And in Joppa there was a certain female disciple, by name Tabitha, which being interpreted means Dorcas. She was full of good works and alms-deeds which she did.
One verse introduces a woman in the port town of Joppa. It gives her name in two languages, then sums up her whole life in a single line about her good works. It is one of the shortest biographies in the Bible. So what did the Holy Spirit want us to see in her?
Luke records her name in two languages. One writer traces the Aramaic form back to its Hebrew root.
It is the true Aramaic form of that time and country... The Hebrew word behind it means "beauty". But it usually stands for a "gazelle", "hart", or "roe", as in Deuteronomy, 2 Samuel, and the Song of Solomon. In our own language we call men and women Buck, Doe, Roe, Stag, and the like.
Another writer links the animal in the name to the way she lived:
"She was full of good works and acts of charity." Her activity was so great that Tabitha got a nickname — Dorcas. This means a doe or a roe. These graceful animals are very fast on their feet. So you can picture Tabitha moving about constantly and quickly on her errands of mercy.
One commentator warns that not every kind of charity earns the name:
This is a wonderful epitaph for a believer. It differs from many epitaphs written by men in one remarkable way: the unerring pen of the Holy Spirit recorded it. Her good works were therefore real good works. God had prepared them beforehand, so that she should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). For that reason, only the energy of the Spirit of God could have produced them... Many kinds of charitable effort are often given the grand title of "good works", and so they deceive many a simple soul.
The same writer explains what she gave, and why.
Her acts of charity are recorded as well as her good works. From the way that word is used, there is no reason to doubt that they consisted in giving money or food to those in need... She was rich in good works. She was ready to distribute, willing to share what she had. This was because she had learned "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). By that same grace she had become His representative in the world. She was a giver, because God, who had brought her to Himself, was a Giver.
The verse calls her a disciple. One writer spells out what that meant in practice:
Tabitha, or Dorcas, is described as a disciple at Joppa. She was a doer of the word and not a hearer only. Her pure and undefiled service before her God and Father was to remember the widows in their affliction and to keep herself unstained by the world. She was as full of good works and acts of charity as she was of faith.
Commentators differ on how far her example stretches. One notes what is missing from the account:
First, notice that the work of Dorcas was individual. There is not the slightest trace of any partnership with others. Clearly this was the special service the Lord had called her to, and she gave herself to it willingly. So her example cannot be used for anything beyond her own line of service.
Another writer answers those who oppose women following her example:
We have known narrow-minded people criticize and oppose women who follow the good example of Dorcas. May this be a rebuke to all such. The men in Joppa clearly shared the generous spirit of Dorcas. Not two women, but two men, went as a delegation to Peter.
One writer warns how easily this kind of service turns into pleasing ourselves:
If we are not watchful, there is some danger of pleasing ourselves in service of a Dorcas kind. We spend our efforts on selected cases and choose the ones that appeal to us. Then we meet the needs of some poor believers many times over, and almost entirely overlook the needs of others. The remedy is to have Christ Himself before us as the object of our service.
- Name. Tabitha points to beauty and to the gazelle — and her life matched the name, always moving on errands of mercy.
- Source. She gave because God had first given to her; grace received made her a giver and His representative in the world.
- Proof. Being a disciple showed itself in coats and garments; she was a doer of the word, not a hearer only.
- Scope. Widows in their affliction — real need, not selected favourites — with Christ Himself as the object of the service.
- Record. Her epitaph came from the unerring pen of the Holy Spirit, not from admirers — which is why her good works were good works indeed.
And it came to pass in those days that she grew sick and died; and, having washed her, they put her in [the] upper room.
One verse stands between Tabitha's life of sewing for widows and her return from the dead. Why did her friends carry her upstairs instead of burying her, and what were the believers at Joppa hoping for when they sent for Peter?
She had spent her time and strength making clothes for the poor. Death ended that work, and no one around her could undo it.
Death had claimed her: her active life looked to be over. A disaster had struck the people who depended on her charity. Weeping and wailing now filled their days. But neither the tears nor the cries, nor both together, could make the iron hand of death loosen its grip. The room of death might echo with cries — the dead woman did not hear them. Death paid no attention. Nothing less than God stepping in could bring Tabitha back to life.
The New Testament uses several different Greek words for washing. One writer sorts them out and names the one Luke uses here.
The act of washing the whole body is the one expressed by louein (John 13:10; Acts 9:37, 16:33; Heb. 10:22).
They did not take her to a grave. Commentators read both the room they chose and the urgent message to Peter as a sign of what they were hoping for.
In those days she fell sick and died. Now, if she was washed in the usual way, she was laid in an upper room — a suitable place to wait for the apostle to arrive. It seems clearly implied that the disciples looked for more than comfort. They sent messengers for the apostle at that very moment and would allow no delay, and he for his part answered their plea at once.
Nothing in their own experience supported that hope.
Instead of burying her promptly, the disciples sent two of their number to Peter, asking him to come without delay. Clearly they expected resurrection for her, and yet nothing of the kind had been seen since the day of Pentecost. Many of God's poor saints, like Stephen, had been put to death, but not one of them had been raised again.
Scripture's one-line description of her reads like an epitaph. A commentator asks who wrote it, and where works like hers come from.
"She was full of good works and acts of charity." (v. 36.) This is a wonderful epitaph for a saint of God. It differs from many such epitaphs written by men in one remarkable way: the unerring pen of the Holy Spirit recorded it. Her good works were therefore good works — such as God had prepared beforehand that she should walk in them (Eph. 2:10), and such, for that reason, as only the power of the Spirit of God could have produced.
So Peter came. One writer explains what he was really there for.
But Peter had not come for sympathy only or chiefly. He came for the glory of God, so that Jesus the Son of God might be glorified in the woman who was gone. So he put them all out, knelt down, and prayed. He did not seek to display the great work that was about to happen; he sought the Lord only. And he sought Him with the serious reverence that suited a man who walked in the presence of the Unseen, Who alone could help.
The answer to that prayer sent her back to the very work the verse had interrupted.
We think it is remarkable that God thought it good to call Tabitha back to earth. He answered the widows' tears and the apostle's prayer, and she continued her good work a little longer.
- Stopped. Her life of service ended mid-stride. Tears could not loosen death's grip; only God stepping in could reverse it.
- Washed. The word here is the one the New Testament uses for washing the whole body.
- Upstairs. They did not bury her. The upper room was a place to wait, and the "come without delay" message shows they wanted more than comfort.
- Untested. No one had seen a believer raised since Pentecost, so their hope rested on God's power, not on past experience.
- Returned. Peter came for God's glory, knelt and prayed, and God gave her back to keep doing the good works His Spirit had already recorded as hers.
But Lydda being near to Joppa, the disciples having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, beseeching him, Thou must not delay coming to us.
A believer named Tabitha has just died at Joppa, and Peter is about ten miles away at Lydda. Instead of burying her, the disciples send two men to fetch him — and the verse turns on one question: what did they expect him to do?
The verse begins with distance. Lydda, where Peter was staying, sat inland from the port of Joppa.
Town in Benjamin... In the New Testament it is called LYDDA, where Aeneas the paralytic was healed by Peter. It is said to be near Joppa. The distance is about ten miles if the identification is correct.
News of Peter's work at Lydda had already spread that far.
Peter's visit to Lydda had become well known, and his presence there seemed timely. So they turned to him, sending two men to ask him to visit them without delay. He went with the messengers.
The verse gives the senders no title beyond "the disciples." That was the ordinary word for every early Christian.
There are no "favoured ones" in Christianity... The early Christians were believers, saints, disciples, all of them (see Acts 1:15; 6:1; 9:38; 19:9; 20:7). Even the greatest of the apostles was simply a believer, a saint, a disciple along with the rest — though he was gifted from heaven and carried an authority no one could question.
They did not do what people normally do with a body. One writer reads that delay, and the urgency of their message, as a sign of what they hoped for.
Instead of burying her quickly, the disciples sent two of their own to Peter and asked him to come without delay. Meanwhile the body was washed and laid in an upper room. They plainly expected her to be raised, and yet, up to that moment, no one had seen anything like it since the day of Pentecost. Many of God's poor saints, like Stephen, had been put to death, but not one of them had ever been raised again.
The words of their request point the same way — they would not let him take his time.
If washed in the usual way, she was laid in an upper room, a suitable place to await the arrival of the apostle. For it seems fairly plainly implied that the disciples looked for more than consolation in sending messengers for the apostle just at that moment and allowing no delay; and he for his part promptly met their request.
Their loss was sharp, and their message urgent. Another writer traces what came of it.
The disciples felt her loss so deeply that they sent for Peter, asking him not to delay in coming to them. The apostle went and was allowed to restore her to life; then, "calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive." So the Lord stepped in at the cry of His people, and comforted their hearts.
So why send for Peter at all? Tears had changed nothing.
Weeping and wailing now occupied them; but neither the one nor the other, nor both together, could make the iron hand of death loosen its grasp. The room of death might echo with cries — the dead one did not hear them. Death paid no attention. Nothing less than the intervention of divine power could restore Tabitha to life. The Lord, we read, entrusted such power to no one but the apostles... So the Christians in Joppa could not raise the dead. Who on earth could?
When Peter arrived, three things came before the miracle.
He sends them out because he wants no fame or publicity. He kneels down because kneeling expresses submission to the Lord and dependence on Him. And he prays because he is about to do a most remarkable miracle, yet he knows he depends on the Lord to do it, and he is glad to say so.
One commentator reads the scene as a picture of something larger — Israel's restoration.
Tabitha is dead, and there is no human hope of recovery for her. We may weep and mourn, but she is gone from us. Yet those who share Peter's spirit may still pray, and not without hope, for Israel's resurrection. It will surely come, as it came in the case before us here, and Israel will live in far more than all the glory of her past.
- No distance — Lydda lay about ten miles from Joppa, and Peter was already there when the news came.
- No rank — the verse names the senders only as "disciples," the title every early believer carried, apostles included.
- No burial — they washed the body, laid it upstairs, and allowed Peter no delay. They wanted more than comfort.
- No precedent — no one had been raised since Pentecost, and believers like Stephen had died and stayed dead.
- No power of his own — Peter put everyone out and knelt, and the Lord stepped in at the cry of His people.
And Peter rising up went with them, whom, when arrived, they brought up into the upper chamber; and all the widows stood by him weeping and shewing him the body-coats and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.
Peter arrives at a house of mourning and is taken upstairs. The first thing he meets is not a speech but a room of widows holding up clothes. What they show him tells us what Dorcas did with her life, and why the disciples would not let his coming wait.
The body lay upstairs, waiting for Peter. One writer reads the urgency of the message as a sign that the disciples hoped for more than comfort.
If she was washed in the usual way, she was laid in an upper room — a fitting place to wait for the apostle's arrival. It seems clearly implied that the disciples looked for more than comfort when they sent for him at that moment and allowed no delay. He answered their appeal at once... There they were in the upper chamber. All the widows stood by Peter, not in tears only, but displaying the work of Dorcas' loving hands — the clothes, inner and outer, which she used to make while she was with them.
The ESV calls the first item a tunic; older translations say "coat." It was the ordinary inner garment, and the Lord Himself wore one.
The inner garment is the kethoneth, a long tunic worn by men and women. It was made of wool, cotton, or linen... The kethoneth matches the Greek chiton of the New Testament, usually translated 'coat.' The Lord's own coat, woven in one piece, was this garment (John 19:23). The same word describes the coats Dorcas made (Acts 9:39).
Luke names the widows here and the saints separately in verse 41. One writer draws a conclusion from that gap.
Notice also that Scripture keeps these widows distinct from the saints (v. 41). There may be a reason for this. It does not mean that none of them were saints. As we judge it, it shows that she worked for widows as a class. Perhaps she also worked in the spirit of the apostle's instruction: "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10)... James gives a voice to this for us. He says, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" (James 1:27).
Dorcas may have made many things. Only one kind of work reached the page.
Notice this especially. If Dorcas spent any of her time on decorative needlework — and we do not at all deny that she was free to do so — the results of that work are not mentioned. This will surely be significant to every spiritual mind. Only "the coats and the garments" find a place in the word of God. That teaches at least this much: work of this kind wins the Lord's approval.
The man who had preached at Pentecost now stands in a death chamber while women press round him with sewing. One writer imagines the excuses Peter could have made.
And what will Peter do? Will he stand on his dignity as an Apostle of the Lord? He was the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit on the great day of Pentecost. Will he say that such a man is too big to run after a dead sister and a crowd of weeping widows? No, Peter stands as a rebuke to critical and unsympathetic brothers. It is a charming scene.
Dorcas worked where there was need. One writer warns that such work can drift into pleasing ourselves.
If we are not watchful, there is a danger that we will please ourselves in ministry of the Dorcas kind. We may spend our efforts on cases we have picked out... The antidote is to keep Christ Himself before us as the object of our ministry. Remember this: it was not our merit but our need that drew out His heart to serve us. In the same way, the only motive for our loving service to His own should be their need.
One writer asks what would have been lost if her name had never reached the record.
Suppose Dorcas' work had never appeared in the Bible. Suppose she had lived and died and her name had been forgotten on earth. The Lord would still value the memory of her devotion and her practical sympathy with the needs of others just as highly.
- Shown, not said — the widows did not only weep. They held up the inner and outer clothes Dorcas made.
- Shown to whom — she worked for widows as a class, doing good to all, with special care for the household of faith.
- Shown of what — Scripture records the plain coats and garments, not any decorative work.
- Shown to Peter — the apostle who spoke at Pentecost came at once and stood among weeping women. That rebukes anyone who thinks such service beneath notice.
- Shown by need — need, not preference, drew her out. The Lord values such work even when no one writes it down.