Commentaria in Tobiam
Chapter 14
Tobias, about to die, foretells the destruction of Ninive as well as of Jerusalem, and its restoration and glory by the calling of the Gentiles to Christ and heavenly happiness. The younger Tobias therefore goes from Ninive to Ecbatana, and there dies and is buried.
1. And the words of Tobias were ended. And after Tobias was restored to his sight, he lived forty-two years, and saw the children of his grandchildren. 2. And having lived in all a hundred and two years, he was buried honourably in Ninive. 3. For he was fifty-six years old when he lost the sight of his eyes, and sixty when he recovered it. 4. And the rest of his life was in joy, and with good increase of the fear of God, he departed in peace. 5. And in the hour of his death, he called unto him his son Tobias, and his sons, seven young men, his grandchildren, and said to them: 6. The destruction of Ninive is at hand: for the word of the Lord must be fulfilled: and our brethren that are scattered abroad from the land of Israel shall return to it. 7. And all the land thereof that is desert shall be filled with people, and the house of God which is burnt in it, shall again be rebuilt: and all that fear God shall return thither. 8. And the Gentiles shall leave their idols, and shall come into Jerusalem, and shall dwell in it. 9. And all the kings of the earth shall rejoice in it, adoring the King of Israel. 10. Hearken therefore, my children, to your father: Serve the Lord in truth, and seek to do the things that please him: 11. And command your children that they do justice and alms-deeds, and that they be mindful of God, and bless him at all times in truth, and with all their power. 12. And now, children, hear me, and do not stay here: but as soon as you shall bury your mother by me in one sepulchre, without delay direct your steps to depart hence: 13. For I see that its iniquity will bring it to an end. 14. And it came to pass, after the death of his mother, Tobias departed out of Ninive with his wife, and children, and children’s children, and returned to his father-in-law and mother-in-law, 15. And found them in health in a good old age: and he took care of them, and he closed their eyes: and all the inheritance of Raguel’s house he received: and he saw the fifth generation, his children’s children. 16. And having lived ninety-nine years in the fear of the Lord, with joy they buried him. 17. And all his kindred, and all his generation continued in good life, and in holy conversation, so that they were acceptable both to God and men, and to all that dwelt in the land.
1. “AND AFTER TOBIAS WAS RESTORED TO HIS SIGHT, HE LIVED 42 YEARS,”—namely from the 60th year of his age to the 102nd.
2. “AND HAVING LIVED IN ALL A HUNDRED AND TWO YEARS, HE WAS BURIED HONOURABLY IN NINIVE,”—namely in the place of exile. For hither he had been transferred by Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, whose capital was Ninive. Let the saints learn here to live and die in the world as in exile, and therefore not care to die and be buried in their native land among their own. For:
Every soil is a brave man’s fatherland, as the sea is the fishes’: and as Thomas More says in Utopia: “From every place the way to heaven is the same.”
3. “FOR HE WAS FIFTY-SIX YEARS OLD WHEN HE LOST THE SIGHT OF HIS EYES (in Ninive), AND SIXTY WHEN HE RECOVERED IT.”—Tobias, as I said in the introduction, in the sixth year of Ezechias, in which he was led with the other Israelites into Assyria, was 39 years old; so in the 25th year of Ezechias, being in the 56th year of his age, he was blinded; and in the 27th year of Ezechias, being in his 60th, he recovered sight, and afterwards lived two years more under Ezechias (for he reigned 29 years), then under Manasses 40 years, and died in the 40th year of Manasses, before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans in the year 70.
Moreover the Greek assigns more years to Tobias. For they assert that he was blinded in the 158th year of his age. But by the decree of the Council of Trent, session 4, the Latin Vulgate as canonical Scripture is to be followed by us, not the Greek.
5. “AND IN THE HOUR OF HIS DEATH HE CALLED UNTO HIM HIS SON TOBIAS,”—to give him his last counsels, nay, oracles of the destruction of Ninive and the glory of Jerusalem. The same did the Patriarch Isaac when about to die, Genesis 27:27, and Jacob, Genesis 49, and Moses, Deuteronomy 33. Plato held that the soul in death is as it were lifted from the body to divine things, so that it presently has a foreknowledge and foretelling of the future by a certain hidden instinct of nature and by prognostic signs; as birds, sheep and oxen foresee rains and storms from signs of the changed air. Whence Cicero, On Divination book 1: “When death approaches,” he says, “the mind is much more divine. For those too who are afflicted with grave and deadly disease see that very thing, that death is at hand. And so the images of the dead mostly meet them; and then they most of all study praise; and those who have lived otherwise than was fitting repent of their sins most of all then. That the dying divine Posidonius confirms also by that example which he brings: that a certain Rhodian named six of his equals, and said who of them would die first, who second, who next.” Of our own Arnobius, book 2 Against the Nations: “Those near death are most strong in knowledge, so that we prophesy of the future, as Socrates is reported by Plato in the Apology of Socrates to have said.” St. Gregory, Dialogues book 4, chapter 25, proves this natural cause, and adds another supernatural. “The very power of souls,” he says, “sometimes by its subtlety foresees something. But sometimes souls about to go out of the body know the future by revelation. Sometimes truly, when it comes to pass that they are already leaving the body, inspired by God they send the incorporeal eye of the mind into heavenly secrets.”
Moreover it is certain that Tobias here, inspired by a force not natural but divine, foretold the destruction of Ninive as well as of Jerusalem, and its and the temple’s restoration and glory; for he had no prognostic signs from which he could gather or conjecture this; whence by St. Ambrose, book On Tobias, he is himself called a Prophet. See what was said in the introduction to the Minor Prophets, chapter 21.
6. “THE DESTRUCTION OF NINIVE IS AT HAND.”—Ninive was often taken and laid waste; first, by Arbaces the Mede, who besieged Sardanapalus reigning in Ninive and drove him to burn himself and the city: this happened before Tobias, under Ozias king of Juda, grandfather of Ezechias, as Eusebius and others testify; secondly, near the end of the reign of Ezechias; for about the 14th year of Ezechias, Sennacherib was slain by the Angel in Judea, and his son Asarhaddon soon succeeded him, who reigned ten years, and in him the kings of Ninive ceased. For Merodach Baladan succeeded him, who, having subdued Ninive (as it seems), transferred the empire to Babylon, and therefore in Scripture after Asarhaddon no kings of the Assyrians are named, but only of the Babylonians. This destruction of Ninive also preceded the death of Tobias, and consequently this oracle of his about the overthrow of Ninive, which he gave in dying in the 4th year of Manasses, who succeeded his father Ezechias in the kingdom. Thirdly, many think that Ninive, flourishing again, was overthrown by Cyaxares the Mede and Nabuchodonosor the elder, who was the father of Nabuchodonosor the Great, about the 13th year of Josias king of Juda; and that Tobias here speaks of this destruction. So St. Jerome, Eusebius and others. But Nahum, chapter 2, verse 1, shows that Ninive was overthrown by Nabuchodonosor the younger in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem.
Moreover the Greek here adds: Go into Media, my son, for I believe whatsoever Jonas the prophet spoke of Ninive, that it will be overthrown. But in Media there will be more peace until the time.
“FOR THE WORD OF THE LORD MUST BE FULFILLED,”—uttered by the prophet Jonas, as the Greek has, about the destruction of Ninive; for although the Ninivites at the preaching of Jonas did penance and escaped the destruction he threatened them with, yet soon relapsing into their former crimes they incurred the same, as after Jonas Nahum foretold to them, chapter 2, but of the oracle of Nahum Tobias does not treat here, because he died long before him.
“AND OUR BRETHREN THAT ARE SCATTERED ABROAD FROM THE LAND OF ISRAEL SHALL RETURN TO IT.”—For many of the ten tribes, foreseeing or already perceiving the destruction of Ninive, fled from it, and not a few of them returned into the land of Israel. Others, zealous for the worship of the true God, joined themselves to the tribe of Juda, and with it united into one kingdom of Juda, as I said on Esdras and Paralipomenon.
7. “AND ALL THE LAND THEREOF (Israel) THAT IS DESERT SHALL BE FILLED WITH PEOPLE (inhabitants returning to it) AND THE HOUSE OF GOD WHICH IS BURNT IN IT, SHALL AGAIN BE REBUILT.”—“Is burnt,” that is, will be burnt by the Chaldeans; he speaks prophetically of the future as of the past on account of the certainty of the future. Whence the Greek has it in the future: Our brethren shall be dispersed, and Jerusalem shall be desolate, and the house of God in it shall be burnt, and shall be desolate until a time: and again God will have mercy on them, and will bring them back into the land. And they shall build a house, not such as the former, until the times of the age be fulfilled. And after this they shall return from the captivities and shall build Jerusalem honourably, and the house of God shall be built in it. And for all generations of the age, a glorious building, as the prophets have spoken of it. And all nations shall be truly converted to fear the Lord God, and shall bury their idols.
9. “AND ALL THE KINGS OF THE EARTH SHALL REJOICE IN IT, ADORING THE KING OF ISRAEL,”—that is, adoring Christ; for after the return from captivity there was no other king of Israel whom all the kings of the earth adored; but all nations and kings have served Christ.
10. “SERVE THE LORD IN TRUTH,”—that is, truly, sincerely, namely with a true, sincere, upright, whole and entire heart, not feigned, not false, not halved, not divided, so as to give half of heart and soul to God, the other to the devil, namely to idols and cupidities. Truth is here therefore opposed to falsehood, superstition, hypocrisy, fiction and pretence. So Serarius.
11. “THAT THEY DO JUSTICE,”—that is, just, pious and holy works. In the Greek is added a notable example of Achiacharus, who was the son of Tobias’s brother, as I said in chapter 1, and of a certain Manasses, namely that both were cast by the impious and ungrateful Aman into danger of hunger and life, but escaped by their piety and alms; but Aman, nourished by Achiacharus, fell into the same; for thus it has: And now, my son, depart out of Ninive, for all that the prophet Jonas spoke shall surely come. But do thou keep the law and the commandments, and be a lover of alms and just, that it may be well with thee; and bury me well, and thy mother with me; and tarry no longer in Ninive. Son, see what Aman did to Achiacharus, who nourished him: how he led him out of light into darkness, and how much he repaid him. And Achiacharus indeed was saved, but to the other the retribution was given, and he himself went down into darkness. Manasses was in alms, and was saved from the snare of death which they laid for him; but Aman fell into the snare, and perished. And now, my son, see what alms does, and how justice delivers.
Who this Aman was is uncertain; it is certain that he was not Aman the enemy of Mardochai and Esther: for he was long after Tobias. Who this Manasses was is also unknown. Some think he was the husband of Judith; for the time agrees, but the place disagrees, says Salianus; for Judith lived in the time of Tobias, he says, but in Bethulia of Juda, not in Ninive and Assyria, where this Manasses lived, of whom Tobias treats.
14. “TOBIAS DEPARTED OUT OF NINIVE,”—fleeing its destruction. From Ninive he went into Media to his father-in-law Raguel dwelling in Ecbatana. Here note the wonderful providence of God toward Tobias, which first, about the 27th year of Ezechias, directed Tobias by Raphael into Media and Ecbatana, to bring Sara out thence, and receive the money from Gabelus, before Ecbatana should be laid waste, and so set both, rescued from danger, in safety. For a little after Ecbatana was laid waste under Manasses son of Ezechias, says Bellarmine and Salianus, of which more in the introduction to Judith.
Secondly, when afterwards, Ecbatana flourishing again, destruction threatened Ninive and Assyria, he bade Tobias depart thence and go to Ecbatana to his father-in-law, that he might be with him in his old age, close his eyes at his death, and enter upon the whole inheritance. If God provided so carefully for his friends concerning bodily goods, how much more will he provide for spiritual, heavenly and eternal?
(dying) “WITH JOY THEY BURIED HIM.”—For although his sons and grandsons grieved at his death, yet they rejoiced that he concluded so long, fortunate and holy a life by a like death, since henceforth for him, now nearly a hundred, nothing else was to be expected in this life but labour and sorrow. For to die in a full, honoured, peaceful and prosperous old age, as well as pious and holy, is a great, indeed the last, good of this life. Tobias the younger died therefore about the 16th year of Josias king of Juda; for into this year falls the 99th year of his life, and he was buried in Ecbatana, a city of the Medes. Hence it seems that Tobias did not see the destruction of Ninive. The Greek adds: He died aged a hundred and twenty-seven in Ecbatana of Media. And he heard, before he died, of the destruction of Ninive, which Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus took captive, and rejoiced, before he died, over Ninive.
This Assuerus is thought by many to be Cyaxares, father of Astyages, because he was maternal grandfather of Cyrus, first monarch of the Persians. For he who in Hebrew or Chaldee is called Assuerus is called in Greek Axuares, Oxyares and Axares, to which is prefixed Cy or Cu, which in Persian signifies prince. But Salianus takes Assuerus to be Phraortes, father of Cyaxares, who succeeded Dejoces in the kingdom of the Medes. For Assuerus was a common name of the kings of the Medes.
You will say: How could Tobias the younger before his death see the destruction of Ninive, since according to the Latin text he died in his 99th year, which falls in the 16th year of Josias; according to the Greek he died in his 127th year, which falls in the second year, in the eleventh year after which Jerusalem was laid waste by the Chaldeans, and after five years Ninive, as I said on Nahum 2:5. I answer first, that these words, that Tobias saw the destruction of Ninive, are not in the Latin Vulgate, which the Council of Trent approved, but in the Greek text, in which many things are added which differ from, indeed contradict, the Latin Vulgate, and therefore do not seem certain, but inserted by someone, as that in verses 4 and 8, it says that Tobias the elder was blind eight years and lived 158 years, whereas the Vulgate asserts that he was blind only four years and lived 102 years. To Tobias the younger it here gives 127 years, whereas the Vulgate gives only 99. Wherefore we are to follow the Vulgate, not the Greek. And therefore it is truer that he did not see it, especially since the Greek varies here. For the Complutensian gives Tobias 127 years; but St. Athanasius in the Synopsis only 107; according to the Vulgate the death of Tobias preceded the destruction of Ninive by 47 years; according to the Greek by 14 years.
Secondly, St. Jerome, Eusebius and others hold that Ninive was destroyed in the 13th year of Josias; and so Tobias could see it: for he died in the 16th year of Josias.
Thirdly, although it is truer that Ninive was destroyed in the fifth year after Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldeans, yet about the 13th year of Josias it began to be besieged and laid waste. For, as Herodotus says, book 1, Cyaxares began to besiege Ninive (under Josias), but the Scythians invading Media, he interrupted the siege for 28 years, after which, resuming and renewing the siege with Nabuchodonosor the younger, he took and laid waste Ninive in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, and then Nabuchodonosor made himself monarch; wherefore this was the first year of his monarchy. Whence the Hebrews in Seder Olam say that it happened in the first year not of the reign but of the monarchy of Nabuchodonosor, which was the 24th year of his reign; for he began to reign in the fourth year of Joakim king of Juda. And this seem to have meant St. Jerome and Eusebius, namely that Cyaxares, with Nabuchodonosor the elder, began to besiege and lay waste the lands of Ninive about the 13th year of Josias, and that Tobias heard this before his death, but that after 28 years, resuming the siege with Nabuchodonosor the younger, he stormed Ninive. Whence the Greek has that Tobias heard, not the destruction, but the apoleian, that is, the perdition of Ninive; because he heard that it was so besieged and laid waste that it could not escape, but must necessarily be lost, that is, taken and overthrown, wherefore the word “took captive” is the same as began to take; for an inchoate act is signified, not a perfect one.
Fourthly, Serarius, Salianus and others answer that Ninive was often taken and plundered, while contending with the Babylonians and Medes for empire, now conquering, now conquered by them: wherefore it is uncertain of which perdition of Ninive Tobias here speaks. Finally Serarius reckons the 99 years of Tobias the younger from the death of his father, namely of Tobias the elder, to which adding 68 years in which Tobias lived with his father in captivity, and making him two years old when he came into captivity, he makes up that he lived in all 164 years, so that he reached the 24th year of Nabuchodonosor, in which Ninive was overthrown, and so could hear that it was overthrown; but this age in that time seems excessive and plainly paradoxical.