Texts in Conversation
In the Confessions, Augustine recalls the blind Tobit teaching his son how to live, comparing Tobit to Isaac and Jacob as examples of people who cannot see physically but guide others by God's light.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Tobit 4:5
Deuterocanon
5 My child, be mindful of the Lord all your days, and do not let your will be set to sin and to transgress his commandments: do acts of righteousness all the days of your life, and do not walk in the ways of unrighteousness. 6 For if you do the truth, success shall be in your works, and so it shall be to all that do righteousness. 7 Give alms of your substance: do not turn away your face from any poor man, and the face of God shall not be turned away from you, 8 As your substance is, give alms of it according to your abundance: if you have much, according to the abundance of it, give alms; if you have little bestow it, and do not be afraid to give alms according to that little: 9 for you lay up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity: 10 because alms delivers from death, and does not allow one to come into darkness. 11 Alms is a good offering in the sight of the Most High for all that give it.
Augustine, Confessions 10.34
Early Christian
Light, which Tobit saw even with his eyes closed in blindness, when he taught his son the way of life—and went before him himself in the steps of love and never went astray; or that Light which Isaac saw when his fleshly "eyes were dim, so that he could not see" because of old age, and he was permitted to bless his sons unknowingly, but in the blessing of them to know them; or that Light which Jacob saw, when he too, blind in old age yet with an enlightened heart, threw light on the nation of men yet to come—presignified in the persons of his own sons—and laid his hands mystically crossed upon his grandchildren by Joseph (not as their father, who saw them from without, but as though he were within them), and distinguished them rightly: this is the true Light; it is one, and all are one who see and love it.
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Notes and References
“... Augustine speaks of Tobias leading his blind father in the
light of this world, whereas Tobit led Tobias, whilst being
blind, in God’s light to heaven (see Confessiones 10.34.52; ed.
O’Donnell 1992a:139; see also Augustine, Sermones de
scripturio Novi Testamenti 88.15–16; trans. Hill 1991:437). ...”
de Wet, Chris L.
The Book of Tobit in Early Christianity: Greek and Latin Interpretations from the 2nd to the 5th Century CE
(p. 9) HTS Teologiese Studies Vol. 76, No. 4, 2020
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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