Aeneas And Tabitha
AENEAS AND TABITHA
ACTS 9:32-43
Jesus was alive and was active in his church.
Saul’s conversion and its aftermath has been a significant interlude to Luke’s history. Now the historian returns to one of his central themes, namely, to chronicle the progress of the gospel as it embraced the non-Jewish world. Peter’s adventures, continued in chapters 10, 11 and 12, point forward to the subsequent Gentile mission. Indeed, the rather vague phrase “Peter went here and there among them all” (9:32) may look back to 8:25, where Peter and his companions are last mentioned.
Bedridden Aeneas may have belonged to the Christian group at Lydda, perhaps formed following the evangelistic work of Philip in 8:40 in those parts. In words which are reminiscent of the healing stories in the Gospels (eg Mark 2:11) Peter bids the paralyzed man get up and “get yourself something to eat” (9:34; this translation, preferred by some translators, then re-echoes Mark 5:43). Can we see here an attention to a patient’s needs agreeable to the professional interest of Luke “the dear doctor” (Colossians 4:14)?
9:36-43. Joppa was originally a Philistine city, and populated in New Testament times by Greeks. Peter’s message and ministry are reaching out with a remarkable breadth of sympathy and concern; and we may ponder the fact that he is willing to lodge with Simon, a tanner—ie one engaged in a ceremonially unclean and defiling occupation from the Jewish point of view.
Tabitha’s name is similar to the call “talitha” (in Mark 5:41) as two forms of the same name, meaning “my gazelle”; but this coincidence is not significant, even though the Lord’s raising of Jairus’ daughter and Peter’s ministrations follow a similar pattern. What points of correspondence can you spot? The disciple has caught his Master’s spirit.
Notes 9:37: washing was a Jewish practice as a rite of purification. 9:39: a touching scene, especially if we give full value to the verb’s true meaning: they showed on themselves the coats and garments which Dorcas had made—a Petrine memory, passed on to Luke. 9:41: Peter’s helping hand is again outstretched (3:7).