Tabitha was a devout believer who lived in the seaport town of Joppa (modern-day Tel Aviv). Joppa is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea about 40 miles northwest of Jerusalem and was the major port for Israel.
Words: 1701 / Time to read: 9 minutes
Joppa is a familiar city to students of the Bible who will recognize it as the port where the cedars of Lebanon were floated to during the construction of Solomon’s Temple (2 Chronicles 2:8-9, 16). The story of Jonah records Joppa as the place that Jonah fled in disobedience to the Lord’s instructions (Jonah 1:1-3). We are introduced to Tabitha in Acts 9 where it implies that she was a devout believer in the Gospel. Her name was recorded in Aramaic (Tabitha) and Greek (Dorcas) which both mean Gazelle. In Bible times, names were descriptive so perhaps she was swift, graceful and had a keen sense of situational awareness. Aramaic was spoken among commoners of Jewish descent when conversing informally with other Jews and Greek was a more widely known language so it was used to reach a broader audience of multi-ethnic listeners. For reference, Hebrew was the official religious and political language of Jews but wasn’t used in everyday conversational settings.
Tabitha was a believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The circumstances of her conversion isn’t recorded but she is described as a believer by Luke so she must have received the Good News of the Gospel from some who had traveled to or from Jerusalem. Christ had told his disciples that the Holy Spirit would come on them and they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Those locations are expanding circles starting in Jerusalem and Joppa was relatively close so as the new converts traveled to their home regions, the Good News of the Gospel spread. Tabitha’s conversion must have been a result of this early movement (Acts 2:5-12).
As a result of her faith and gift of compassion for the poor, she used her talent as a seamstress to provide garments for the needy in her town. The implication is that she discounted her costs for time and materials substantially or provided them at no cost at all. Given her well known ministry of compassion for the needy, she may have been the recipient of donated materials which she customized for those who were in need. Her home may have been a gathering place for widows who felt welcomed and at ease in her presence. The fact that her name was translated into both Aramaic and Greek may be an indication that she provided for both Jewish and Hellenistic widows alike which would be in line with the ministry goal of the early deacons (Acts 6:1-4). The account in Acts mentions her because she had just passed away and the townspeople were mourning her death, especially the widows. They sent for Peter because of his reputation of performing miracles. When he arrived he made his way to an upper room in a residence where Tabitha had been bathed and prepared for burial. The widows were gathered there displaying the many garments Tabitha had made as an unofficial eulogy. It’s obvious she was dearly loved and they were perhaps uneasy about the prospect of finding someone who was equally talented and generous to provide for their needs. Peter cleared the room, prayed, and Tabitha was raised back to life.
You can always tell who the key people are in a community by the vacuum left when they vacate their position. This is true in business environments, community roles, and church positions. Some people leave and things go on without missing a beat. Others leave and there is a huge hole and the ramifications are long lasting and detrimental to normalcy. Tabitha’s ministry would not be easily replaced.
Tabitha lived and died prior to the writing of the Letter from James but she provides a good example of his teaching. She did not seek fame and notoriety for her kindness. She did what she did in humility and the quiet confidence that she was using her spiritual gift of compassion and her cultivated talent with the needle and thread to share the love of Christ with the needy.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27
We don’t know much more about Tabitha. There is no record of her ancestry, marital status, or other things she had been involved with in her lifetime. She is not mentioned in any other portion of the Bible. Her story is sandwiched in between the accounts of Aeneas (Acts 9:32-35) and Cornelius (Acts 10:1-48). Aeneas was a cripple who was healed by Peter and many people believed in the Gospel because of that miracle. The account of Tabitha being raised from the dead is then covered and many people reportedly believed the Gospel because of that miracle. Then the Apostle Peter stayed in her hometown at the house of Simon the tanner. During his stay in Joppa, the Holy Spirit revealed to Peter the important lesson that he must not consider anything impure that God has made clean (Acts 10:15). There is a threefold demonstration of the truth of that message on the rooftop of Simon’s house. Then immediately following that momentous revelation, he is summoned to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. It is here that the Holy Spirit confirmed that Cornelius and his household did indeed believe in the Gospel and so Peter baptized them all. When Peter returned to Jerusalem, he has to defend his actions and reveal to the circumcised believers that Gentiles are included with Jews as equals in the Gospel (Acts 11:1-18). This new message was also confirmed separately through the teaching of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians.
“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
Ephesians 2:11-22
So the story of Tabitha is a neat little standalone story of a dedicated believer who showed kindness to the poor. But in context, it played an important part of Peter’s confidence as an authoritative Apostle who was used to reveal the core doctrine of the Church as the body and bride of Christ. The True Church is compised of both Jew and Gentiles. This was a major new revelation of the New Testament and it was met with great resistance. Even Peter seemed to wander from the truth of it until he was confronted about his hypocrisy by the Apostle Paul (Galatians 2:11-13).
True believers today are able to discern the truth of the Gospel because of how it is faithfully presented and arranged in the Bible and the story of Tabitha plays a crucial role in that validation. She was dead and then was raised to life by the Apostle Peter who went on to defend the truth of the Church of God in Christ who are comprised of Jew and Gentile alike. What Bible-believing Christian can argue with such a solid doctrine? God has provided confidence to us even today because of his miracles performed long ago. The Bible is a great resource for believers. We should study, discuss and defend the mighty revelations God has provided. And we should follow the examples of the faithful everyday believers such as Tabitha.
“There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room. But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, ‘Please come as soon as possible!’
“So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them. But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up! He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive.
“The news spread through the whole town, and many believed in the Lord.”
Acts 9:36-42
All Scripture quoted from:
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
