*Sacred Scripture* Tobias Restoring His Father’s Sight – Hemessen

A sixteenth-century depiction of Tobias healing his father’s blindness with the gall of a fish, while his family steadies the elderly Tobit and the Angel Raphael watches. This is by the artist J. Hemessen.

Tb 11:9-18

Sight Restored.

9Then Anna ran up to her son, embraced him, and said to him, “Now that I have seen you again, son, I am ready to die!” And she sobbed aloud.^a

10Tobit got up and stumbled out through the courtyard gate to meet his son. Tobiah went up to him

11with the fish gall in his hand and blew into his eyes. Holding him firmly, he said, “Courage, father.” Then he applied the medicine to his eyes, and it made them sting.

12^{, blank}

13Tobiah used both hands to peel the white scales from the corners of his eyes. Tobit saw his son and threw his arms around him.

14Weeping, he exclaimed, “I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!” Then he prayed,

“Blessed be God,

blessed be his great name,

and blessed be all his holy angels.

May his great name be with us,

and blessed be all the angels throughout all the ages.

15God it was who afflicted me,

and God who has had mercy on me.

Now I see my son Tobiah!”

Then Tobit went back in, rejoicing and praising God with full voice. Tobiah related to his father how his journey had been a success; that he had brought back the money; and that he had married Raguel’s daughter Sarah, who was about to arrive, for she was near the gate of Nineveh.^b

16Rejoicing and blessing God, Tobit went out to the gate of Nineveh to meet his daughter-in-law. When the people of Nineveh saw him coming, walking along briskly, with no one leading him by the hand, they were amazed.

17Before them all Tobit proclaimed how God had shown mercy to him and opened his eyes. When Tobit came up to Sarah, the wife of his son Tobiah, he blessed her and said: “Welcome, my daughter! Blessed be your God for bringing you to us, daughter! Blessed are your father and your mother. Blessed be my son Tobiah, and blessed be you, daughter! Welcome to your home with blessing and joy. Come in, daughter!” That day there was joy for all the Jews who lived in Nineveh.

18Ahiqar and his nephew Nadin^* were also on hand to rejoice with Tobit. Tobiah’s wedding feast was celebrated with joy for seven days, and many gifts were given to him.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/tobit/11

Story Summary

Tobit, a devout Hebrew, suffers from a blinding whiteness in his eyes that he attributes to accidental contamination from the droppings of sparrows. Previously, he had left some silver with his relative Gabael in Media and wants to send his son Tobias to redeem it. Tobit hires a kinsman named Azariah (in actuality the archangel Raphael) to accompany Tobias. They depart, and one evening Tobias, bathing his feet in the Tigris River, encounters a large, aggressive fish. Azariah instructs him to capture the fish and remove the liver, heart, and gall bladder, the first two organs as remedies for banishing demons and the third as a salve to anoint eyes blinded by a white film.

Soon afterward, Tobias encounters and marries the widow Sarah, whose previous seven husbands were killed by demons. As instructed by Azariah, Tobias burns the liver and heart of the fish, the smoke of which drives away the demon, enabling Tobias to marry Sarah. Subsequently, Tobias, eager to see his father, returns home with Sarah and Azariah, and rubbing the gall of the fish on his father’s eyes, heals his blindness: “. . . and the white films scaled away from the corners of his eyes; and he saw his son” (possibly the origin of the expression, “The scales fell from his eyes,”). When Tobit attempts to recompense Azariah, the angel reveals himself and ascends into the heavens.