up with praise of God, this second part is principally prophetical. The entire canticle is poetical in form, and for the most part in synonymous parallelism. VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) in some instances seems to have connected the verses poorly, and several are apparently out of their proper order. On the whole, the various forms of the text are in fair agreement.

§ g. 12. VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) seems to intimate that Jerusalem and the temple have been already destroyed, whereas these calamities did not come to pass until after the death of Tobias. It is possible that Tobias, in a prophetic vision, saw both the destruction and restoration of the Holy City. However, the reference to the temple is not textually certain, for the text could read: ‘let new homes be built’; and so, the destruction of the city would not necessarily be implied. Besides, Jerusalem often stood as a symbol of the lot of the People of Israel. Thus, when Jerusalem was said to flourish, Israel’s lot was a happy one; when Jerusalem suffered, the nation was in peril, cf. Is 60. Hence Tobias may have been praying for, or even predicting, the return of the captives to their homeland and the future happier lot of the Children of Israel. If such a general interpretation be decided upon, the particular verses in VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) and DVDV Douay Version hardly require comment. 21–22. In the Greek, the towers are built with gold, and the streets are paved with carbuncles and stones from Ophir. These precious minerals and gems are used figuratively to signify the prosperity of the New Jerusalem. According to some interpreters, all the references to Jerusalem have, besides their literal meaning, a typical sense. Then, the earthly Jerusalem would be a type of the heavenly Jerusalem, much as in the strikingly similar passage of Apoc 21:2, 18 ff.

§ h. 14:1–17 The Last Days of Tobias and his Son–1–4. The chronological data of this final chapter seem to have suffered greatly at the hands of copyists or redactors. It is next to impossible, in view of the great variation among textual witnesses, to reconstruct any satisfactory chronology of the history of Tobias. Nor is it surprising that the figures should vary so greatly in the different recensions and versions. As all who have worked with ancient documents know, numbers easily suffer corruption as they are transcribed. This fact is observable in many books of the OT which have been transmitted to us in a far better state than the Book of Tobias. It would be beyond the scope of this commentary to attempt to estimate the value of the divergent chronological tables found in the different forms of the book. Suffice it to say that VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) and DV, as they stand, must be revised; and that no single form of the book as we have it today is certainly accurate in this connexion. 5–9. Tobias, § i the elder, foretells the destruction of Nineveh (612 b.c.) and Jerusalem (587), as well as the restoration of Israel. 10–13. The Greek, Syriac and Old Latin contain a rather lengthy reference to the story of Achikar (cf. § 301h–i). This is less likely to be an authentic part of the narrative than were the previous allusions to the Achikar story. 14–17. After the death of Tobias senior his son leaves Nineveh as he had been counselled to do, and with his family goes to live with Raguel and Anna in Ecbatana. There he had the happiness of seeing many descendants before dying in the Lord.C. F. DeVine, “The Book of Tobias,” in A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, ed. Bernard Orchard and Edmund F. Sutcliffe (Toronto; New York; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson, 1953), 393–402.