Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The genealogy, homeland, and virtues of Tobias are described, both as a boy and youth, and as a man, and that on account of these he was pleasing to Salmanasar; but was compelled to flee by his son Sennacherib.
Vulgate Text: Tobias 1:1-25
1. Tobias, of the tribe and city of Naphtali (which is in the upper parts of Galilee above Naasson, beyond the road which leads to the west, having the city of Sephet on the left), 2. when he had been taken captive in the days of Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, yet though placed in captivity, he did not abandon the way of truth, 3. so that every day he shared all that he could have with his fellow captive brethren, who were of his kindred. 4. And although he was the youngest of all in the tribe of Naphtali, yet he did nothing childish in his conduct. 5. Finally, when all went to the golden calves which Jeroboam king of Israel had made, he alone fled the company of all, 6. but went to Jerusalem to the temple of the Lord, and there worshipped the Lord God of Israel, faithfully offering all his first fruits and his tithes, 7. so that in the third year he administered every tithe to proselytes and strangers. 8. These and similar things the young boy observed according to the law of God. 9. But when he had become a man, he took a wife named Anna from his tribe, and begot from her a son, giving him his own name, 10. whom from infancy he taught to fear God and to abstain from all sin. 11. Therefore when through the captivity he had come with his wife and son to the city of Nineveh with all his tribe (12. when all ate of the foods of the Gentiles), he kept his soul, and was never contaminated by their foods. 13. And because he was mindful of the Lord with his whole heart, God gave him grace in the sight of King Salmanasar, 14. and gave him the power to go wherever he wished, having liberty to do whatever he wanted. 15. He therefore went to all who were in captivity, and gave them counsels of salvation. 16. When he had come to Rages, a city of the Medes, and from those gifts with which he had been honored by the king, had ten talents of silver: 17. and when among the great multitude of his kindred he saw Gabelus in need, who was of his tribe, he gave him the said weight of silver under a written bond. 18. After a long time, King Salmanasar having died, when Sennacherib his son reigned in his place, and held the children of Israel in hatred before him: 19. Tobias went daily through all his kindred, and comforted them, and divided to each as he could from his goods. 20. He fed the hungry, provided clothing to the naked, and was careful to give burial to the dead and the slain. 21. Finally, when King Sennacherib had returned, fleeing from Judea the plague which God had wrought upon him for his blasphemy, and in anger was killing many of the children of Israel, Tobias buried their bodies. 22. But when it was reported to the king, he ordered him to be killed, and took all his property. 23. But Tobias, fleeing with his son and wife, hid himself destitute, because many loved him. 24. After forty-five days the king's own sons killed him, 25. and Tobias returned to his house, and all his property was restored to him.
Verse 1: Tobias, of the Tribe and City of Naphtali
1. Tobias, of the tribe and city of Naphtali. — In the Greek, the genealogy of Tobias is added in this manner: The book of the words of Tobias, son of Tobiel, son of Ananiel, son of Adiel, son of Gabael of the seed of Asiel; the Hebrew adds, son of Nenathiel. Therefore the father of Tobias was Tobiel, his grandfather Ananiel, his great-grandfather Aduel, or perhaps Adiel, his great-great-grandfather Gabael, his fifth ancestor Asiel, and his sixth ancestor Nenathiel. His paternal grandmother was Deborah, for so verse 8 reads in the Hebrew and Greek: As Deborah the mother of my father had commanded me, because I was left an orphan by my father. This grandmother, therefore, rightly and piously educated Tobias, so that he owed his uprightness to her. So Macrina, disciple of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, grandmother of St. Basil, rearing him with his brothers and sister Macrina, forming him distinguished in every virtue, and made him great. In similar fashion, Ludmilla, rearing St. Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, made him a saint and martyr.
Moreover, Tobias had a brother Anael, whose two sons, Achiacharus and Nasbas, or Nabac, are named in the Greek, verse 8, concerning which more at the last verse.
Finally, from the fact that the book of the words of Tobias shows that Tobias is the author of this book, and therefore Tobias in the Greek and Hebrew henceforth always speaks in the first person saying: I, Tobias, walked in the ways of truth, etc. Again, from this it is clear that this book was written twice by the same person; first in Chaldean, but briefly, from which St. Jerome translated our Latin Vulgate; secondly also in Chaldean (although Serarius prefers Hebrew, and this twice, namely once by the father Tobias, and a second time by his son), but more fully, from which the Greek version was translated, unless one prefers that it was originally written more fully, and then somewhat abbreviated by the author himself, or by someone else.
Of the tribe and city — which received the same name from the tribe, and therefore is properly, as the Complutensian Greek has (although the Roman text has kyriac, a word whose meaning is unknown), that is, properly called "Naphtali," from which many of Christ's disciples and Apostles descended, as is clear from Isaiah ix, 1, whose type and perhaps ancestor was our Tobias.
In the upper (regions) of Galilee — from which, namely, the Jordan rises, flowing as from a higher to a lower place, and therefore one Galilee is called Upper and the other Lower. Just as Upper Germany is called that which lies along the Rhine at its source, and from there flows as from a higher to a lower place (which is therefore called Lower Germany), says Serarius.
Upper Galilee is also called Galilee of the Gentiles, because a part of it was given by Solomon to Hiram, the gentile king of Tyre, and from that time was inhabited by Tyrians and other gentiles. It is also called Samaria, because the kings of Israel, ruling in Samaria as their capital, had Galilee subject to themselves; otherwise Samaria properly was not Galilee, but lay between Galilee and Judea.
Moreover, this city of Naphtali, in which Tobias was born, is called Thesbe in the Greek, where Elijah was born, and from which he was called the Tishbite. So Salianus, Serarius and others, although Adrichomius places Thesbe in the tribe of Gad, not Naphtali.
Verse 2: He Did Not Abandon the Way of Truth
2. When he had been taken captive in the days of Salmanasar. — In Greek he is corruptly called Enemassar. Tobias was therefore taken captive in the sixth year of Hezekiah king of Judah, which was the ninth and last year of Hosea king of Israel, when Salmanasar carried away the ten tribes, and among them Tobias, into Assyria, IV Kings xviii and xviii, although the father of Salmanasar, namely Tiglath-Pileser, had already previously carried away many of the ten tribes, yet he equally left many in Samaria and Naphtali, whom Salmanasar finally carried away altogether.
He did not abandon the way of truth (namely the way of true faith and religion as well as charity and virtue), — that is to say, among idolaters Tobias alone almost remained a true and pious worshipper of God. This was of great constancy and virtue, which Catholics now imitate in England, Scotland, Saxony, etc., and are therefore worthy of a heavenly crown, as noble and illustrious athletes of the faith. "Philosophy did not receive Plato as a nobleman, but made him one," says Seneca, epistle 44. A proverb of the Hebrews says: "A myrtle is always a myrtle, even if it is among nettles." See St. Gregory, book I of the Morals, chapter 1: "Just as it is a matter of graver fault," he says, "not to be good among the good, so it is of immense praise to have been good even among the wicked." St. Bernard, sermon 48 on the Canticle: "It is no small title of perfect virtue," he says, "to live good among the wicked and to retain the brightness of innocence among the malicious." Examples are found in the Maccabees, Job, Lot, whom for this reason St. Peter praises, II Epistle, chapter ii, in Noah and Abraham, and in the Philippians chapter ii, in the Pergamenes, Apocalypse ii.
Verse 3: He Shared All with His Fellow Captive Brethren
3. So that every day he shared all that he could have with his fellow captive brethren (Israelites) who were of his kindred, — both to comfort them in their captivity, and to relieve their hunger and poverty, and to preserve them in the true faith and religion, lest they should defect to the idols of the Assyrians in order to obtain the necessities of life from them. Here Tobias is praised before marriage for seven virtues: first, for constancy in faith; second, for charity toward his fellow citizens and tribesmen, verse 3; third, that he fled the company of the wicked, verse 5; fourth, for observance of the divine law, verse 6; fifth, for piety toward God, in the same place; sixth, that he faithfully offered to God all tithes and first fruits, in the same place; seventh, that from childhood he kept the rest of the commandments of the law, verse 8.
Verse 4: He Did Nothing Childish in His Conduct
4. And although he was the youngest of all, yet he did nothing childish in his conduct. — The same was done by St. Malachy, Bishop of Ireland; for as St. Bernard writes in his Life: "He conducted himself with the manners of an old man, though a boy in years, free from boyish wantonness." And he adds one particular thing: "Which indicates that it was a sign not only of a good but of a great hope in the boy. For when, drawn by the reputation of a certain teacher, he had come to him to learn letters, and had seen him playing with an awl and making I know not what furrows in a wall, offended," he says, "by this sight alone, the more serious boy, because it smelled of levity, recoiled from him." Such also Nazianzen describes, oration 20, St. Basil.
Golden is the teaching of St. Augustine on Psalm 103: "Let your old age," he says, "be childlike, and let your childhood be mature, that is, let your wisdom not be accompanied by pride, nor your humility be without wisdom, that you may praise the Lord from this time forth and forevermore."
For as Seneca complains of some, epistle 4: "We have the authority of old men, the vices of boys, and not only of boys, but of infants. The former fear trifles, the latter false things, we both."
Verse 5: He Alone Fled the Company of All
5. When all went to the golden calves (set up by Jeroboam the first king of Israel, erected and raised up as gods, III Kings xii, 28), he alone fled the company of all, but went to Jerusalem, — to worship the true God in the temple. "Alone," that is, nearly alone, for the Hebrew and Greek add that Ananias and Jonathan went with him. Tobias was therefore like the sun of Israel; for the sun is so called because it alone shines. St. Epiphanius, heresy 30, greatly praises Joseph, made a count by Constantine the Great, because at Scythopolis "he alone was orthodox," while all the rest were Arians. St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 20, praises St. Basil for having avoided with him the corrupt morals of the Athenian Academy. "And who," he says, "believes that a river flows fresh through a salt sea, or if there is an animal that leaps about in fire, which consumes all things — that was what we were among all those young men, corrupt and depraved as they were." And because the laughter and reproaches of many must be endured, let Epictetus be heard, Enchiridion chapter xix: "Do you wish to take up the study of wisdom? Prepare yourself immediately for this, that you will be ridiculed, as if many will mock you and say: This fellow has suddenly become a philosopher for us: and where does this haughtiness come from?" Nazianzen adds at the cited place, "We associated with companions who were not the most petulant, but the most temperate; not the most quarrelsome, but the most peaceful, and with whom it was most useful to deal, knowing that it is easier to catch a disease from companions than to give them virtue, since it is more natural to become a sharer in disease than to bestow health."
He went to Jerusalem, — the Greek adds, on the feasts, namely on the three principal feasts of the year: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, as the law commands, Exodus xxiii, 24.
Verse 7: In the Third Year
7. In the third year. — This was the third kind of tithe prescribed by the law, Deuteronomy xiv, 22. See what I noted there concerning the three tithes.
These were the seven illustrious virtues of Tobias before marriage; the same number will follow after marriage, namely: first, the pious education of his son, verse 9; second, abstinence from gentile foods, verse 12; third, that he was mindful of God with his whole heart, verse 13; fourth, that he gave counsels of salvation to his fellow captives, verse 15; fifth, that he lent a great weight of silver to Gabelus in need, verse 17; sixth, that in the persecution of Sennacherib he encouraged his people and helped them with every resource and effort, verse 19; seventh, that he fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and buried the dead, verse 20.
Verse 9: He Took a Wife, Anna
9. But when he had become a man, he took a wife, Anna, — for marriage requires manly age and strength, both for generating strong offspring, and for bravely bearing the labors and burdens of marriage and family. Wisely Pindar, and after him Athenaeus, book XI On the Feasts of the Wise: "Do not," he says, "pursue any action more mature than the number of your years," that is, do not enter into marriage before the proper age. Hear Aristotle, book VII Politics chapter xvi: "The union of young people is improper for the procreation of children, for in all animals the offspring of the young are imperfect, and females are born more often than males, and of small bodily form: wherefore the same must necessarily happen in humans. A conjecture for this would be that in whatever cities it is the custom for young males and girls to marry, in those same places the bodies of people are useless and puny, girls also labor more in childbirth, and more perish." And a little later: "For the sake of continence also, it is useful that marriages take place later; for those seem to be more intemperate who become accustomed to Venus while still girls. And the growth of male bodies is impeded if they enter into the habit while the seed is still increasing." But on account of the ardors of youth and the danger of incontinence, for many it is more salutary not to wait for such an age, but to marry sooner.
Verse 10: He Taught His Son to Fear God
10. He taught his son from infancy to fear God and to abstain from all sin. — The same was taught by David to his sons, Psalm xxxiii, 12, and Solomon, Proverbs iv, 4, and Ecclesiasticus chapter xxx, verse 1 and following. So St. Blanche often impressed upon her son St. Louis, King of France: "Flee from sin: I would rather see you dying than committing a mortal sin against your God."
Verse 12: He Was Never Contaminated by Their Foods
12. When all ate of the foods of the Gentiles (namely things offered to idols, that is, those which had been sacrificed to idols, or those forbidden by the Mosaic law, such as pork, etc.), he was never contaminated. — The same was done by Daniel, chapter 1, Eleazar, and the Maccabees, II Maccabees chapters vi and vii, who preferred to be tortured by Antiochus and fried in a frying pan, rather than eat pork forbidden by the law.
Verse 13: God Gave Him Grace in the Sight of Salmanasar
13. And because he was mindful of the Lord (and of all His commandments) with his whole heart, — so that he applied and gave his whole heart to knowing and fulfilling God's law and will in all things, God therefore repaid him in return with grace; for, as follows:
God gave him grace in the sight of King Salmanasar. — From this grace of the king he received three notable benefits. The first is expressed in verse 14: "And He gave him," it says, "the power to go wherever he wished, having liberty to do whatever he wanted," which liberty Tobias used very well, visiting the homes of the Hebrews and giving them counsels of salvation, as follows.
The second benefit consisted of ample gifts and donations, such that from them he handed over ten talents to Gabelus, and gave generous alms to needy Hebrews, as is clear from verses 19 and 20. Tobias was therefore rich and wealthy from the royal gifts and his office, of which presently.
The third benefit is added by the Greek text, which reads: and I was the buyer for the King, in Greek agorastes, that is, the buyer and procurator of all things pertaining to the king, whether grain, or clothing, or horses, or weapons, or estates, etc.; Tobias was therefore the steward of the royal household, as Joseph was for Pharaoh, Genesis xxv, whence the Hebrew reads: He was appointed over all things that Salmanasar had. Tobias was therefore the steward of the king, which is the first dignity in the royal court, and therefore honored, and of great salary and profit: from which consequently Tobias became wealthy, so that he could help all needy Hebrews with his generosity.
Verse 16: He Had Ten Talents of Silver
16. And from those gifts with which he had been honored (that is, rewarded and enriched) by the king, he had ten talents of silver. — Some, says Serarius, think these ten talents amounted to 3,072 French crowns; others to six thousand, because they assign to one talent six hundred crowns; others, like Cardanus, in his book On His Own Books, assign to one talent five hundred ducats, so that ten talents would make five thousand ducats. For nothing certain can be assigned here, because we do not know whether this talent was Babylonian, or Persian, or Hebrew: but it is certain that it was an enormous sum of many thousands of gold pieces; whence is clear the wealth of Tobias, as well as his charity and generosity toward Gabelus and other destitute Hebrews.
Verse 17: He Gave Gabelus the Said Weight of Silver
17. And when among the great multitude of his kindred (his nation) he saw Gabelus in need, who was of his tribe (Naphtali), he gave him the said weight of silver under a written bond (prudently, so that the debt would be secured). — For "gave," the Greek has aparithmei, that is, he deposited, as if this money were a deposit given to Gabelus to keep until Tobias should reclaim it and distribute it to the needy Jews living in Rages and Media; yet so as to give Gabelus the power to use it for his urgent necessity: therefore this deposit was at the same time a loan; but Tobias demanded no interest on the loan, indeed he asked nothing for his own lost profit or incurred loss, says St. Ambrose, book On Tobit, chapter xxiv: "He did not seek a pledge, he did not demand a guarantor." And chapter ii: "Consulting honor more than necessity, he had lent sustenance to his neighbor who lacked his own, which he did not demand back during the whole time of his life in such great want. When he saw himself worn out, as a deposit of old age, he made it known to his son: not so much desiring to demand back the loan, as anxious not to defraud his heir." See here the charity and generosity of Tobias.
Verse 18: Sennacherib Reigned in His Place
18. After a long time, when Salmanasar had died, and Sennacherib his son reigned in his place, and held the children of Israel in hatred, — from the beginning of his reign, but especially after the defeat of the 185,000 slain by an Angel in Judea, in the 14th year of Hezekiah king of Judah.
Verses 19-20: He Fed the Hungry and Buried the Dead
19. Tobias went daily through all his kindred, and comforted them, and divided to each as he could from his goods. 20. He fed the hungry, provided clothing to the naked, and was careful to give burial to the slain. — Behold, these are the works of piety and mercy, both corporal and spiritual, in which Tobias piously and holily exhausted his wealth and strength, for which he obtained the hope, and nearly the reality, and the crown of martyrdom; just as St. Januarius, St. Marius and Martha with their sons, and many others who visited, fed, and buried the bodies of martyrs, attained the crown of martyrdom.
St. Malachy, Bishop of Ireland, was an imitator of Tobias, of whom St. Bernard writes thus in his Life, shortly after the beginning: "Finally, his greatest care was in burying the dead poor, because this seemed to him to savor no less of humility than of humanity. Nor was there lacking to our new Tobias a renewed temptation from a woman, indeed from the serpent through a woman. His own sister, abhorring the indignity (as it seemed to her) of the office, said: What are you doing, you madman? Let the dead bury their dead. And she kept throwing this reproach at him daily, but the foolish woman was answered according to her folly. Wretched woman, you hold the words of chaste eloquence, but you are ignorant of its power. Thus the ministry to which he had been compelled to undertake, he held devoutly and exercised tirelessly."
Verse 22: The King Ordered Him to Be Killed
22. But when it was reported to the king (Sennacherib), he ordered him to be killed, and took all his property. — Tobias therefore willingly accepted the despoiling of all his goods, and flight, and exile, and even the sentence of death for his faith and charity; he was therefore a confessor, and a martyr in desire. Hear St. Ambrose, book On Tobit, chapter 1: "For the sake of the virtues he was endowed with, which he strove to practice, he underwent the hardship of captivity, which he bore humbly and patiently, grieving more for the common injury than for his private loss; nor lamenting that the merits of his virtues profited him nothing, but rather judging that insult to be less than the price of his sins."
Piously and wisely St. Bernard in the Sentences: "Martyrdom without blood," he says, "is threefold: Frugality in abundance, which David and Job had; generosity in poverty, which Tobias practiced, and the widow in the Gospel; chastity in youth, which Joseph used in Egypt."
Verse 23: Tobias Fled with His Son and Wife
23. But Tobias, fleeing with his son and wife, hid himself destitute. — The Hebrew says that Tobias hid for nineteen days.
Verse 24: His Own Sons Killed the King
24. After 45 days (from the defeat suffered and the flight from Judea) his own sons killed the king. — See the comments on IV Kings xxxii, 21.
Verse 25: All His Property Was Restored to Him
25. And Tobias returned to his house and all his property (wealth) was restored to him. — That which, of course, still remained. For it is clear that much had been consumed, plundered, sold off, and scattered by the king's officials, guards, and soldiers, from the fact that Anna, the wife of Tobias, sought her livelihood by weaving, as is said in chapter ii, 19. Hence St. Ambrose, chapter 1: "Hardly at last," he says, "through a friend, with his patrimony plundered, destitute and an exile, he was restored to his own." Note the phrase through a friend; for the Hebrew and Greek add that Tobias was restored to his goods through Achiacharus, or Akakarus, his nephew, who was in great favor and honor with Asarhaddon (whom the Greek calls Sarchedon), the son and successor of Sennacherib. For Achiacharus (whom our text, chapter xi, verse 20, calls Achior) was the son of Anael, who was the brother of Tobias, whom Asarhaddon appointed first, as his cupbearer; second, he gave him the royal ring, so that as keeper of the seal he could seal royal letters, as Mordecai was for Ahasuerus, Esther chapter iii; third, as governor (dioiketen) of the entire Assyrian empire; fourth, as superintendent of all accounts, or Comptroller; fifth, as second to himself, or his viceroy, as the Hebrew and Greek texts have.