III. SARAH, Daughter of Raguel and of Anna of the Tribe of Naphtali, and of the Kindred of Tobit. Sarah was an only Daughter, and her Father had married her to seven Husbands successively; but God had smitten them all with Death, before they consummated their Marriage1. ‘Twas said, that an Evil Spirit call’d Asmodæus hindred them from coming near her. One Day, when Sarah was reproving one of her Maids for some Fault she had committed, she upbraided Sarah, saying, Let us never see either Son or Daughter from you, you that have murder’d your Husbands: Would you also kill me, as you have already kill’d your seven Husbands? At these Words, Sarah went up into a Chamber that was at the Top of the House, and there continued in Prayer for three Days and three Nights, without either eating or drinking. The third Day she thus finish’d her Prayer to God; ” May thy Name be ” blessed, O God of our Fathers! Deliver ” me, O Lord, from this Reproach, or ” take me away from the Face of the ” Earth. Thou knowest that I have never ” desired an Husband, and that I have ” preserved my Soul pure from all evil ” Desires, and that I have never sought ” for the Company of such as are light ” and vain. If I have consented to take ” an Husband, I have done it in thy Fear, ” and not to gratify any Inclinations of ” my own: Either I was unworthy of ” those that were given me, or perhaps ” they were not worthy of me, and because thou hast reserved me for some ” other Spouse. O God of Israel, may ” thy Name be blessed in all Ages!”
This Prayer of Sarah was offer’d up to the Lord at the same time as that of Tobit, whom God had afflicted with the Loss of his Sight; and the Lord sent the Angel Raphael to relieve them both. The History of TOBIT may be seen under his Article. Young Tobias being upon his Journey to Rages, under the Conduct of Raphael, who had assumed a human Shape, they came to the City of Ecbatana2. Tobias asked Raphael where they should lodge. The Angel told him, There is here a Man call’d Raguel, who is of your Tribe, and one of your Relations; he has a Daughter call’d Sarah, who is his only Child; all his Estate ought to come to you; and you being his nearest Kinsman, according to the Law, ought to marry his Daughter: Ask her therefore of her Father, and he will give her you in Marriage. Tobias told him, He was afraid that the same thing might happen to him, as had already happen’d to Sarah’s seven former Husbands. But Raphael encouraging him, and having inform’d him in what Manner good People Tob. vii. 1,2,3,&c.should undertake Matrimony, they went together to Raguel. Tobias demanded Sarah in Marriage, and obtain’d her without Difficulty; especially when the Angel acquainted Raguel, that he had nothing to apprehend on this Account; that the young Man feared God; that his Daughter was reserved for him, and that it was upon his Account that no other could have her for Wife. Raguel having put his Daughter’s Hand into that of Tobias, he bless’d their Marriage, wrote the Contract, and made them a great Feast.
Tob. viii. 1,2,3,&c.When the Evening was come, Tobias was introduced into the Chamber of Sarah; then taking out of his Pocket a Part of the Liver of a Fish that he had taken in the Tigris, he put it upon burning Coals. The Demon Asmodæus being not able to endure this Fume, retired from thence; and the Angel Raphael seized him, and chained him down in the Upper Egypt. This was perform’d in an invisible manner, and no one was sensible of the Departure of the Evil Angel, but by the Safety of young Tobias. It is not easy to apprehend, according to the Notion that we now have of Good and Evil Angels, how Fumes and ill Scents are able to drive them away, nor how they can be pleased with good Smells and Perfumes. The Antients did not judge of these Things as we do. But abstracting from their Prejudices and our own in this Matter, we may believe that this Fume was only the moral or occasional Cause of the Flight of the Demon, and that it was Raphael, by God’s Appointment, that really drove him away. The good or ill Smell of the Liver of this Fish, might also make some Impression on the Senses of the married Couple; and might suppress in them the Motions of Concupiscence, and dispose them to pass this Night and the two following in Prayer and Continence. And this was, besides, a very effectual Method to drive from them the Demon of Impurity.
As to the rest, the Scripture often speaks of chaining the Devil a. Even profane Authors sometimes make use of this way of Speaking, to express the Action of a superior Force, or that of a more powerful Demon commanding an inferior, and not suffering him to act; and this, when they speak, for Example, of the Effects produced by Magick and Inchantment, or whether the Demon is overpower’d by Herbs, dead Bones, &c. But in Scripture and the Church, we acknowledge only the Force of the Name of Jesus Christ, the Prayers of the Saints, Exorcisms, and other spiritual Arms, that can really produce this Effect over Demons. Thus, when it is said, that the Angel Raphael chain’d down the Devil in the Desarts of the Upper Egypt; we ought to understand it, of the Power of God, in the Name and by the Orders of whom Raphael acted in all this. Our Dissertation may be consulted concerning the Demon Asmodæus, before the Book of Tobit.
To return to Sarah: Tobias having taken her to Wife, brought her back with him to Nineveh, where his Father Tobit dwelt: She was there the Mother of a numerous Posterity; and after the Death of old Tobit, Tobias took her back to her Parents at Ecbatana, with all their Children and Grandchildren.3 And this, because his Father Tobit, before his Death, had told them, that the Destruction of Nineveh was at hand, and that they ought to leave it as soon as possible, that they might not be involved in its approaching Calamity. The Year of Sarah’s Death is unknown; but she lived after the Year 3363, before Christ 637, before the Vulgar Era 641.
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