Commentaria in Tobiam
Chapter 4
Synopsis of the Chapter. Tobias, about to die, as he thought, gives his son his last counsels of virtue and salvation.
1. Therefore when Tobias thought that his prayer was heard that he might die, he called to him Tobias his son, 2. And said to him: Hear, my son, the words of my mouth, and lay them as a foundation in thy heart. 3. When God shall take my soul, bury my body: and thou shalt honour thy mother all the days of her life: 4. For thou must be mindful what and how great perils she suffered for thee in her womb. 5. And when she also shall have ended the time of her life, bury her by me. 6. And all the days of thy life have God in thy mind: and take heed thou never consent to sin, nor transgress the commandments of the Lord our God. 7. Give alms out of thy substance, and turn not away thy face from any poor person: for so it shall come to pass that the face of the Lord shall not be turned from thee. 8. According to thy ability be merciful. 9. If thou have much, give abundantly: if thou have little, take care even so to bestow willingly a little. 10. For thus thou storest up to thyself a good reward for the day of necessity. 11. For alms deliver from all sin, and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness. 12. Alms shall be a great confidence before the most high God, to all them that give it. 13. Take heed to keep thyself, my son, from all fornication, and beside thy wife never endure to know a crime. 14. Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind, or in thy words: for from it all perdition took its beginning. 15. If any man hath done any work for thee, immediately pay him his hire, and let not the wages of thy hired servant stay with thee at all. 16. See thou never do to another what thou wouldst hate to have done to thee by another. 17. Eat thy bread with the hungry and the needy, and with thy garments cover the naked. 18. Lay out thy bread, and thy wine upon the burial of a just man, and do not eat and drink thereof with the wicked. 19. Seek counsel always of a wise man. 20. Bless God at all times: and desire of him to direct thy ways, and that all thy counsels may abide in him. 21. I tell thee also, my son, that I lent ten talents of silver, while thou wast yet a child, to Gabelus, in Rages a city of the Medes, and I have his note of hand with me: 22. And therefore inquire how thou mayest come to him, and receive of him the above-mentioned weight of silver, and restore to him his note of hand. 23. Fear not, my son: we lead indeed a poor life, but we shall have many good things if we fear God, and depart from all sin, and do that which is good.
They are twelve in number. The first is of piety toward father and mother, both in life and after death; the second, of the fear of God, verses 6 and 20; the third, of alms, verse 7; the fourth, of chastity, verse 13; the fifth, of flight from pride and humility, verse 14; the sixth, of justice and mercy, that wages be paid at once to workmen, verse 15; the seventh, of retaliation, that he do to no one what he would not have done to himself, verse 16; the eighth, of care for the dead, verse 18; the ninth, of prudence, that he do nothing without the counsel of a wise man, verse 19; the tenth, of constant memory, praise and invocation of God, verse 20; the eleventh, of providence in feeding the household, by demanding the money lent to Gabelus, verse 22; the twelfth, that he console his poverty with hope in God, who enriches those who hope in him. Similar golden counsels and teachings of virtues did holy men about to die hand down to their sons and posterity, as St. Louis to his son Philip: read them in the life of St. Louis in Surius, 25 August; St. Ephrem, as is clear from his testament; St. Theodore the Studite, St. Dominic, St. Francis, whose testament is extant at the end of tome 4 of the Library of the Holy Fathers. “In all thy ways think on the Lord, and he will direct thy steps.” So Enoch walked, and Noe, “Walk before me, and be perfect,” Genesis 17:1. So Elias: “As the Lord liveth, in whose sight I stand,” 3 Kings 17:1. And Eliseus: “As the Lord of hosts liveth, in whose sight I stand,” 4 Kings 3:14. Nay Seneca, epistle 19: “So live,” he says, “with men as if God saw.”
7. “GIVE ALMS, AND TURN NOT AWAY THY FACE (the Hebrew: do not shut your eyes) FROM ANY POOR PERSON.”— Here Tobias gives his son six fruits and spurs of almsgiving; the first is: “For so it shall come to pass that the face of the Lord shall not be turned from thee,” as if to say: Such as
3. “THOU SHALT HONOUR THY MOTHER,”—according to that of God in the Decalogue: “Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be long lived upon the land,” Deuteronomy 5:16. See what was said there. Admire here the evenness of mind of Tobias, who, though received with sharp reproach by his wife, yet commits her honour and care to his son, and that he be mindful of the pains, disgusts and dangers which she suffered for him in the womb and afterwards. Hear Ecclesiasticus chapter 3, verses 8 and 18: “He that feareth the Lord honoureth his parents, and will serve them that brought him into the world as his masters. How evil is the fame of him that forsaketh his father: and he is cursed of God that angereth his mother!”
5. “BURY HER BY ME.”—The Hebrew and Greek: Bury her honourably by me in the same sepulchre. For husband and wife are as one flesh, that is, one civil person, Genesis 2:24. So Abraham with Sara, Isaac with Rebecca, Jacob with Lia wished to be buried in the same sepulchre, Genesis 49:29. Memorable is what St. Gregory of Tours writes, On the Glory of Confessors, chapter 32, of two lovers, a husband and wife, living in continence and chastity by mutual consent. For when the wife, now dead, was carried to burial, her husband with hands stretched to heaven said: “I give thanks to thee, maker of all things, that as thou deignedst to commend her to me, so I have rendered her to thee untouched by every contagion of pleasure.” But she, smiling, said: “Be silent, be silent, man of God, for it is not necessary to speak our secret when no one asks.” After this, covered with the pall, she withdrew. Not long after he too departed from the world, and was buried in his place. Now they were in one basilica, but their sepulchres were in different walls, the one to the south, the other to the north. But in the morning the sepulchres were found together (that is, joined), and so they endure to this day: therefore the inhabitants now call them the two lovers, and venerate them with the highest honour.
6. “AND ALL THE DAYS OF THY LIFE HAVE GOD IN THY MIND,”—namely in memory, that thou be always mindful of him in the understanding, and think and meditate on him often: in the will, that thou continually reverence, love, praise, invoke, obey and glorify him, and therefore beware of every offence of him and sin, that God may repay thee, because he is the guardian of the poor. Wherefore if thou turn thy face from them, by denying alms, or the consolation which thou canst give them, God will likewise turn his face from thee, denying the grace and help thou askest.
8. “ACCORDING TO THY ABILITY BE MERCIFUL,”—so that if thou have gold, bread, food, thou give them; if thou have not, give counsel, console the poor man with a word, and speak well to him, showing an affection of compassion; for compassion lightens the misery of the wretched and takes part of it upon itself.
10. “FOR THUS THOU STOREST UP TO THYSELF A GOOD REWARD FOR THE DAY OF NECESSITY,”—and especially at the hour of death: which God will give him, as promised by himself to the merciful. For “reward,” the Greek has deposit; because what is conferred on the poor does not perish for the giver, but is as it were laid in the bosom of God to be kept, that he may in due time return it to the giver, in this life single, and in heaven double, indeed a hundredfold. The Hebrews add here: Thou shalt possess riches and treasures of silver and gold in justice. For treasures will profit nothing, and alms will deliver from death. And whoever gives alms shall see the face of God, as it is written: I in justice will behold thy face, and they who are occupied with it are of heaven.