The most proper person for this responsible charge, was the great leader of the apostolic band; and Peter, therefore, taking the task readily upon himself, went through all the churches, to give them the advantages of the minute personal ministry of a chief apostle, who might organize them, and instruct the disciples in their peculiar duties as members of a new religious community. On this tour of duty, passing down from the interior towards the sea-coast, he came to Lydda, about forty or fifty miles from Jerusalem, and about twelve from the sea. Here there was a company of the faithful, whom he visited, to instruct them anew, and to enlarge their numbers, by his preaching and miracles. A particular case is recorded as having occurred here, which displayed both the compassion of Peter and his divine power to heal and strengthen. Among the friends of Christ whom he visited here, was an invalid, whose name, Aeneas, shows him to have been a Hellenist. This man had for the long period of eight years been deprived of the use of his limbs, by a palsy, which, during that tedious interval, confined him to his bed. Peter, on seeing him, said, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals thee. Arise, and make thy bed for thyself.” The command to spread and smooth the couch, which he now quitted in health, was given, that he might show and feel, at once, how fully strength was restored to his hands as well as his feet. This miracle soon became known, not only to the citizens of Lydda, but also to the people inhabiting the extensive and fertile plain of Sharon, which stretched to the northward of Lydda, along the coast, from Joppa to Caesarea, bounded on the west by the highlands of Samaria. The effect of this display of power and benevolence, was such, on their minds, that, without exception, they professed their faith in Christ.
Lydda.——This was a place of far more importance and fame, than would be supposed from the brief mention of its name in the apostolic narrative. It is often mentioned in the writings of the Rabbins, under the name of לוד (Ludh,) its original Hebrew name, and was long the seat of a great college of Jewish law and theology, which at this very period of Peter’s visit was in its most flourishing state. This appears from the fact that Rabbi Akiba, who raised the school to its greatest eminence, was contemporary with the great Rabban Gamaliel, who bears an important part in the events of the apostolic history. (The data of this chronological inference I find in Lightfoot.) It is easy to see, then, why so important a seat of Jewish theology should have been thought deserving of the particular notice and protracted stay of Peter, who labored with remarkable earnestness and effect here, inspired by the consciousness of the lasting and extensive good, that would result from an impression made on this fountain of religious knowledge. The members of the college, however, did not all, probably, profess themselves followers of Christ.
It is also described as possessing some importance in addition to its literary privileges. Josephus (Antiquities XX. vi. 3.) mentions “Lydda” as “a village not inferior to a city in greatness.” Its importance was, no doubt, in a great measure derived from the remarkably rich agricultural district which surrounded it. This was the plain of Sharon, so celebrated in the Hebrew scriptures for its fruitful fields and rich pastures,——its roses and its flocks. (Solomon’s Song ii. 1: Isaiah xxxiii. 9: xxxv. 2: lxv. 10: 1 Chronicles xxvii. 29.) “All this country is described by Pococke as very rich soil, throwing up a great quantity of herbage; among which he specifies chardons, rue, fennel, and the striped thistle, ‘probably on this account called the holy thistle.’ A great variety of anemonies, he was told, grow in the neighborhood. ‘I saw likewise,’ he adds, ‘many tulips growing wild in the fields (in March;) and any one who considers how beautiful those flowers are to the eye, would be apt to conjecture that these are the lilies to which Solomon, in all his glory, was not to be compared.’”——[Modern Traveler, p. 57.] Its distance from Jerusalem is ascertained, by Lightfoot, to be one day’s journey, as it is stated with some circumlocution in the Mishna. It was destroyed, as Josephus relates, by Cestius Gallus, the Roman general, who marched his army through that region, in the beginning of the war, which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem. Under the peaceful times of the later Roman sway in Palestine, it was rebuilt, and called Diospolis. But like many other such instances, it has lost its temporary heathen name, and is now called by its old scripture appellation, Ludd. Travelers describe it as now a poor village, though the stones to be seen in the modern buildings show that it has been a place of great consequence.
The New Testament name Lydda, (Λυδδα,) by which Josephus also mentions it, is only so much changed from the Hebrew Ludh, as was necessary to accommodate it to the regular forms and inflexions of the Greek language. Lightfoot well refutes the blunder of many modern geographers who make the two names refer to different places. This learned author is remarkably full in the description of this place, and is very rich in references to the numerous allusions which are made to it in the Talmudic writings. See his Centuria Chorographica, (Chapter 16,) prefixed to Horae Hebraica et Talmudicae in Matthew.
Aeneas.——This name is unquestionably Greek, which seems to show the man to have been a Hellenist; and that he was already a believer in Christ, would appear from the fact of Peter’s finding him among the brethren there.
THE VISIT TO JOPPA.
Hardly had this instance of divine favor occurred in Lydda, when a new occasion for a similar effort presented itself, in the neighboring seaport town of Joppa. A female disciple of the faith of Christ, in that city, by name Tabitha, or in the Greek, Dorcas, (both names meaning Gazelle,) had distinguished herself and honored her religious profession, by the generous and charitable deeds which constantly employed her hands. This lady, so respected by all, and so loved by the poor, who gave witness to her goodness,——such an honor to the religious community which she had joined,——seemed to have so nobly done her part in life, that the order of Providence had apparently called her to rest from these labors, in that sleep from which no piety nor usefulness can save or recall their possessor. After a few days of illness, she died, and was, after the usual funeral ablutions, laid in an upper chamber, to await the burial. In the midst of the universal grief for this sad loss, the members of the church at Joppa, knowing that Peter was in Lydda, within a few hours’ journey, sent two messengers to him, to beg his presence among them, as some consolation in their distress. Peter, on hearing of this occasion for his presence, with great readiness accompanied the messengers back, and on arriving at Joppa, went straight to the house of mourning. He was immediately led into the chamber, where he found a most affecting testimony to the nature of the loss which the afflicted community had suffered. Around the dead, stood the widows who, in their friendlessness, had been relieved by the sympathy of Dorcas, now pouring their tears and uttering their lamentations over her, and showing that even the garments which they wore were the work of her industrious hand,——that hand which, once so untiring in these labors of love, was now cold and motionless in death. From that resistless doom, what mortal voice could ever recall even one so amiable and useful? But, while they were sorrowing thus, Peter ordered them all to leave him alone with the dead; and when all witnesses were removed, he kneeled and prayed. The words of that prayer are not recorded; and it is only by its successful efficiency that we know it to have been that fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man, which availeth much. It was such a prayer as, of old, the son of Shaphat offered over the dead child of the Shunamite, when alone with him; and its effect was not less mighty. Rising at length, and turning towards the body, he said “Tabitha, arise!” Awaking from the unbreathing sleep of death, as from a light slumber of an hour, she opened her eyes, and when she saw the majestic man of God alone, and herself robed for the tomb, she sat up and gazed in amazement. Peter, then, giving her his hand, lifted her from the funeral couch, and calling in the brethren and the widows; he presented her to their astonished eyes, alive. Their overwhelming joy and wonder, we are left to imagine. The story, when made known through the city, brought many to acknowledge the truth of that religion whose minister could work such wonders; and many believed in Christ. The field of labor which now opened to Peter in this place, seemed so wide that he did not continue his journey any further at that time, but took up his abode, for several days, in Joppa, lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, whose house stood by the sea, near the water.
Joppa, now called Jaffa.——This was from very early times a place of great importance, from the circumstance of its being the nearest seaport to Jerusalem. It is mentioned in reference to this particular of its situation, in 2 Chronicles ii. 17, where it is specified (in Hebrew יפו Japho) as the port to which the cedar timber from Lebanon should be floated down in rafts, to be conveyed to Jerusalem for building the temple. It stood within the territories of the tribe of Dan, according to Joshua xix. 46, and lies about East-North-east from Jerusalem. Strabo, (xvi.) in describing it, refers to it as the scene of the ancient Grecian fable of Andromeda rescued from the sea-monster by Perseus. He describes its site as “quite elevated,——so much so, indeed, that it was a common saying that Jerusalem might be seen from the place; the inhabitants of which city use it as their seaport, in all their maritime intercourse.” Josephus mentions that it was added to the dominions of Herod the Great by Augustus. Its present appearance is thus described by travelers.
“It is situated in latitude 32 degrees 2 minutes North, and longitude 34 degrees 53 minutes East, and is forty miles West of Jerusalem. Its situation, as the nearest port to the Holy City, has been the chief cause of its importance. As a station for vessels, according [♦]to Dr. Clarke, its harbor is one of the worst in the Mediterranean. Ships generally anchor about a mile from the town, to avoid the shoals and rocks of the place. The badness of the harbor is mentioned, indeed, by Josephus. (Josephus, Antiquities, book xv. chapter 9.) * * * The road is protected by a castle built on a rock, and there are some storehouses and magazines on the sea-side. The coast is low, but little elevated above the level of the sea; but the town occupies an eminence, in the form of a sugar-loaf, with a citadel on the summit. The bottom of the hill is surrounded with a wall twelve or fourteen feet high, and two or three feet thick. * * * There are no antiquities in Jaffa: the place would seem to be too old to have any——to have outlived all that once rendered it interesting. The inhabitants are estimated at between four and five thousand souls, of whom the greater part are Turks and Arabs; the Christians are stated to be about six hundred, consisting of Roman Catholics, Greeks, Maronites, and Armenians.” [Modern Traveler, Palestine, pp. 41, 42.]
[♦] “io” replaced with “to”