But as he went, he remembered the words of Raphael, and took the ashes of the incense, and put the heart and the liver of the fish on them, and made smoke with them.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 2. Bag, (cassidili) resembling a wallet or pannier, for provisions. Calmet.—Liver. Calmet. 6:8. This mystically represented the Passion of Christ, by which the devil is expelled from men’s hearts. Saint Augustine ser. 28, de Sanct. Prosper, promis. ii. chapter 39. Worthington.—Greek “and he took the ashes of incense, and placed thereon the heart of the fish and the liver, causing them to smoke. And when the devil perceived the odour, he fled to the highest parts of Egypt, and the angel bound him,” ( Bible.) confining his malice to those deserts. Jesus Christ insinuates that the devil walks through dry places. Matthew 12:24. The angel was not seen to absent himself: Calmet.—This country was chosen as being very remote from Media. Houbigant.—It was afterwards sanctified by the presence of many Christian solitaries. Bible.—Our adversaries laugh at this account. But surely Christ has used similar expressions of binding the devil, who cannot molest people, when he is not present; (Houbigant) or do any thing without the divine permission. Calmet. 6:17. Bible.