From: Tobit 2:9-14; 3:1
Tobit’s return
[11] Then my wife Anna earned money at women’s work. [12] She used to send
the product to the owners. Once when they paid her wages, they also gave her
a kid; [13] and when she returned to me it began to bleat. So I said to her,
“Where did you get the kid? It is not stolen, is it? Return it to the owners; for it
is not right to eat what is stolen.” [14] And she said, “It was given to me as a
gift in addition to my wages.” But I did not believe her, and told her to return it
to the owners; and I blushed for her. Then she replied to me, “Where are your
charities and your righteous deeds? You seem to know everything!”
Tobit’s prayer in Nineveh
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Commentary:
2:1-14 The festival of the Seven Weeks or Pentecost, so-called because it was
held fifty days after Passover (cf. Deut 16:9-12; Lev 23:16), was one of the festi-
vals involving pilgrimage to Jerusalem: during the exile it seems to have been
commemorated by a special meal held as a remembrance rite for the feast. By
looking after the needy, Tobit is fulfilling what the Law laid down should be done
during this festival — taking an interest in strangers, orphans and widows (cf.
Deut 16:14), although he is applying it to “brethren . . . mindful of the Lord” (v.
2). Despite his devoutness and ritual purity (v. 5; cf. Neh 19:11-12), Tobit has
to share in the suffering inflicted on the people on account of their sins (v. 6; cf.
Amos 8:10). But it gets worse than that: his works of mercy bring him misfor-
tune (first blindness and then penury), to the point that his wife has to take paid
work to make ends meet. Later, she queries whether he deserves to be suffering
in the way that he is. He can put up with physical blindness because his family
comes to his aid; but his wife’s criticism casts a shadow on his soul.
Tobit’s situation parallels that of everyone who strives to be faithful. As St Paul
says in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down,
but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the
life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” The Vulgate version of the
Bible includes after v. 10 some reflections on why Tobit should have had to suf-
fer in this way: see the RSVCE note on p. 615.
3:1-6 Tobit does not reply to his wife’s criticism; instead he entreats God in
language reminiscent of the Psalms — but whereas the Psalms always pray for
health and salvation, Tobit ends up praying for death. In this he is like Job (cf.
Job 3:20-23), although Tobit acknowledges that God is right to punish him for
his sins and those of his fathers, for which he feels responsible.
From the Greek text (where the RSV follows) one cannot deduce that Tobit en-
visages eternal life as a place of repose and joy in the presence of God; he sees
it a place where the dead will dwell for all eternity. But the Latin version of the
Vulgate implies that Tobit looks forward to being with the Lord. In any event, To-
bit puts his trust in God, which means he can desire death, in the same sort of
way that “the Christian can experience a desire for death like St Paul’s: ‘My de-
sire is to depart and be with Christ’ (Phil 1:23). He can transform his own death
into an act of obedience and love towards the Father, after the example of Christ”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1011).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.