Glossa Ordinaria

"Tobias." The book of Tobias is wholesome on the surface of the letter. For it abounds in the greatest examples of the moral life, and in warnings. But by as much as fruits surpass leaves, by so much does the allegory surpass the history. For it contains the greatest mysteries of the Church. For Tobias himself signifies the people of Israel, who, while the rest of the nations were given over to idolatry, served God with right faith and works. Whence: "When they went, etc." For Jeroboam, who fashioned golden calves for the deceiving of his subjects, expresses the worshippers of idolatry, whose accomplices are signified in the subjects. "Nephtlali." Breadth, of which: "Thy commandment is exceeding broad"; whose tribe, that is the sons, is the faithful people; its city is the Church, of which: "A city set upon a mountain cannot be hid." "Above Naasson." Naasson, augury; the city of this one augurs the things above, that is, contemplates heavenly things. The captivity of Tobias designates the captivity of the human race under the king of all the depraved, that is, the devil, who cast us down from the heavenly fatherland into the valley of this exile.