◄ Acts 9:37 ►
At that time, however, she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upper room.
Study Bible
At that time, however, she became sick and died,

This phrase refers to the events surrounding Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, a disciple in Joppa. The timing is significant as it occurs during the early growth of the Christian church. The mention of her sickness and death highlights the reality of human mortality, even among the faithful. In the cultural context of the time, illness and death were common, and medical knowledge was limited. This event sets the stage for a miraculous intervention, reminiscent of Jesus' own miracles, such as the raising of Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:21-43).

1Ki 17:17-24 Later, the son of the woman who owned the house…
2Ki 4:18-20 And the child grew, and one day he went out…
Jhn 11:1-4 At this time a man named Lazarus was sick.…

and her body was washed

The washing of the body was a customary Jewish practice, signifying respect and preparation for burial. This act reflects the cultural and religious traditions of the time, emphasizing the community's care for the deceased. It also underscores the finality of death, as preparations for burial were typically made when there was no expectation of recovery.

Jhn 19:39-40 Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night…
Mat 27:59-60 So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,…
Luk 23:53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth,…

and placed in an upper room.

The upper room was often used for important gatherings and events, as seen in the Last Supper (Luke 22:12-13). In this context, placing Tabitha's body in an upper room may indicate a place of honor or a space large enough to accommodate mourners. It also sets the scene for Peter's arrival and the subsequent miracle, drawing a parallel to the resurrection power demonstrated by Jesus. The use of an upper room connects to themes of hope and divine intervention, as it becomes a place where life is restored.

2Ki 4:10 Please let us make a small room upstairs…
2Ki 4:21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God.…
2Ki 4:32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Tabitha (also known as Dorcas)
A disciple in Joppa known for her good works and acts of charity. Her life and death are central to this passage.

2. Joppa
A coastal city in ancient Israel, significant as a setting for this event. It was a hub of early Christian activity and a place where Peter performed a miracle.

3. The Upper Room
A place where Tabitha's body was laid after her death. This setting is reminiscent of other significant biblical events, such as the Last Supper and the gathering of the disciples at Pentecost.

4. The Disciples in Joppa
Fellow believers who were deeply affected by Tabitha's death and took action by sending for Peter.

5. Peter
One of Jesus' apostles, who was called to Joppa to address the situation. His role in this event highlights the power of faith and the continuation of Jesus' ministry through His apostles.
Teaching Points
The Power of Community
The disciples in Joppa exemplify the strength of Christian community. In times of crisis, they come together to support one another and seek divine intervention.

Faith in Action
Tabitha's life was marked by good works and charity. Her example encourages believers to live out their faith through tangible acts of kindness and service.

The Continuation of Jesus' Ministry
Peter's role in this event shows that the apostles carried on Jesus' work, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Believers today are called to continue this mission.

Hope Beyond Death
The resurrection of Tabitha serves as a reminder of the Christian hope in eternal life and the power of God to overcome death.

The Importance of Prayer and Seeking God
The disciples' decision to send for Peter reflects their reliance on God and the importance of seeking His guidance and intervention in difficult times.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the community's response to Tabitha's death reflect the role of the church in times of crisis?

2. In what ways can we emulate Tabitha's example of good works and charity in our own lives?

3. How does the miracle of Tabitha's resurrection reinforce the message of hope found in the resurrection of Jesus?

4. What can we learn from the disciples' decision to send for Peter about seeking God's help in challenging situations?

5. How does the setting of the upper room in this passage connect to other significant biblical events, and what does this teach us about God's presence in our lives?
Connections to Other Scriptures
John 11
The account of Lazarus being raised from the dead by Jesus. Both accounts demonstrate the power of God over death and the importance of faith.

Mark 5
The healing of Jairus' daughter by Jesus. This passage parallels the miracle performed by Peter in raising Tabitha, showing the continuity of Jesus' power through His apostles.

Acts 2
The gathering of the disciples in the upper room at Pentecost. This connection emphasizes the significance of the upper room as a place of divine intervention and community.
Sermons
Works of PeaceE. Johnson Acts 9:31-43
AeneasC. H. Spurgeon.Acts 9:32-43
LyddaDean Plumptre.Acts 9:32-43
Peter At LyddaD. Thomas, D. D.Acts 9:32-43
Peter Working MiraclesG. C. Heckman, D. D.Acts 9:32-43
Peter Working MiraclesSermons by the Monday ClubActs 9:32-43
Summarised ServiceJ. Parker, D. D.Acts 9:32-43
The Miraculous and the SupernaturalW. Clarkson Acts 9:32-43
Working Like ChristA. Maclaren, D. D.Acts 9:32-43
A Devoted WomanActs 9:36-43
Caring for OthersJ. Ruskin.Acts 9:36-43
DorcasJ. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.Acts 9:36-43
DorcasW. Jay.Acts 9:36-43
DorcasC. S. Robinson, D. D.Acts 9:36-43
Dorcas Raised to LifeJ. M. Durrell.Acts 9:36-43
Dorcas: the Lessons of Her Life and DeathS. S. TimesActs 9:36-43
Joppa or Yafa Means BeautyS. S. TimesActs 9:36-43
Noble Womanly ServiceH. W. Beecher.Acts 9:36-43
Power in the GospelMonday Club SermonActs 9:36-43
The Appropriate Duty and Ornament of the Female SexS. Miller, D. D.Acts 9:36-43
The Christian NeedlewomanT. De Witt Talmage, D. D.Acts 9:36-43
The Emphatic Mark of Divine Approbation Which Christianity Puts Upon Womanly KindnessP.C. Barker Acts 9:36-43
The Home Mission, a Call to Our TimeK. Gerok.Acts 9:36-43
The Poor Should be Cared ForC. H. Spurgeon.Acts 9:36-43
The Raising of DorcasR.A. Redford Acts 9:36-43
The Resurrection of Dorcas -- a TypeK. Gerok.Acts 9:36-43
The Useful are Sometimes Snatched Unexpectedly AwayS. Rutherford.Acts 9:36-43
The Work for Christian WomenChristian HeraldActs 9:36-43
Traits of a Noble WomanGreat ThoughtsActs 9:36-43
People
Aeneas, Ananias, Barnabas, Dorcas, Grecians, Judas, Lud, Peter, Saul, Simon, Tabitha
Places
Azotus, Caesarea, Damascus, Galilee, Jerusalem, Joppa, Judea, Lydda, Samaria, Sharon, Straight Street, Tarsus
Topics
Ailed, Bathed, Body, Chamber, Death, Died, Fell, Got, Grew, Ill, Laid, Pass, Placed, Room, Sick, Upper, Upstairs, Washed, Washing
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Acts 9:37

     5288   dead, the
     5553   stairways

Acts 9:36-37

     5297   disease

Acts 9:36-39

     5320   funeral
     8332   reputation
     8811   riches, attitudes to

Acts 9:36-41

     1416   miracles, nature of
     5743   widows

Acts 9:36-42

     5745   women

Library
'This Way'
'Any of this way.'--ACTS ix. 2 The name of 'Christian' was not applied to themselves by the followers of Jesus before the completion of the New Testament. There were other names in currency before that designation--which owed its origin to the scoffing wits of Antioch--was accepted by the Church. They called themselves 'disciples,' 'believers, 'saints,' 'brethren,' as if feeling about for a title. Here is a name that had obtained currency for a while, and was afterwards disused. We find it five times …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

A Bird's-Eye view of the Early Church
'So the Church throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being edified; and, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, was multiplied.'--ACTS ix. 31 (R.V.). A man climbing a hill stops every now and then to take breath and look about him; and in the earlier part of this Book of the Acts of the Apostles there are a number of such landing-places where the writer suspends the course of his narrative, in order to give a general notion of the condition of the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Grace Triumphant
'And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2. And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them hound unto Jerusalem. 3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? 5. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Copies of Christ's Manner
'And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed.... 40. But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down and prayed; and, turning him to the body, said, Tabitha, arise.--ACTS ix. 34, 40. I have put these two miracles together, not only because they were closely connected in time and place, but because they have a very remarkable and instructive feature in common. They are both evidently moulded upon Christ's miracles; are distinct imitations of what Peter had …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Directions to Awakened Sinners.
Acts ix. 6. Acts ix. 6. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do. THESE are the words of Saul, who also is called Paul, (Acts xiii. 9,) when he was stricken to the ground as he was going to Damascus; and any one who had looked upon him in his present circumstances and knew nothing more of him than that view, in comparison with his past life, could have given, would have imagined him one of the most miserable creatures that ever lived upon earth, and would have expected …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

Paul's First Prayer
First, our text was an announcement; "Behold, he prayeth." Secondly, it was an argument; "For, behold, he prayeth." Then, to conclude, we will try to make an application of our text to your hearts. Though application is the work of God alone, we will trust that he will be pleased to make that application while the word is preached this morning. I. First, here was AN ANNOUNCEMENT; "Go to the house of Saul of Tarsus; for behold, he prayeth." Without any preface, let me say, that this was the announcement …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

Paul a Pattern of Prayer
"Go and inquire for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth."--ACTS ix. 11. "For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting."--1 TIM. i. 16. God took His own Son, and made Him our Example and our Pattern. It sometimes is as if the power of Christ's example is lost in the thought that He, in whom is no sin, is not man as we are. Our Lord took Paul, a man …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

Prov. 22:06 the Duties of Parents
"Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it."--Prov. 22:6. I SUPPOSE that most professing Christians are acquainted with the text at the head of this page. The sound of it is probably familiar to your ears, like an old tune. It is likely you have heard it, or read it, talked of it, or quoted it, many a time. Is it not so? But, after all, how little is the substance of this text regarded! The doctrine it contains appears scarcely known, the duty it puts …
John Charles Ryle—The Upper Room: Being a Few Truths for the Times

"To Me to Live is Christ"
PHILIPPIANS i. 21. In connection with ACTS ix. 1--18. THERE is no more significant sign of the days in which we live than the interest society seems to be taking in the biographies of great men. Almost all the more popular recent books, for instance--the books which every one is reading and has to read--come under the category of biography; and, to meet the demand, two or three times in each season the market has to be supplied with the lives, in minute detail, of men who but for this would perhaps …
Henry Drummond—The Ideal Life

The Future of Christ's Kingdom First Group of Epistles the First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians Introduction to the Epistles of Paul +Epistolary Writings. + --The
STUDY VII THE FUTURE OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM FIRST GROUP OF EPISTLES THE FIRST AND SECOND EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLES OF PAUL +Epistolary Writings.+--The New Testament is composed of twenty-seven books, twenty-one of which are Epistles. Of this latter number thirteen are ascribed to Paul. It is thus seen how largely the New Testament is made up of Epistles and how many of these are attributed to the Great Apostle. In the letters of men of great prominence and power of any …
Henry T. Sell—Bible Studies in the Life of Paul

The New Testament Text and Its History.
The history of the New Testament text naturally falls into two main divisions, that of the manuscript text, and that of the printed text. A few remarks will be added on the principles of textual criticism. See PLATES at the beginning of this book. [Transcriber's Note: Transcriptions of the Plates are at the end of this e-book.] I. THE MANUSCRIPT TEXT. 1. The preservation of the primitive text of the gospels from all essential corruptions, additions, and mutilations has already been shown …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Sharon. Caphar Lodim. The Village of those of Lydda.
Between Lydda and the sea, a spacious valley runs out, here and there widely spreading itself, and sprinkled with villages. The holy page of the New Testament [Acts 9:35] calls it Saron: and that of the Old calls the whole, perhaps, or some part of it, 'the plain of Ono,' Nehemiah 6:2, 11:35; 1 Chronicles 8:12... The wine of Sharon is of great fame, with which they mixed two parts water: and remarkable is that they say concerning the houses of Sharon. R. Lazar saith, "He that builds a brick house …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Caphar Tebi.
And this village neighboured upon Lydda, situate on the east of it. "R. Eleazar had a vineyard of four years' growth; on the east of Lydda, near Caphar Tebi." Of it there is this mention also:-- "They sometime brought a chest full of bones from Caphar Tebi, and they placed it openly in the entrance to Lydda. Tudrus the physician and the rest of the physicians go forth"--(namely, that they might judge, whether they were the bones of men or no; and thereby, whether they were to be esteemed clean or …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Sources and Literature on St. Paul and his Work.
I. Sources. 1. The authentic sources: The Epistles of Paul, and the Acts of the Apostles 9:1-30 and 13 to 28. Of the Epistles of Paul the four most important Galatians, Romans, two Corinthians--are universally acknowledged as genuine even by the most exacting critics; the Philippians, Philemon, Colossians, and Ephesians are admitted by nearly all critics; the Pastoral Epistles, especially First Timothy, and Titus, are more or less disputed, but even they bear the stamp of Paul's genius. On the coincidences …
Philip Schaff—History of the Christian Church, Volume I

The Knight of God
Heinrich Suso Acts ix. 16 As the song of him who singeth, Playing on a harp of gold, So to me was Christ's evangel In the days of old. Thus across the lake of Constance Went I forth to preach His Word, And beside me sat the squire Of a noble Lord. None in all the ship so knightly, None so bravely dight as he-- "Tell me," I besought, "thine errand Yonder o'er the sea." "I go forth," he said, "to gather Many a knight and noble bold; They shall tilt at joust and tourney, Whilst fair eyes behold. …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Such, we May Believe, was that John the Monk...
21. Such, we may believe, was that John the Monk, whom the elder Theodosius, the Emperor, consulted concerning the issue of the civil war: seeing he had also the gift of prophecy. For that not each several person has a several one of those gifts, but that one man may have more gifts than one, I make no question. This John, then, when once a certain most religious woman desired to see him, and to obtain this did through her husband make vehement entreaty, refused indeed this request because he had …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead.

Whether any Preparation and Disposition for Grace is Required on Man's Part?
Objection 1: It would seem that no preparation or disposition for grace is required on man's part, since, as the Apostle says (Rom. 4:4), "To him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt." Now a man's preparation by free-will can only be through some operation. Hence it would do away with the notion of grace. Objection 2: Further, whoever is going on sinning, is not preparing himself to have grace. But to some who are going on sinning grace is given, as is …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether the Form of this Sacrament Is: "I Absolve Thee"?
Objection 1: It would seem that the form of this sacrament is not: "I absolve thee." Because the forms of the sacraments are received from Christ's institution and the Church's custom. But we do not read that Christ instituted this form. Nor is it in common use; in fact in certain absolutions which are given publicly in church (e.g. at Prime and Compline and on Maundy Thursday), absolution is given not in the indicative form by saying: "I absolve thee," but In the deprecatory form, by saying: "May …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether one Ought to Dispute with Unbelievers in Public?
Objection 1: It would seem that one ought not to dispute with unbelievers in public. For the Apostle says (2 Tim. 2:14): "Contend not in words, for it is to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers." But it is impossible to dispute with unbelievers publicly without contending in words. Therefore one ought not to dispute publicly with unbelievers. Objection 2: Further, the law of Martianus Augustus confirmed by the canons [*De Sum. Trin. Cod. lib. i, leg. Nemo] expresses itself thus: "It is …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Beginning of the New Testament
[Illustration: (drop cap T) Coin of Thessalonica] Turn to the list of books given in the beginning of your New Testament. You will see that first come the four Gospels, or glimpses of the Saviour's life given by four different writers. Then follows the Acts of the Apostles, and, lastly, after the twenty-one epistles, the volume ends with the Revelation. Now this is not the order in which the books were written--they are only arranged like this for our convenience. The first words of the New Testament …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

The Doctrine of the Church i. Definition; Distinctions.
1. OLD TESTAMENT. 2. NEW TESTAMENT. 3. THE CHURCH; CHRISTENDOM; KINGDOM. II. THE FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH. 1. IN PROPHECY AND PROMISE. 2. HISTORICALLY FOUNDED. III. MEMBERSHIP IN THE CHURCH. Conditions of Entrance; Characteristics. 1. REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM. 2. FAITH IN THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 3. REGENERATION. 4. PUBLIC CONFESSION OF CHRIST--BAPTISM. 5. ADHERENCE TO THE APOSTLES' DOCTRINE. 6. CHARACTERISTICS. IV. FIGURES UNDER WHICH THE CHURCH IS PRESENTED. 1. THE BODY OF CHRIST. 2. THE TEMPLE OF …
Rev. William Evans—The Great Doctrines of the Bible

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