We read (Ac 2P^) that the people laid hold on St. Paul, and dragged him out of the Temple, and straightway the doors were shut. Farrar {Life ojid Work of St. Paul, lb97, p. 532) locates this turmoU at the Beautiful Gate, but, considering the number of doors that gave access to the Temple precincts, there are other possibilities.
In Rev 21^ we can picture the gates as provided with doors, although these were not in use.
The metaphorical use of dvpa. in Acts, Epistles, etc., may be briefly noted. In this sense the word appears without the definite article, Ac 14-'' being no exception: 'a door of faith' (RV). In St. Paul's Epistles mention is made of a great door and effectual (1 Co 16^), a door being opened (2 Co 2'-), a door for the word (Col 4^), all with the notion of opportunity and facility. The idea of the nearness of judgment is brought out by Ja sr' (cf. Mt 24^) : ' The judge standeth before the doors,' Avhere RV replaces the singular of AV by the plural, following the Greek.
In Rev 3^- ^ a door is set or given, •^vetfyfjuivrjv (note peculiar verbal form), i.e. a door already opened, which none can shut (see Key), and in 4^ a door is already opened in the heavens at the moment the vision commences. In contrast to this is the closed door of Rev 3-°, a passage in which is concentrated great wealth of meaning. W. Ceuickshank.
DORCAS. — This name occurs in the narrative of St. Peter's sojourn in the plain of Western Palestine after the dispersion of the Jerusalem Church on the martyrdom of Stephen (Ac 9^"*^). It is given as a translation of the Aramaic proper name Tabitha ' ('Tabitha which is by interpretation Dorcas,' Ac 9*"). The word tabitha' («?'=£:) is Aramaic corresponding to the Heb. fbi ('??), and is either the term applied to an animal of the deer species, ' roebuck ' or ' roe ' in AV, ' gazelle ' in RV, or a proper name borne by women. The word is translated in the LXX by the term Sop/cds [oipKopat, ' see ' — a reference to the large eyes of the animal). Both the Aramaic and the Greek terms were used as proper names for women, and the writer of the Acts gives the translation for the benefit of his Greek readers, though the woman was probably known as Tabitha.
The bearer of the name was a dweller in Joppa, a female disciple who had devoted herself to ' good works ' and to ' almsgiving.' One feature of her benevolent activity was the making of garments which she distributed among the poor, a circum- stance which is regarded as indicating special goodness, as a woman with means adequate to provide such benefactions might have been content with merely giving her money. This circumstance has in later Christianity given the inspiration and the name to the so-called Dorcas societies devoted to providing garments for the poor. There is no ground for concluding that Tabitha was a deacon- ess, nor can we tell whether she was one of the widows or married.
This disciple fell ill and died when St. Peter was in the neighbouring town of Lydda, nine miles distant. The believers in Joppa at once sent for the Apostle. Their motive for so doing is not apparent, but it is unlikely that they expected him to work a miracle. More likely the sorrowing
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friends tnmed to St. Peter for comfort in their bereavement, and his proximity led them to send for him. On his an-ival the mourners showed the Apostle the garments Dorcas had made and spoke of her alms. The narrative then tells how St. Peter put them all out of the room, knelt down and prayed, and turning to the woman said, ' Tabirha, arise ! ' when she opened her eyes, sat up, and was handed over to the widows. This raising of Tabitha is reported to have become widely known and to liave led large numbers to attach themselves to the Church.
The account of the raising of Dorcas has obvious points of similarity to that of the raising of Jairus' daughter (Mt 9^-^, Mk 5^"-«, Lk S^-*), but there is sufficient dissimilarity in details to cause us at once to dismiss the notion that the one is a mere imitation of the other. It is natural that St. Peter, who was present at the raising of Jairus' daughter, s?iould follow the method of his Master, while we see how, with the humility of Elijah or Elisha (1 K 17-", 2 K 4^3), he does not at first speak the word of power but kneels down in prayer. Holtzmann and Pfleiderer regard the raising of Tabitha as parallel to tlie restoration of Eutychus by St. Paul (Ac 20'*-^2), but beyond the fact that these commen- tators suppose both Tabitha and Eutychus to have been only apparently dead, there is no similarity between the two cases.
Literature.— R. J. Knowlingr, E6T, • Acts,' 1900, p. 247 f. ; A. Edersheim, Jevrish Social Life, 1908, p. 78; HDB, art. 'Dorcas'; Comm. of Holtzmann, Zeller, Meyer- Wendt, in
'o""- W. F. Boyd.
DOXOLOGY [So^dKoyla, only in eccl. Greek).— The name is given to brief forms of praise to God (or to Christ, or to the Trinity) used in early Christianity, the models of which were taken over from Judaism. They sometimes occur as a momentary interruption in the midst of a dis- course, a sudden breaking forth of praise at the mention of the name of God, of which 2 Co Ipi is an example. We shall consider the most im- portant of these in chronological order. 1. Gal l^. — The appropriate ascription of praise to the Father for His redemption of mankind according to His will, wherein is revealed His attributes of wisdom, holiness, love, in which for us His glory chiefly consists. 2. Ro 113«.— The 'all things' are the things which have to do only with the king- dom of grace to which He has invited Jew and Geritile, and the doxology is the natural climax of praise for such wisdom and love ; the ' Him ' refers to God, not to Christ ; v.=" is an echo of Is 40^^ and V.S5 of Job 41>i, and the first part of v.^ cannot have Trinitarian reference, as the context does not suit. ' It is the relation of the Godhead as a whole to tlie universe and to created things. God (not necessarily the Father) is the source and inspirer and goal of all things.' * 3. Ro le^^.— While gram- matically the ' to wliom ' (y, if it be retained) could refer to Clirist, and while according to the spirit and even language of the NT there is no objection to such reference, it is quite certain that the pronoun refers to the ' only wise God,' as that is in accordance with the whole purpose of the writer. It is the most fitting close to the Epistle, as it embodies the faith from which its central chapters proceed.t The dislocation of the language is probably to be explained by the intense spiritual feeling of the writer, who, without waiting to clear the matter up, bursts out into the u.sual doxology to God. 4. Eph 321.— It is the glory which is due to God and befits Him. It is rendered