The
Meaning of Heart, Liver and Gall. Bede: The Lord gutted the
fish when he exposed more extensively to his saints the devil’s wickedness and
tore from their flesh, as it were, the secrets of his snares. He put away his
heart for himself because he wanted to point out in the holy books his cunning,
of which it is written, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any of the
beasts of the earth”; and of this heart Paul too says, “For we are well aware
of his intentions.” He also put away the gall, since, in his concern for
caution he wanted the extent of the malicious fury with which he raged against
the human race to be written about and put on record. The liver too he put away
because he deigned to make known to us through the teachers of the truth the
mischievous maturity of his intrigues against us. For they say that it is by
the heat and power of the liver the hidden properties of the food that is eaten
are “cooked out” and reach the system. But when with careful consideration we
seek to find in what order the things we propose to do are to be carried out,
we, as it were, cook out by the heat of the liver the foods received in the
stomach. On Tobit 6.5.
Christ’s
Heat Transforms the Faithful. Bede: The amount of the
fish they took for themselves signifies those who are changed from members of
the devil into members of Christ, that is, are converted from unbelief to the
faith; but the amount they left represents those who, on hearing God’s Word, prefer
to remain behind among the dead and decaying members of their deceiver rather
than return to the companionship of the Savior. He broiled its flesh in those
whom he found carnal but rendered spiritual and strong again by the fire of his
love. Finally the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles in a vision of fire.
“The rest,” he says, “they salted,” which is particularly applicable to
teachers to whom it is said, “You are the salt of the earth.” Now they, that
is, Tobias and the angel, salted it, because the same “mediator between God and
people” both humanly taught the apostles by word and divinely gave them the
salt of wisdom in their hearts. On Tobit 6.6. (Apocrypha, ed.
Sever J. Voicu [Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture; Downers Grove, Ill.:
Intervarsity Press, 2010], 18)
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