And I knew not that there were sparrows in the wall, and mine eyes being open, the sparrows muted warm dung into mine eyes, and a whiteness came in mine eyes: and I went to the physicians, but they helped me not: moreover Achiacharus did nourish me, until I went into Elymais.
All Commentaries on Tobit 2:10 Go To Tobit 2
Bede
AD 735
Do not be surprised, reader, that sometimes, typologically speaking, people’s good deeds have a bad meaning and their bad deeds a good meaning; that “God is light” would never have been written in black ink but always in bright gold if this were not permissible. But even if you should write the name of the devil in pure white chalk, it still means deep darkness. Tobit’s being blinded, therefore, denotes, as the apostle says, “that blindness has come on a part of Israel.” He was wearied with burying and blinded, because the one who tirelessly perseveres in good works is never deprived of the light of faith; the one who neglects to watch and stand firm in the faith and act powerfully and be strengthened spiritually lies down and sleeps from fatigue. The apostle’s saying fits him well: “Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.” Because of their swift flight, swallows are a figure of pride and volatility of heart, since their uncleanness immediately blinds those over whom it holds sway. For the one who recklessly enslaves his soul to the volatility of licentiousness and pride sleeps, as it were, lying down beneath a swallow’s nest. Now this blindness got the better of the people of Israel especially as the coming of the Lord in the flesh was imminent, when they were both being oppressed by the yoke of Roman slavery and transgressing the precepts of the divine law by very immoral living.
