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The old and
blind Tobias the Elder, a righteous man, sends his son, Tobias the
Younger, to get money that is due to him from a man named Gabelus. St.
Raphael the Archangel shows up under the guise of "Azarias the son of
the great Ananias" to accompany him.
On this journey, the young Tobias is almost killed by a very large
fish, but Raphael tells him to catch it and save its heart, liver, and
gall to use as medicines. Continuing on, they stop at the house of
Raguel, who has a daughter named Sara. Raphael tells Tobias to take
Sara for a wife, and he does. While Tobias and Sara pray, Raphael goes
on to the house of Gabelus, collects the money, and invites him to the
wedding feast.
After the celebrations, and after enough time is spent such that Tobias
is concerned that his parents would be very worried about his absence,
he, his wife, and Raphael return home, and Tobias cures his father's
blindness using the gall from the fish Raphael told him to keep.
All during this journey, they were accompanied by a dog. Care is taken
in Scripture to note that the dog was there from the beginning of the
journey, remained to the end, and that, upon their return home, the dog
was full of "joy" that he showed by "fawning and wagging his tail." The
notes in the Douay say, my emphasis,
This may seem a
very minute circumstance to be recorded in sacred history: but as we
learn from our Saviour, St. Matt. 5. 18, there are iotas and tittles in
the word of God: that is to say, things that appear minute, but which have indeed a deep and
mysterious meaning in them.
The dog isn't
mentioned elsewhere -- not before the journey, nor during, nor after
their return. He's mentioned only at the begging and the end:
Tobias 6:1
And Tobias went forward, and the dog followed him, and he lodged the
first night by the river of Tigris.
Tobias 11:9
Then the dog, which had been with them in the way, ran before, and
coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and
wagging his tail.
What could the presence of the
faithful little dog mean?
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