Acts 9:37 - Printer Friendly

ESV: In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.

NIV: About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room.

NASB: But it happened at that time that she became sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upstairs room.

CSB: About that time she became sick and died. After washing her, they placed her in a room upstairs.

NLT: About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room.

KJV: And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber.

NKJV: But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.

The Mosaic law doesn't give instructions for burial, and it's thought the practice was dictated by local custom more than a more universal ceremony. Because of the warm climate and the law that said touching the dead made one unclean (Numbers 19:11), burial was typically performed quickly after death.

The "upper room" may have been a shed on the roof. In the Old Testament, a Shunammite woman made a room on the roof for the prophet Elisha. When her son died, she placed him on Elisha's bed until she could call on him in hopes he could raise her son (2 Kings 4:18–37). Something similar happens here.

When Jesus died, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had very little time to bury Jesus before the Sabbath began, so they hastily wrapped His body in linen with myrrh and aloe (John 19:38–40). The women who followed Jesus intended to finish the preparations after the Sabbath (Luke 23:55–56). Considering Tabitha sits up when Peter tells her to, she was likely not prepared for burial: itself an act of faith that Peter would come and God would raise her.

Once again, God empowers His disciple to perform a miracle of healing to validate the disciple's message about Jesus. In today's world, this likely would not work as well. When presented with a miracle, half the people would find a scientific reason to explain it away. The other half would believe too quickly and accept even fake miracles or sleight of hand. Since we have the completed Bible, we have another way to determine if a teacher's message is from God: compare it to what God said.

Acts 9:36–43 describes Peter raising a disciple named Tabitha—or Dorcas in Greek—to life. He has been in Lydda, about 15 miles southeast, where he healed Aeneas from paralysis and taught the people of the city about Jesus (Acts 9:32–35). Soon, he will receive a request to travel 40 miles north to Caesarea Maritima where he will meet a Roman centurion. Peter will share the story of Jesus, and a houseful of Gentiles will receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 10). Given his upbringing, Peter might think of Gentiles being saved as a greater miracle than Tabitha coming back to life!

Acts 9 sets the stage for the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles. Saul continues the persecution of the church by traveling to Damascus to arrest Jesus-followers. Before he reaches the city, Jesus confronts him. Saul realizes Jesus is the Messiah and immediately starts spreading the news, first in Damascus and later in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Peter travels to modern-day Tel Aviv to heal a paralyzed man and bring a dead woman back to life. The miracles aren't unusual, but the story leaves him in Joppa, poised to take the next step in Jesus' mandate to be His witness (Acts 1:8).

The murder of the Jesus-follower Stephen has ignited a fierce persecution against the church, led by a young Pharisee-trained man named Saul (Acts 7:54—8:3; 9:1–2). When he realizes Jesus truly is the Messiah, that fervor fuels his own evangelism (Acts 9:3–30). Meanwhile, Peter travels to the coast of Judea. Soon, he will teach a prominent Gentile household about Jesus and discover that Gentiles can be saved (Acts 10). The stage will be set for Saul to spread the saving news of Jesus to ''the end of the earth'' (Acts 1:8) under the Greek version of his name: Paul.

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.