Tobit’s Dog Teaches Us about Advent
You may not find the following version of Tobit 11:9 in your Bible, but you will if you read the Vulgate or a translation thereof. Tobias has just come back from his journey with Raphael (but they don’t know that he is Raphael) to his father, who is still blind. There has been a dog with them on the journey.
Vulgate (Tobias 11:9):
Appropinquantibus domui praecucurrit canis, qui simul fuerat in via, et quasi nuntius adveniens blandimento suae caudae gaudebat.
My translation:
As they approached the house, the dog, that had been on the road as well, ran ahead and, arriving like a herald, rejoiced with a wag of his tail.
There are some interesting notes. First, nuntius (messenger, herald) is a bit ironic since the dog has been traveling with Raphael. Remember that the Greek word for the Latin nuntius is angelos. So, the dog arrives “like an angel.” Second, though in English we say that a dog “wags his tail,” the Latin uses the word blandimentum, which refers not to the physical motion but to its social significance. It can mean “flattery,” “fawning,” and even “delight.” The dog was literally “rejoicing with the fawning of his tail.”
I’ve got to admit, I like this verse. I like the “small” and seemingly insignificant verses the Bible. Knowing that those details are the Word of God, helps me to appreciate the depth of revelation. There is also much more meaning that can be gleaned from such verses than you might think.
Let’s see what St Bede the Venerable said in his allegorical commentary on Tobit:
Non contemnenda est figura canis hujus, qui viator et comes angeli est. Doctores ergo, sicut et supra docuimus, exprimit Ecclesiae, qui saepe confligendo cum haereticis, lupos graves a Pastoris summi fugant ovili. Quibus bene congruit, quod canibus naturale est, beneficis rependere gratiam, et sollicitas excubias pro dominorum salute praetendere. Praecurrit ergo canis; quia prius salutem praedicat domui, deinde Dominus illuminator corda mundi. Et pulchre dicit quasi nuntius adveniens, quia nimirum doctor quisque fidelis nuntius est veritatis; pulchre, blandimento suae caudae gaudebat: cauda quippe, quae finis est corporis, finem bonae operationis, id est perfectionem, vel certe mercedem, quae sine fine tribuitur, insinuat. Blandimento ergo caudae gaudebat canis, cum tecta dominorum, quibus diu aberat, reviseret. Gaudent doctores de affectu sui operis, cum Judaeam per suum ministerium a Domino recolligendam intelligunt. Gaudent de praemii perceptione vitae sempiternae, et de hoc eodem praemio cunctis electis communi, corda eorum, quibus praedicant, exhilarant, dum eis adventuram confestim Christi gratiam promittunt.
Annuntiante igitur cane venisse Tobiam, exsurgens caecus pater ejus coepit offendens pedibus currere. Audito a doctoribus verbo salutis, exsurrexit populus
Hebraeorum de longo perfidiae suae veterno, currit amore ad Dominum; quamvis offendens gressibus operum, donec plenitudo fidei et operationis bonae, lucem recipiat regeneratus in Christo, et instructus.
My translation:
The figure of this dog, who is a way-farer and the companion of the angel, should not be spurned. Therefore, as we also taught above, it signifies the doctors of the Church, who often in struggling with heretics drive off troublesome wolves from the flock of the highest Shepherd. What is natural to dogs corresponded well to them, namely: to give back thanks for favors and to be concerned with watchful guard for the welfare of their masters. Thus the dog ran ahead because it first preaches salvation [In Latin, "welfare" and "salvation" are the same word] to the house, that is, the Lord who enlightens the hearts of the world. And it says beautifully “arriving like a herald” because each doctor is especially the faithful herald of the truth. Beautifully, also [it says that] “he rejoiced by wagging his tail” for the tail, which is the end of the body, points toward the end of good working, that is perfection or the reward that is given without end. So the dog rejoiced by wagging his tail when it saw again the roofs of its masters which it had not seen for so long. The doctors rejoice in the passion of their work since they understand that Judea will be reclaimed by the Lord through their ministry. They rejoice in seeing the prize of everlasting life, and their hearts rejoice in this same prize that is common to all the elect, to whom they preach, while they promise to them that the grace of Christ is to come at once.
Therefore, when the dog announced that Tobias had come, his blind father arose and began to run, stumbling. The Hebrew people, having heard the word of salvation from the doctors, rose from the long lethargy of their disbelief, runs to the Lord. It is as if they were stumbling in their works until, regenerated and taught in Christ, they could receive the light, the fullness of faith and good working.
This passage teaches us a lot about Advent:
Appropinquantibus domui praecucurrit canis, qui simul fuerat in via, et quasi nuntius adveniens blandimento suae caudae gaudebat.
The dog runs out beforehand. He is the precursor to the coming of Tobias and Raphael, who will bring light and health into Tobit’s darkness. Tobit’s mother had already begun to despair of his ever returning, so these are the people who “sit in darkness and the shadow of death.” But, at the herald’s arrival (adventus), the father stands up. The herald’s message is one of joy (gaudium) and hope.
