dorcas

By Elizabeth Prata

Jehoram:

He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed with no one’s regret. They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. (2 Chronicles 21:20)

Left, The Royal Sceptre of Boris III of Bulgaria

Dorcas:

Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. (Acts 9:36-39)

In the first case, a sinful king. He served satan, and practiced wickedness. He was still a human, yet not one person lamented his passing. Not even his wife. He was a king, touching the lives of each and every person in his kingdom. His influence as a king was the largest a man’s could be, and yet not one person in an entire kingdom or beyond mourned his death. He was not regretted.

In the second case, a woman. Her sphere of influence was small. Her reach was especially small because she served widows, nearly the lowest of the low in terms of cultural power at that time. At her death, relatives are not mentioned, it would seem that it was her friends the widows who washed her and laid her in the upper room. And yet, she was beloved. Usually the ritual was to immediately rub the body with spices and lay the death cloths on and bury immediately. Yet these women did not. They loved Dorcas so greatly they sought a different way.

They sent men to find Peter. They did not want to let her go. Dorcas’ life was regretted. They lamented and cried and presented her works to Peter. One can visualize wringing of hands and weeping and wailing of many. Dorcas was loved and lamented.

Dorcas: “who with her needle embroidered her name ineffaceably into the beneficence of the world.”~Unknown

Why was Jehoram immediately forgotten and Dorcas never forgotten? I cannot say definitively or exclusively, but one reason surely must be that Dorcas was in Christ, and Jehoram was in Satan. The verse says that Dorcas was “a certain disciple” so she was a believer. She must have been beautiful in Christ, bearing the fruit of His love and grace and joy and peace, all the while serving tangibly with her needle.

Who can say what influence a loving submissive disciple of Christ will have for His kingdom? Jehoram was given Christ’s kingdom (Judah) and he served satan with it. (2 Chronicles 21:6). Dorcas was given Christ’s kingdom and served Jesus with it. Both have everlasting eternal consequences but both have earthly consequences too.

As for the eternal consequences of their deaths, Jehoram’s life was snuffed out and the spiritual repercussions were zero. It seems that nobody was the better for Jehoram having lived. As for Dorcas, she was raised bodily from the dead but the effect of that was many were saved. They were raised from the dead, too! Their spiritual deaths were now over and many became alive in Christ! The effect of that was Peter stayed and nurtured the new church in Joppa, personally discipling many converts. What an eternal effect Dorcas had on the lives of the people there, personally and spiritually!

The question is, what kind of death would you have? Or me? Would my own death be unlamented? Unremarked? Or would it cause distress and weeping? The key is serving, and the fruit we bear. Dorcas served the people in Christ’s name. Jehoram expected to be served, and was one of satan’s. Dorcas served with her needle. Jehoram expected to be served with his scepter. Dorcas loved Christ and thus she loved her neighbors. And they noticed. Boy, did they notice. Jehoram loved satan and thus he hated his neighbors. And they noticed. Boy, did they notice.

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

Love, serve, produce fruit. It will have an eternal effect.

By Elizabeth Prata

Ruth. David. Dorcas. They had character.

Character is defined as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.

I wrote about Ruth’s character here, her love for God, her love for Naomi, her submission, humility, diligence.

I wrote about David’s character, his bravery, his love for God, his repentance, here.

We can observe through the pages of scripture Ruth and David’s character. The Spirit has recorded their words and their acts for us to assess and enjoy.

Dorcas, also known as Tabitha, is a different story. We don’t meet Dorcas until she is dead. Yet, we can readily observe that Dorcas was someone to emulate. Why? The reaction of her friends and the people in her sphere after she had died. We never read her words and we never see via first person what her works were. But her character is just as observable as Ruth’s and David’s!

We don’t know Dorcas’s marital status, only that she was a disciple who lived in Joppa. Joppa was about 40 miles from Jerusalem on the coast.

Dorcas was living Paul’s principles as written in Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:9-15,

Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.

Dorcas certainly had a reputation for good works, caring for the afflicted, and devoting herself to every good work.

And it seems she had avoided the lifestyle written against by Paul in that same passage:

But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.

How do we know this? Dorcas was no idler. She was completely occupied with Jesus and His people. She gave the adversary no occasion for slander. (1 Timothy 5:15). Quite the opposite, as we will see.

Her story begins in Acts 9:36.

Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.

Let’s stop there for a moment. I like how the Spirit made sure that we would know who she is by repeating her name in both languages, Aramaic and Greek. Dorcas is a Greek translation of the Aramaic name Tabitha, which means “gazelle”. So the Jews knew her as Tabitha and the Greeks knew her as Dorcas. She was known.

She was full … the word full here means abounding, completely occupied with. It is the very definition of a full life. It seems from reading the original word that Dorcas’s life was oriented as much as possible toward Jesus, as she loved Him so much that she completely loved His people, and showed it with being occupied with good works on their behalf.

of good works… the word good is the widest possible meaning good. It describes what originates from God and is empowered by Him in life through faith, according to Strong’s. So her works weren’t surface and they weren’t hypocritical. They were spiritually powerful because they were as much as possible from God and for God.

This is amazing. How often are the works we do offhand, or casual, or mixed with other motives? Dorcas’s wasn’t. They were intentional and full of love and spiritually empowered. Her works weren’t only good to the people, her works were good to God. This is the highest kind of good works of all.

and charity… This word means the poor, a specific benefaction toward the poor, as in alms giving. It seems Dorcas was not scared off by dirty people. Remember, the poor in the first century looked like the poor man outside rich Lazarus’s house, with sores, on a mat, dirty from grime and road dust, full of fleas and bed bugs, wearing tatters. There was no Social Security or Welfare or WIC or anything at all. The destitute were destitute. For women, things could get worse than even that, in a hurry. If she was cast off (divorced), single, a widow, without family, the she was living life on the edge of death every day. Dorcas was completely involved with these impoverished ladies in her works of charity. She made them clothes.

The passage in Acts 9 goes on, Dorcas became ill and died. She was washed and laid out in an upper room. But it does not end there. The ladies didn’t stand around and cry, bury her, and go on with their lives. Dorcas meant so much to them that the women took action.

They sent two men to Lydda where they knew Paul was, and implored Paul to come to them in Joppa without delay. Paul did. (Good for him!) When he arrived to that upper room with Dorcas laid out, a crowd of women were there, according to Strong’s again, weeping aloud, expressing uncontainable, audible grief.

All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. (Acts 9:39b).

ALL the widows. It means all, every. Really? Every widow in Joppa? Wow. Sounds like a Dorcas touched a lot of lives!

Showing the tunics, the word here means of abundance and multitude.

Dorcas’s illness and death rocked the world of the people she touched. They loved her, really loved her. Do you often wonder, what people might think of you after you are gone? How your life impacted them? Would they weep and mourn, or would they just go on with their life, shrugging at the loss for a moment and then you’re forgotten?

Loving Christ and doing constant good works in His name and for His name will never be void. A life such as that will never be empty. Dorcas’s character was so sterling and bright that even after her death we see how much of an impact she made for His name. May our character be as bright.

PS: By the power of God, He allowed Paul to raise Dorcas to life again. And many who heard of this, believed. (Acts 9:42).

sewing