The Star Wars

Acts 9:36–43 (NKJV)

36 At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. 37 But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38 And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. 39 Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40 But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. 41 Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord. 43 So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner.

In our previous study we looked at the healing of Aeneas, who was thought worthy of God to be used as an illustration; to demonstrate the future glory that will be revealed in the holy children of God. We transitioned from Saul’s conversion and early ministry of the Jews unto Peter’s early ministry to the Hellenists that surrounded Jerusalem into the plains of Sharon. Peter’s commission was to strictly be a healer to the church with the power of the Gospel. It was his holy use of the Name of Christ that brought liberty to the souls of those saints imprisoned within a nation that hates the Triune nature and character of God, who is the possessor of heaven and earth. God came to these saints who suffered at the satanic persecution of a government that once held the keys to the kingdom of God. The saints were forced to flee because of their message that was publicly condemning their government's practices and exposing their murder of the anointed Son of God – the King of Jews. God was declaring these saints beautiful and bringing the kingdom of God to them in the place of their suffering. In this study we will "gaze" at another miracle.

At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.

First, we will discuss the port city of Joppa. Apparently, Solomon made this city a chosen seaport to conduct Jerusalem’s trade industry with other nations. This seaport is also famous for the story of Jonah; who fled from God when commanded to go into the Gentile nation of Nineveh and preach repentance in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. Today, Joppa, is a municipality of Tel Aviv. It will be good for us to remember that Philip had already made his way through the coastal towns and cities preaching the gospel and making disciples; until he reached Caesarea, where Luke ceases to mention anymore of Philip’s ministry (Acts 8:40). Most likely this city was evangelized through the ministry of Philip and others who fled the persecution in Jerusalem; because many disciples were found here.

JOPPA [JAH puh] (beautiful) — an ancient seaport city on the Mediterranean Sea, about 56 kilometers (35 miles) northwest of Jerusalem (see Map 3, A–3).

A walled city, Joppa was built about 35 meters (116 feet) high on a rocky ledge overlooking the Mediterranean. It supposedly received its name “beautiful” from the sunlight that its buildings reflected.

The first mention of Joppa in the Bible indicates it was part of the territory inherited by the tribe of Dan (Josh. 19:46; Japho, KJV). The only natural harbor on the Mediterranean between Egypt and Acco, it was the seaport for the city of Jerusalem and the site of significant shipping in both Old and New Testament times. Rafts of cedar logs from the forests of Lebanon were floated from Tyre and Sidon to Joppa and then transported overland to Jerusalem to be used in building Solomon’s temple (2 Chr. 2:16).

Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., & Harrison, R. K., Thomas Nelson Publishers (Eds.). (1995). In Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

The name of the city, Joppa, means ‘beauty’. There may have been many factors that made this seaport a beautiful town. But what I want you to notice, and what I believe Luke is intending, is that the dative noun, Joppa, was beautiful because of a ‘certain disciple’ who was present there. Joppa is in the dative case because Tabitha was chosen for the beauty of this city. Joppa singles her out for a specific duty or calling. We know that Joppa was a bilingual town that spoke, both Greek and Aramaic. Therefore, the ‘certain disciple’ is identified by two separate names that have the same understanding in their respective tongues. Both names, Tabitha and Dorcas, reflect a word picture of a ‘female gazelle’.

This ‘certain disciple’ may have been called Tabitha from birth having, in the eye of her parents, a ‘beautiful look’. The phrase ‘certain disciple’ has been used of Luke in a previous study of ours regarding Ananias of Damascus. Ananias was also tis eimi manthano ( a certain disciple) (Acts 9:8). Luke is using this phrase to call special attention to a particular individual that was praise worthy beyond the rest of the saints in Joppa, as Ananias was in Damascus. However, because this was also a Gentile seaport for the duration of Israel’s history since Solomon; the majority of inhabitants were most likely Hellenists. This may have been why she was also known as Dorcas.

. . . the Greek word Dorcas (Δορκας [Dorkas]), means Gazelle, “the creature with the beautiful look” (or eyes), from δερκομαι [derkomai].

Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Ac 9:36). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.

Three species of gazelles lived in the Near East during the biblical period: the Dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas) in the deserts, the mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella) in the hillier areas, and the goitred gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) east of the Jordan. They were symbols of love and beauty for the Hebrews (Song of Sol. 2:9, 17). They were also a major game animal, regularly supplied at Solomon’s table (1 Kings 4:23), though they were difficult to catch because of their swiftness (2 Sam. 2:18; 1 Chron. 12:8).

Powell, M. A. (Ed.). (2011). gazelle. In The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated) (Third Edition., p. 314). New York: HarperCollins.

A. E. Day

The gazelle and hart were among the clean animals that the Israelites were permitted to eat (Dt. 14:5). They were known for their speed (2 S. 2:18) and their beauty (Cant. 2:9; 4:5; 7:3). But the gazelle is also one of the more timid animals. Thus Isaiah described the Day of Judgment as a time when “like a hunted gazelle … every man will turn to his own people … and flee to his own land” (Isa. 13:14).

Vunderink, R. W. (1979–1988). Gazelle. In G. W. Bromiley (Ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Vol. 2, p. 419). Wm. B. Eerdmans.

Joppa was indeed a place of refuge for the return of the Diaspora, who were exiled to Babylon. Isaiah prophesied the fall of Babylon by the Medes; and the beauty of Babylon’s pride was hunted down like a gazelle and excused the Jews in exile to flee to their own land. Isaiah 13:17–19 (NKJV) 17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, Who will not regard silver; And as for gold, they will not delight in it. 18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not spare children. 19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. The Aramaic culture mixed with the Roman presence made Joppa a diverse city to conduct trade. I believe it to be Luke’s intent, to say that the beauty of Joppa was a reflection of the beauty of God, which was working in this certain disciple named Tabitha Dorcas.

She may have had both the Aramaic and the Greek name, Tabitha Dorcas like John Mark. There is nothing said about a husband and so she was probably unmarried. She is the second woman mentioned by name after Pentecost (Sapphira the other). She did her beautiful deeds by herself. She did not have a Dorcas society.

Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Ac 9:36). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.

Her beauty was an inward beauty of the soul, for it was the presence of God that made her works attractive. And her persistent practice of those works continued to the point of her death. As Dr. Robertson commented on the passage, there was no special ministry for the poor in the name of Dorcas. All her works were personal acts of love paying attention to the special needs of the saints. Her ministry was an extention of the local church in Joppa. Like a gazelle she extended out her neck and risked her life and wellbeing for the love of the brethren; and went above and beyond to labor for the needs of the saints. It was because of these works that she is singled out as a certain disciple in Joppa.

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

Luke has made mention of all this beauty to draw attention to her works. These works were ‘in those days’. What days? The days of her good works is what Luke wants to draw our attention to. Tabitha was full of good works and charitable practices. But it was in these ‘particular’ days that she received recognition that they were indead good works. What made Tabitha’s works good? Apparently, these works weakened her to the point of death. Luke, who was a physician, does not give us a cause of death but leads me to assume that it was related to the days of her good works. The Greek verb astheneo (became) means weakened to powerlessness and apothnesko (death). Luke records that she was ‘full of good works’. She had her hands in everything that involved the church. She would have attended every discipleship gathering and prayer meeting that was offered. Plus, she worked to provide for the needs of the poor among the saints in Joppa. A.T. Robertson commented earlier that she was most likely unmarried; if so, it makes sense that she would have had the free time to be involved so intimately with all the charity that was occurring in the city of Joppa.

Galatians 6:9–10 (NKJV)

9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

With all her works, being out in the open and clearly seen, it was as if she was being ‘gazed’ at to the point of weakening her strength, and the destruction of her flesh. God’s gaze upon her was because of her holy works, but the gaze of men may have been because of her beautiful flesh. There would have been those who gazed at her with jealousy and malicious hypocrisy; some who gazed at her with self-righteous revenge knowing her past; some with a gaze of foolishness to waist her life for a dead cause; and some because her works were done in God. Therefore, she was found worthy to be risen from the dead through the faith of Peter and her holy friends.

Tabitha.—The Gazelle (Greek, δορκάς, [see above, note 2 appended to the text.—Tr.]) is distinguished for its slender and beautiful form, its graceful movements and its soft but brilliant eyes; it is frequently introduced by the Hebrews and other Oriental nations as an image of female loveliness, and the name was often employed as a proper name, in the case of females [2 Kings 12:1; 1 Chron. 8:9. Rob. Hebr. Lex. p. 881.—Tr.].

Lange, J. P., Schaff, P., Gotthard, V. L., Gerok, C., & Schaeffer, C. F. (2008). A commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Acts (p. 186). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

As we went over previously, in her parent’s eyes, she was named Tabitha for her ‘beautiful look’. But there may have been some universal truth to that, as Luke mentions nothing of her days before her ‘good works’. It is doubtful that she always practiced holy works out of faith towards God. The cities were filled with prostitution and women were treated like slaves. She may have, in her younger days, used her looks to make a living at the seaport of Joppa. We have no tangible proof of that, but it is very possible. Men often ‘gazed’ at the female prostitutes that would dance and perform for the sailors who came into the town squares from the seaport. The English verb gaze has its roots in the noun gazelle. This equally applies to the male gazelles that are also referred to as ‘stags’. Masculine beauty was likened to a ‘stag’ much like the feminine lookers are likened to the gazelle. Our culture today has to deal with the ongoing assault of pornography in every realm of entertainment and secular media. Because of ‘stargazing’, there are ‘star wars’ between God and men, occurring in the heavenly places, over the souls of men to set the captives free. We, Christians that is, are perpetually bombarded with its temptations and images, while the world is blind to it. Women are still treated as sexual objects and slaves of men in the public arena even today. It is like Princess Leia chained to the fatness of Jabba the Hut. Because of a lack of holiness, both men and women, pursue healing through secular psychology, which is powerless to sever the chains that bind them to sin’s power.

Isaiah 47:13 (NKJV)

13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels; Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, And the monthly prognosticators Stand up and save you From what shall come upon you.

Gaze

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Gaze (disambiguation).

Gaze means "to look steadily, intently, and with fixed attention."

In one sense, it is a term popularized by psychologist Jacques Lacan for the anxious state that comes with the awareness that one can be viewed. The psychological effect, Lacan argues, is that the subject loses a degree of autonomy upon realizing that he or she is a visible object. This concept is bound with his theory of the mirror stage, in which a child encountering a mirror realizes that he or she has an external appearance. Lacan suggests that this gaze effect can similarly be produced by any conceivable object such as a chair or a television screen. This is not to say that the object behaves optically as a mirror; instead it means that the awareness of any object can induce an awareness of also being an object.

It has also been called an aspect of one of the "most powerful human forces"; that is, "the meeting of the face and the gaze" because "Only there do we exist for one another."[Karl Ove Knausgaard, "The Inexplicable," The New Yorker, May 25, 2015, page 32]

History of the Lacan concept

Numerous existentialists and phenomenologists have addressed the concept of gaze beginning with Jean-Paul Sartre.[Jean-Paul Sartre Being and Nothingness, Part 3, Chapter 1] Foucault elaborated on gaze to illustrate a particular dynamic in power relations and disciplinary mechanisms in his Discipline and Punish. Derrida also elaborated on the relations of animals and humans via the gaze in The Animal That Therefore I Am. The concept of a male gaze was originally theorized by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, and has since been applied to many other forms of media and technology, such as advertisements, the work space, and video games.

Systems of power and the gaze

Michel Foucault first used the term "medical gaze" in The Birth of the Clinic to explain the process of medical diagnosis, power dynamics between doctors and patients, and the hegemony of medical knowledge in society. He elaborated on the gaze to illustrate a particular dynamic in power relations and disciplinary mechanisms in his Discipline and Punish, such as surveillance and the function of related disciplinary mechanisms and self-regulation in a prison or school as an apparatus of power.

The gaze is not something one has or uses; rather, it is the relationship into which someone enters. As Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright write in Practices of Looking, "The gaze is integral to systems of power and ideas about knowledge."[Sturken, Marita; Cartwright, Lisa. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford University Press, 2009. p. 94, 103.] Three main concepts that Foucault introduced are panopticism, power/knowledge, and biopower. These concepts all address self-regulation under systems of surveillance. This refers to how people modify their behaviour under the belief that they are constantly being watched even if they cannot directly see who or what is watching them. This possible surveillance, whether real or unreal, has self-regulating effects.[Sturken, Marita and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: an introduction to visual culture. Oxford University Press, 2009. pp. 106-108.]

These humanistic forms of diagnosis and healing lack the power to save the souls of men (and women). Tabitha Dorcas was just a beginning disciple of ‘the Way’ and we see that she had a pure love and fear of God, but the fear of God that she had was most likely unhealthy. She overworked herself to the point of death to redeem the time that she possibly lost in her youth and to pursue practical holiness in God, rather than a holiness that leads to resting fully and completely in the love of God. Do not misunderstand me, we all still need to pursue practical holiness, but our pursuit must always lead to a restful enjoyment of the holiness of Christ without which no one will see the Lord (Heb.12:14). Only in Christ do we have the power to be holy and bear fruitful works to God. Only in Christ are we made beautiful to God, having all our sins washed clean and a spotless robe placed over us to cover our nakedness. Porn destroys, both the gazed and the gazer, who are entangled in its destructive power. Porn produces an appearance of life in the addict, but it is temporal; and always leaves its victims thirsty for more to the point of an unsatisfactory death. But Christ has come to give us living water that we may never thirst for the bitter waters of sin again.

John 4:13–14 (NKJV)

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

1 Chronicles 16:29 (NKJV)

29 Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!

Public ministry can be very demanding and grueling to the mind and body. It is a 24hr a day practice because God never sleeps. But when the Lord is our strength, the believer has the power and the means, to strengthen the weak knees, and rise in expectation of an exalted level of sanctification and rest; in what has been promised of the Lord (Php.1:6). Colossians 1:9–12 (NKJV) 9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them.

After they washed her body, she was moved to the upper room to be prepared for burial. Meanwhile, word was circulating of Peter’s presence in Lydda and of the miracle that was given on behalf Aeneas. This would have increased the faith and expectations of the disciples who loved Dorcas as they sent two of the men to beseech Peter’s immediate apostolic care. Dorcas was well loved by these saints in Joppa and is reaping the love that she had sown into the hearts of her friends, for it was through their efforts and faith to intercede for Dorcas’ revival. The Spirit was indeed reviving this bruised and battered church, though only the persecution of Dorcas was a result of her own persistence to labor for the children of God. And though Paul later confronts the loveless Corinthians for giving their bodies to be burned; Tabitha was not a loveless giver.

Luke 7:47 (NKJV)

47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

I believe, in the providence of God, that the death of Dorcas was by divine design to revive this church and to remain in the love that has set them free to worship the Lord in spirit and truth. It was by divine appointment to turn their eyes, once again, at the beauty and holiness of God in the face of Jesus Christ and His marvelous works. The works that led up to the death of Tabitha were not dead works, but the Lord is calling us all to examine our own works, and repent of any dead works that are not pleasing to our Master’s sight. God has promised to resurrect us, if we confess our sins and turn to Him for the life giving water of His love.

Secular psychology creates its own form of discipline as noted in Dr. Foucault’s book “Discipline and Punish”, but ONLY God has within Him the love that can heal a victim of sin’s power. The sinner is enslaved to both sides of the ‘gaze’ coin; where they are the gazer and the gazed, or the abused and the abuser. In the economy of sin, all are guilty; and there are no victims in God’s court. However, there is abundant mercy to be received to those who come to throne of God’s grace to be delivered of sin’s power. The destructive nature of sin (1Cor.5:5) is the only means of the Lord’s discipline of the sinner and He adds no further discipline to the one who diligently seeks God by faith (Heb.11:6; 2Jn.8). Dorcas is the prime example and illustration of these spiritual facts. Why then would we turn to humanism to solve the problems of sin? We must turn to our Creator and our Sovereign if we are to live in the redemption that He purchased for us.