24–25. At about the same time the prayers of Tobias and Sara were heard by God, who sent the Angel Raphael to help them. These two verses act as a sort of summary introduction to the second part of the book, which deals chiefly with the intervention of the Archangel Raphael. 4:1. Tobias senior felt that his prayer (3:6) had been heard and that he would soon die. As a true Israelite (cf. Gen 49:1; Deut 33:1; 1 Mac 2:49, etc.) he called his son to give him a father’s parting counsel. His words of paternal advice are exemplary in every way. VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition), again, is freer than the Greek; and this is probably due to St Jerome. 6. Splendid counsel for a young man. 7–12. The truly religious man cannot turn away his face from the poor, and God in turn will look kindly on him. All should help the needy in so far as they can. 13. Tobias junior is instructed to keep from all impurity, and further (Greek) ‘to take first a wife of the seed of thy fathers, take not a strange wife, who is not of the tribe of thy father’. 14. The different codices show a variety of readings with regard to the evils of pride. VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) and DVDV Douay Version give a sufficiently adequate summary of the sense of the passage. 16. This verse states negatively what our Lord later prescribed in positive form as the teaching of the Law and the Prophets, cf. Mt 7:12. It is also the equivalent of the Saviour’s command: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’, Mt 22:39, from Lev 19:18.

§ b. 18. The unusual character of this verse, which in the Greek reads: ‘Pour out thy bread and wine on the tomb of the just …’, has given rise to much speculation. Some have at once jumped to the conclusion that this is a reference to sacrifice to the dead, or ancestor worship, or to pagan funeral rites. There is absolutely no evidence for this view. In fact it is incredible and incompatible with the context, that a pious Hebrew parent who thought he was about to die should recommend such practices to his son. Practices and rites of this nature were common amongst the gentiles, but were forbidden by the Law and altogether abhorrent to the fervent Israelite. The same holds for the rather common pagan practice of burying food with the dead or leaving it in their tombs, presumably for their needs in the after-life. On account of the difficulties involved, some authors recommend an emendation of the text: as if some scribe had written in Hebrew ‘tomb’ or ‘burial’ for ‘in the midst of’; or ‘bread’ in place of ‘mercy’. These textual corrections do solve the difficulties fairly well, but they are not sufficiently supported by the evidence to be admitted. Many older commentators suggested that the reference was to the practice of bringing food to the cemeteries as a sort of alms on behalf of the dead, the food being distributed to the surviving relatives or to the poor. It cannot be proven, however, that this practice was in use in OT times.

§ c. A much better proposal is the one which considers this verse as a recommendation to take part, according to custom, in the so-called ‘death banquets’ or funeral feasts, held as a means of dispensing consolation to the mourners at the funeral, somewhat after the fashion of the modern wake. The further recommendation of Tobias ‘do not eat and drink thereof with sinners’, fits in well with this explanation. Then the youth, Tobias, would be instructed not to fraternize with the gentiles in their funeral feasts. There is good evidence that such customs did exist among the Hebrews, see Jer 16:7; Ez 24:17; also Josephus, Bell. Jud. 2, 1, 1. As for the alleged connexion between this verse and the Achikar story (cf. § 301h–i) the evidence is very tenuous. It should be noted, too, that any evidence there is depends on a general similarity between our verse and a passage found in the later, but not in the earlier, forms of the Achikar story. 21–23. This piece follows easily on the preceding section. The father, after having given several spiritual counsels, now thinks of the temporal care of his son and widow, cf. 1:16. He concludes his recommendations with a fitting exhortation to serve God faithfully above all things.

§ d. 5:1–9 Tobias meets the Archangel Raphael–1–2. Tobias junior is quite ready to obey, but he foresees two difficulties: he is unknown to Gabelus, and he is ignorant of the way leading to Rages of Media. Tobias senior gives a satisfactory answer to both objections. 5. The Angel had taken human form in order to carry out the mission given to him by God. The description of the Angel here is found only in VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition).

§ e. 10–22. They set out on their Journey–16. The prudent father wishes to know something more of the stranger before committing his son to his care. 18. Some have wondered that the Angel should apparently tell a lie. In reality there is no question of a lie. The heavenly messenger had every right to conceal the truth of his identity, which he does by playing on the Hebrew names ‘Azarias’ (Heb. ‘The Lord has given aid’) and ‘Ananias’ (Heb. ‘The Lord is clement’), which truthfully describe his particular mission. Admittedly, there is always something mysterious from our viewpoint about the appearances in human form of the Angels, as they are described in Sacred Scripture. Such phenomena have no analogy in the natural order, and so, human terminology is usually inadequate to describe them. In this case it could well be that the Angel is expressing, by approximation, a twofold reality: his angelic nature and his appearance in human form. Thus when he says that he is ‘of the children of Israel’ (5:7), and that he is a ‘kinsman’ of Tobias senior (5:14, Gk) he means: ‘I, though an angel of God, have taken, at God’s command, the human form of the individual Israelite Azarias’. The language is vague and involved, but it is not false. That Tobias senior was deceived does not enter into the question of the veracity of the Angel’s statement. He had no obligation to make known his full identity. 19. At this stage VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) is briefer than the other forms of the text, which add various details: Tobias senior remarks that he knew ‘Ananias and Nathan, the two sons of Semelias the great’; he offers the Angel ‘a drachma a day as wages’, etc. 21. A typically Israelitic farewell. ‘His angel accompany you’, is particularly apt in the circumstances, although the father did not realize the full implication of his words.

§ f. 23–28 A Mother’s Tears–23. Anna, the mother, as mothers do, wept at the departure of her son on a long journey to a far country. 24. She was much more ready to give up the money than to lose her son. The Greek is more pointed: ‘let the money perish, rather than our son’. 26–27. The father, more confident, offers a good reason for his assurance. His words, once again, were more filled with meaning than he knew.

§ g. 6:1–9 Tobias’ Adventure with the Fish–1. The reference to the dog adds a note of simple authenticity to the narrative. The author of our book has been accused of being ignorant of his geography: Nineveh, the city of Tobias, was situated on the river Tigris, and now, after a full day’s journey they reach this river. However, the text does not say that, but only ‘they lodged by the river Tigris the first night’. In other words, Tobias and the Angel, after a day’s walking along the river valley, rested the first night by the river. 2–4. It is possible to view this passage as altogether miraculous and to explain all the details as so many different miracles. Still, miracles are not to be multiplied without necessity, and the text does not demand a miracle in every detail. First of all, the extant forms of the text, although in agreement about the substance of the event, vary considerably regarding the details. In some, the fish is not qualified by any adjective such as ‘monstrous’ as in VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) and DVDV Douay Version. In one form, at least, the fish attacks the youth’s foot; in another, the fish tries to devour the youth’s bread. It is a question of what exactly in these accounts should be retained as primitive. It would seem quite probable that the integrity of the text is adequately preserved as follows: ’and the youth went down to wash himself (‘his feet’?) and a fish leaped out of the river seeking to devour the youth’. There is no need to presume that the fish was capable of swallowing the youth; it is sufficient to, see here the snapping attack of some large river fish (some think a species of pike) which would easily frighten the youth by its suddenness and ferocity. Most forms of the text then have the Angel simply telling the youth to seize the fish, which he does, hauling it up on land.

§ h. 5. The internal organs of certain species of fish are still considered valuable medicaments. 6. ‘The youth did as the Angel told him, and having roasted the fish they ate it. And they journeyed both of them together until they came to Ecbatana’. 8. It is clear that burning parts of the fish could have no direct physical effect on incorporeal demons. The effect actually produced on Asmodeus, 8:3, is due to the power of God and his Angel. However, there is nothing against viewing this effect as produced in connexion with some religious symbolism attached to the action. The effect would then be attained indirectly through the material object, much as the effect of sacramentals approved by the Church–holy water, the sign of the cross, etc. In VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) the heart of the fish is mentioned in this verse, and the liver in 6:19 and 8:2. Other forms of the text mention both the heart and the liver in all three passages. The omission of one or the other word in VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) derives, perhaps, from the custom of classing heart and liver together; so, if one only is mentioned the other is to be presumed.

§ i. 9. Many older Catholic commentators considered the cure of Tobias’ blindness, through the application of the gall of the fish, a natural process. The gall of various species of fish was considered in antiquity to have valuable curative powers in diseases and irritations of the eyes. Ointments made of this substance were highly prized for their stimulating and cleansing properties. Hence, the effect of the application of the gall (11:13 ff.) may have been a purely natural one, produced by a natural agent. However, the author of the book in his whole context seems to attribute the effect to God’s intervention on behalf of Tobias, cf. 12:14, even though he does not say precisely whether the healing was miraculous or natural. It would be well to bear in mind that it is an angel who prescribes a remedy apparently unknown to Tobias, and that the particular material used is an instrument for the operation of the power of God. This incident recalls the cure of the blind man by our Lord, Jn 9:6.

§ j. 10–22 The Angel counsels Marriage with Sara–10–13. Sara, the sole heir to the property and wealth of her parents, was obliged to marry one of her own tribe, Num 36:6 ff. Since Tobias, as it appears, was the only one who fulfilled this requirement, he alone was a suitable husband for Sara. The purpose of the Law was to keep tribal and family possessions from passing to strangers. For this reason, then, the Angel recommends marriage with Sara. 14. See above, 3:7. Note that Tobias’ objection is based on hearsay evidence and is not a statement of the author of the book. 15. The Vatican Codex and the Old Latin and Syriac Versions are the principal witnesses to an odd addition to this verse: they give as the reason why the devil killed the seven husbands, ’because a devil loves (or ‘is fond of’) her’. Even with these witnesses the authenticity of the addition may be questioned. If the statement is genuine, it should not be attributed to the sacred author, since it forms part of the hearsay popular opinion quoted by Tobias. Nor, on the same presumption, would it follow that the devil sought Sara with a carnal love, for at least in the Greek the verb used ordinarily indicates ‘to like’ or ‘to cherish’.

§ k. 17. Although the doctrine in this verse, so beautifully as well as realistically expressed, is both beyond question and in agreement with Jewish ideas on the sanctity of marriage, it can hardly be proved that the verse as it stands is authentic. Since it is found only in VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) it is probably due to the influence of St Jerome or some previous redactor. Part of it is undoubtedly a borrowing from Ps 31:9. 18–22. Similar recommendations are ascribed to the Angel in all forms of the text. They recommend prayer as a preparation for the marital union, although the three-day period of continence is not found in all. In 22 VgVg Vulgate (Sixtine-Clementine Edition) alone has the counsel, ‘moved rather for love of children than for lust’. This is quite in line with the general context, but the actual expressions used are probably the result of Jerome’s free translation.