Tabitha
Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. Acts 9:40-41
Peter has been brought from the nearby town of Lydda to the home of the recently deceased Tabitha. In the local Aramaic language ‘tabitha’ meant gazelle. The Greek equivalent was ‘dorcas’ so the text uses both Tabitha and Dorcas when speaking of her.
Peter raised her from the dead. Why was Dorcas raised but virtually every other Christian who died around this time not raised? The answer lies in God’s wisdom. We don’t know the answer but the fact she was raised highlights the ministry she and other widows fulfilled.
With no mass production clothing manufacturers, everyday garments would have been mainly homemade. With no government welfare system, widows might have made needed money from selling garments. What made this woman different was her unusual generosity in giving away garments and proceeds from sales (Acts 9:36). This would have been extremely unusual for a widow.
Other widows were grieving over her, inferring the widows got together frequently (Acts 9:39). Dorcas might have even led the group.
We hear too little today of extreme generosity. What catches our eye in the media is more the rich giving away what seems to us a large amount of money. But here is someone who was probably poor by their standards giving, not out of her much, but out of her little.
Our generosity has to be under God’s direction but that must never be our reason for not being generous (“I just didn’t feel led to give all that much.”)
Generous Christians are soon led by the Holy Spirit to people or ministries genuinely in need. Not-so-generous Christians are not.
Which are you?
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