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Dorcas - “My Story” Due to the unprecedented response on the story about the
godly woman ‘Dorcas’ from the book of Acts, we thought we would let Dorcas tell her story in
her own words. The Bible gives us only so much information about her.
Since this is our first attempt to expound upon little known but important
people from the Bible we would like to hear from our reader's opinions on our efforts.  Hello, my given name in Hebrew is Tabitha but I am known by my
Greek name Dorcas which is the Greek equivalent. You see I was born in
Joppa which has a large seaport and many foreigners who speak the Greek
language. My mother and father favored the name Dorcas because they said
it matched my looks. Dorcas in Greek implies “the female of a roebuck” or
“a gazelle.” My mother said I was long and thin when I was born. She would
tell me that with my big beautiful brown eyes and smooth way of moving, I
reminded her of a gazelle. My mother and father were reaching middle age when I was born. They
told me I was their second child. My sister, who was born twenty years
before me, died as an infant and although they had been trying to have
another child, God had not blessed them until I came along. My father was a
merchant who would buy cloth and materials from the ships that came from
afar and dock at Joppa to sell their goods. My mother and her two sisters
would then make clothes and coats from the cloth and we would sell them to
the townspeople. My mother and my aunts were very good at cutting out and
sewing cloth and our clothes were considered the best that could be found.
I can remember from the time I was only four years old I was taught to
make patterns, cut the cloth and sew up the pieces together. Mother said I
had a natural gift from God and I should always use my gift to help others.  We lived in a large house just east of the city. Both of my aunts,
my mother’s sisters, lived with us because their husbands had been killed
defending the city from marauders nearly twenty five years ago; neither
had ever had children. We had a barn and field for the goats and mules
which I always helped mother take care of and we all helped work the
garden usually in the evenings. My father was a Godly man who obeyed all the laws. We always
observed the Sabbath from Friday night to Saturday night and went to the
temple without fail. He always tithed and taught me the joy of giving to
the Lord and to appreciate the blessing we received from
God. From an early age my father would talk about Jesus; how he had
been there on Passover when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and had actually met the disciple Peter before
leaving Jerusalem. He would become so sad as he told us about how they had crucified the ‘Christ’ and then how He had risen the
third day. Father would then read from the Torah and we would pray.  I had a hard but wonderful childhood and soon grew to an age to be
betrothed. My father knew a good
Jewish man with a son, who was a little older than I was, and everything was set for our marriage
until the man became missing (they thought he had been kidnapped by a ship’s captain).
Before another suitable marriage could be arranged there came a sickness upon Joppa and many people
died including my mother and father then my aunts soon followed. The following months were times of deep mourning until
Philip the evangelist came to Joppa with his disciples. I offered my large empty home for them to use while they stayed
at Joppa and began a church to worship the Christ. After I served the evening meal and they would allow me to sit and
listen as they told about the coming kingdom of God. Philip had letters he said were written by the apostles telling about
the teachings of Jesus the Messiah. I shall never forget the words he read to us one night:  "When the Son of Man comes in
His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be
gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His
right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His
right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the
kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry
and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something
to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you
clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you
came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we
see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and
clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of
mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from
me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and
his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite
me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in
prison and you did not look after me.' They also will answer, 'Lord, when
did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick
or in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, 'I tell you the truth,
whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for
me.' Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." I had never heard such teaching as this and from that very moment I
knew I wanted to be a part of this kingdom. I knew I wanted to dedicate my
life to serving and helping others who were not as blessed as I was. From
that day forth I gladly gave of my resources and talents to clothe and
feed the poor of Joppa, especially those who joined our group to worship
the ‘Christ’ but denied no one who came to me for help. Philip spent much time disciplining me with the teachings of Jesus
and I came to understand the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus for
the sins of mankind. O what joy I came to know as my understanding of
God’s plan for my life came to fruition. My task took on a whole new
meaning as I fashioned and made clothes for the needy. Our fellowship grew
daily and my joy increased as my hands became busier with the Lord's work.
Then one day as I was sewing I felt like I needed to lie down. The next
thing I remember was hearing a man’s voice saying, “Tabitha get up!” I
opened my eyes and saw a man kneeling beside my bed and I sat up. He took
my hands and helped me stand and then called out to the people that they could
come in.  I learned later the man was Peter the Apostle and that I had died
but his prayer to the Father had brought me back to life. Imagine that I
had actually died and been brought back to life! Well you can imagine the
talk going around all over Joppa that such a thing could actually happen
but it did and the fellowship grew so large we had to have a bigger
building and there was twice as much work for me to do and twice as much
joy and blessings. I hope I didn’t forget to tell all the important things that have
happened to me and I hope that others will find the joy and happiness I
have found in life since I have found the Saviour. May your life be as
blessed as mine has been. Bob Goulding © September 2006 Return To:
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