Commentaria in Tobiam
“THE WAY OF TRUTH” (namely the way of true faith and religion, as well as charity and virtue) “HE FORSOOK NOT,”—as if to say: among idolaters Tobias almost alone remained a true and pious worshipper of God. This was a great constancy and virtue, which the Catholics now imitate in England, Scotland, Saxony, etc., and are therefore worthy of the heavenly crown, as noble and illustrious athletes of the faith. “Nature did not receive Plato as a noble philosopher, but made him one,” says Seneca, epistle 44. There is the proverb: “A myrtle is always a myrtle, even if it be among nettles.” See St. Gregory, Morals book 1, chapter 1: “As it is,” he says, “the mark of a graver fault not to be good among the good, so it is the title of immense praise, of perfect virtue, to live good among the wicked, and among the malicious to keep the whiteness of innocence.” Examples are in the Machabees, Job, Lot, whom St. Peter therefore praises, 2 Epistle, chapter 2, in Noe and Abraham, and in the Philippians, chapter 3, in Pergamum, Apocalypse 2.
3. “SO THAT ALL HE COULD GET HE IMPARTED EVERY DAY TO HIS FELLOW CAPTIVES (the Israelites), WHO WERE OF HIS KINDRED,”—both to console them in their captivity, and to relieve their hunger and poverty, and to keep them in the true faith and religion, lest they fall away to the idols of the Assyrians, in order to obtain from them the means of life. Tobias is here praised before his marriage for seven virtues: first, for constancy in faith; secondly, for charity toward his fellow citizens and tribesmen, verse 3; thirdly, that he fled the company of the wicked, verse 5; fourthly, for observance of the divine law, verse 6; fifthly, for piety toward God, in the same place; sixthly, that he faithfully offered to God all the tithes and firstfruits, in the same place; seventhly, that from a boy he kept the other precepts of the law, verse 8.
4. “AND WHEREAS HE WAS THE YOUNGER OF ALL, YET HE DID NOTHING CHILDISH IN HIS WORK.”—The same did St. Malachy, bishop of Ireland; for, as St. Bernard writes in his Life: “He acted the old man in manners, a boy in years, free from childish wantonness.” And he adds one thing: “which shows that even as a boy he gave a sign not only of goodness but of great hope. For when, moved by the reputation of a certain master, he had come to him to learn letters, and saw him at play under the roof and making I know not what furrows in the wall, the serious boy, offended by that sight alone, as it smacked of levity, drew back from him.” Nazianzen, oration 20, describes St. Basil as such.
A golden saying is that of St. Augustine on Psalm 112: “Let your old age,” he says, “be childlike, and your childhood aged, that is, that neither your wisdom be with pride, nor your humility without wisdom, that you may praise the Lord from this time now and for ever.” For, as Seneca complains of some, epistle 4: “We have the authority of the old, the vices of boys, and not of boys only but of infants. They fear trifles, these things false, we both.”
5. “WHEN ALL WENT TO THE GOLDEN CALVES” (from Jero- “HE WENT TO JERUSALEM,”—the Greek adds on the feasts, namely the three chief ones of the year, the Pasch, Pentecost and Tabernacles, as the law has, Exodus 23:14.
7. “IN THE THIRD YEAR.”—This was the third kind of tithes prescribed by the law, Deuteronomy 14:28. See what I noted there on the three tithes.
These were the seven illustrious virtues of Tobias before his marriage; as many follow after his marriage, namely the first, the pious instruction of his son, verse 9; the second, abstinence from the meats of the Gentiles, verse 12; the third, that he was mindful of God with all his heart, verse 13; the fourth, that he gave wholesome admonitions to his fellow captives, verse 15; the fifth, that he lent Gabelus in want a great weight of silver, verse 17; the sixth, that in the persecution of Sennacherib he encouraged his own and helped them with every aid and work, verse 19; the seventh, that he fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and buried the dead, verse 20.
Verse 9. “BUT WHEN HE WAS BECOME A MAN, HE TOOK TO WIFE ANNA,”—for manly age and strength are required for marriage, both for begetting sturdy offspring and for bravely undergoing the labours and burdens of marriage and family. Wisely does Pindar say, “Pursue any action with a mind more mature than the number of your years,” that is, do not enter marriage before the right age. Hear Aristotle, Politics book 7, chapter 16: “The union of the young is bad for the begetting of children, for in all animals the offspring of the young are imperfect, and more often female than male, and are born small in body; therefore it must be that the same thing happens in men. And the proof of this is that in whatever cities it is the custom for young men and girls to marry, there the bodies of men are useless and small, and the girls also suffer more in childbirth, and more die.” And a little after: “For continence also it is useful that marriages be later; for girls seem to be more intemperate when they are accustomed to Venus early. And the bodies of males are hindered in growth if they enter on intercourse while the seed is still growing.” But on account of the ardours of youth and the danger of incontinence, it is more salutary for many not to wait for that age, but to take a wife sooner,
10. “WHOM (his son) FROM HIS INFANCY HE TAUGHT TO FEAR GOD, AND TO ABSTAIN FROM ALL SIN,”—The same David taught his sons, Psalm 33:12, and Solomon, Proverbs 4:4, and Ecclesiasticus 30:1 ff. So Blanche impressed this on her son St. Louis, king of France: “Flee sin: I would rather see you dead than committing a mortal sin against your God.”
12. “WHEN ALL ATE OF THE MEATS OF THE GENTILES” (namely things offered to idols, that is, what had been sacrificed to idols, or forbidden by the Mosaic law, such as pork, etc.), “THIS MAN NEVER WAS DEFILED.”—The same did Daniel, chapter 1, Eleazar, and the Machabees, 2 Machabees chapters 6 and 7, who chose rather to be tortured by Antiochus and fried in a pan than to eat swine’s flesh forbidden by the law.
13. “AND BECAUSE HE WAS MINDFUL OF THE LORD (and of all his precepts) WITH ALL HIS HEART,”—that he applied and gave his whole heart to knowing and carrying out in all things the law and will of God, God therefore repaid him with favour; for, as follows:
“GOD GAVE HIM FAVOUR IN THE SIGHT OF SALMANASAR THE KING.”—From this favour of the king Tobias received three notable benefits. The first is expressed in verse 14: “And he gave him,” it says, “leave to go wheresoever he would, with liberty to do whatever he had a mind,” which liberty Tobias used excellently, visiting the houses of the Hebrews and giving them wholesome admonitions, as follows.
The second was ample gifts and presents, so that out of them he handed over ten talents to Gabelus and gave abundant alms to needy Hebrews, as is clear from verses 19 and 20. Tobias was therefore, from the royal gifts and the office of which presently, rich and wealthy.