Peter Raises Dorcas #42

Peter’s raising of Dorcas, also called Tabitha, is one of the few resurrection miracles in the New Testament that involves an apostle rather than Jesus himself. In the coastal town of Joppa, a well-loved disciple dies, and Peter is summoned from nearby Lydda. He prays, speaks to her body, and she opens her eyes. The account is in Acts 9.

The Account

Luke introduces Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas, both names meaning “gazelle,” as a disciple in Joppa “Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.” (Acts 9:36). She falls ill and dies. Her body is washed and laid in an upper room (Acts 9:37). Because Lydda is near Joppa, and the disciples have heard that Peter is there, they send two men to urge him to come without delay (Acts 9:38).

Peter goes with them, and when he arrives he is taken to the upper room, where all the widows stand beside him, weeping and showing him the tunics and other garments Dorcas made while she was with them (Acts 9:39). Peter sends everyone out, kneels down, and prays. Turning to the body, he says, “Tabitha, arise.” She opens her eyes, sees Peter, and sits up. He gives her his hand and raises her, then calls the saints and widows and presents her alive (Acts 9:40-41). The news spreads through Joppa, and many believe in the Lord. Peter stays there for some time with Simon, a tanner (Acts 9:42-43).

Setting and Context

Joppa is a port on the Mediterranean coast, the modern Jaffa. Luke places this story directly after Peter’s healing of Aeneas, a paralytic in Lydda (Acts 9:32-35), and just before Peter’s vision and the conversion of the Roman centurion Cornelius, which happens while he is still staying in Joppa with Simon the tanner (Acts 10). The details of the story, such as Peter sending the mourners out, kneeling in prayer, and speaking a short command, closely parallel Jesus’s raising of Jairus’s daughter, where he too puts the mourners out, takes the girl by the hand, and says in Aramaic “Talitha cumi,” rendered in the KJV as “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise” (Mark 5:41). Tabitha’s Aramaic name is almost identical to that phrase, a similarity many readers have noticed.

What It Reveals

Luke shows the apostles continuing the pattern of Jesus’s ministry, with the emphasis on prayer, not personal power. The miracle also honors the character of Dorcas. The widows do not describe her beliefs but show the clothing she made, and the text presents her good works as the witness of her discipleship.

Christian traditions see the account as a demonstration that the risen Christ continues to act through his followers, and as a sign of the church’s care for widows, a concern that also appears earlier in Acts 6:1-6. Some traditions have named Dorcas societies after her, groups that make and distribute clothing to those in need.