Acts 9:36 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

At Joppa— Another city of Phoenicia, lying upon the Mediterranean, and the nearest maritime town to Jerusalem, more than a day's journey distant from it,—about 40 miles; though some have said that Jerusalem might be seen from thence. We find it mentioned in the Old Testament by the name of Japho, as belonging to the tribe of Dan, Joshua 19:46. It was the place to which the materials for building Solomon's temple were brought in floats by sea, and carried thence by land to Jerusalem; 2 Chronicles 2:16. Jonah took ship from hence to Tarshish; Jonah 1:3 and as it lay between Azotus and Caesarea, it was probably one of the cities where Philip preached the gospel in his progress, chap. Acts 8:40. Simon, son of Matthias, and brother to Judas Maccabeus, repaired and fortified Joppa, and made it a seaport to Jerusalem and all Judea, it being the fittest place on all that coast for the carrying on their trade to the isles and countries in the Mediterranean; for which purpose it served them many ages after the Maccabees, as it still serves the inhabitants of that country to this very day, being called by the same name, though vulgar pronunciation has changed it to Jaffa. It was at Jabneb or Jannia, nigh this place, that the great Sanhedrim sometimes sat; and yet for all their consultations, authority, and learning, Christianity there took root and flourished. Among the Christians at Joppa, there was a woman, whose Hebrew name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas, that is, a roe or wild-goat; for it was common among the Heathens to call men or women by the names of some inferior animals. Thus Rachel signifies a sheep, and Eglah, a calf. Dr. Shaw in the supplement to his Travels, p. 74 takes the word Δορκας to be the Gazel or Antelope, which Aristotle describes to be the smallest of the horned animals, being even smaller than the roe. The (Δορκας) Dorcas is described to have fine eyes; and in the Eastern countries, those of the Gazel are so to a proverb. Thus the damsel whose name was Tabitha, which is by interpretation Dorcas, might be so called from this peculiar feature and circumstance. See Deuteronomy 15:22. 2 Samuel 2:18. Cantic. Acts 2:9 Acts 4:5. &c.