Monday Acts 9:36-43

Peter raises Tabitha from the dead.

Click here for an online Bible. Acts 9:36-43

God is moving Peter into position to launch the rest of the book of Acts. Saul has been chosen to be the apostle to the Gentiles, but he is still in Tarsus. The gospel has yet to reach the Gentiles. Luke’s narrative is setting the stage.

Peter healed Aeneas in Lydda. Meanwhile, a lady named Tabitha died three hours away in Joppa. Rather than prepare the body for burial like normal, they washed the body and sent for Peter. Raising people from the dead was unusual, but it had happened before. Jesus had raised three people from the dead and Peter was there each time.

Luke tells us that her name was Tabitha in Aramaic and Dorcas in Greek. Both words translate as gazelle. She might have been a widow since the other widows of Joppa seemed to be prominent at the scene.

You might want to go back and read chapter 5 of Mark’s gospel. When Jesus raised the daughter of Jarius from the dead He said to her, “talitha kumi,” which means, “little girl, get up.” When Peter raises Tabitha from the dead, he said in Aramaic, “Tabitha kumi” – only one letter different.

As with other miracles, many people saw the miracle and believed in Jesus.

But Peter is now in Joppa, a town on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. He is in position for the next phase of God’s plan.