Act 9:32-43 | JFB | STEP | 32-35. as Peter passed throughout all quarters-- not now fleeing from persecution, but peacefully visiting the churches. to the saints which dwelt at Lydda-- about five miles east of Joppa.

‏ Acts 9:32-43

32-35. as Peter passed throughout all quarters--not now fleeing from persecution, but peacefully visiting the churches.

to the saints which dwelt at Lydda--about five miles east of Joppa.

36-39. at Joppa--the modern Jaffa, on the Mediterranean, a very ancient city of the Philistines, afterwards and still the seaport of Jerusalem, from which it lies distant forty-five miles to the northwest.

Tabitha ... Dorcas--the Syro-Chaldaic and Greek names for an antelope or gazelle, which, from its loveliness, was frequently employed as a proper name for women [Meyer, Olshausen]. Doubtless the interpretation, as here given, is but an echo of the remarks made by the Christians regarding her--how well her character answered to her name.

full of good works and alms-deeds--eminent for the activities and generosities of the Christian character.

40-43. Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down--the one in imitation of his Master's way (Lu 8:54; and compare 2Ki 4:33); the other, in striking contrast with it. The kneeling became the lowly servant, but not the Lord Himself, of whom it is never once recorded that he knelt in the performance of a miracle.

opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up--The graphic minuteness of detail here imparts to the narrative an air of charming reality.