Philo saw in this feast a witness for the original equal- ity of all the members of the chosen race. All, during the week, poor and rich, the inhabitant alike of the pal- ace and the hovel, lived in huts which, in strictness, were to be of the plainest and most ordinary materials and construction. From this point of view the Israelite would be reminded with still greater edification of the perilous and toilsome march of his forefathers through the desert, when the nation seemed to be more imme- diately dependent on God for food, shelter, and protec- tion, while the completed harvest stored up for the coming winter set before him the benefits he had de- rived from the possession of the land flowing with milk and honey which had been of old promised to his race. But the culminating-point of this blessing was the
establishment of the central spot of the national worship in tlie Temple at Jerusalem. Hence it was evidently fitting that the Feast of Tabernacles should be kept with an unwonted degree of observance at the dedication of Solomon's Temple (I Kings viii, 2, t).0; Josephiis, Ant. viii, 4, 5), again after the rebuilding of the Temple by Ezra (Neh. viii, 13-18), and a third time by Judas Mac- cabieus, when he had driven out the Syrians and re- stored the Temple to the worship of Jehovah (2 Mace. X, 5-8).
V. Literature. — IMaimonides, lad Ila-Chezaka, Ilil- choth Lidah ; Meyer, De Temp, et Festis IHebiis /hbrceo- rum (Utrecht, 17o5), p. 317, etc.; Biihr, SjpnhoUk des Mosaischen Cultus (Heidelberg, 1839), ii, 624 sq., 652 sq.; 1 1 erzfeld, Geschichte des Volkes Israel (Nordhausen, 1857), ii, 120 sq., 177 sq. ; The Jewish Ritual, entitled Derek Ila-Chajim (Vienna, 1859), p. 214 b sq,, 295 sq. ; Keil, Ilandbuch der hiblischen A rchiiologie (2d ed. Frankfort- on-the-Main, 1859), p. 412 sq. ; Carpzov, App.Crit. p. 414 ; Buxtorf, St/n. Jud. c. xxi ; Keland, A nt. iv, 5 ; Lightfoot, Temple Service, xvi, and Exerrit. in Joan, vii, 2, 37 ; Otho, Lex. Rab. 230 ; the treatise Siikkah, in the Mishna, with Surenhusius's iVotes ; Hupfeld, De Fest. Ilebr. pt. ii ; comp. the monographs De Libatione Aqme in Fest. Tab. by Iken (in tlie Symbol, etc. [Bremen, 1744], i, 160), Biel (Vitemb. 1716), and Tresenreuter (Alt. 1743), Groddek, De Ceremonia Palmarum in Fest. Tab. (Lips. 1694-95, also in Ugolino, vol. xviii) ; Dachs, on Sukkah, in the Jerusalem Gemni-a (Utrecht, 1726); Tirsch, Z'e Taber- nac. Feriis (Prag. s. 1. et an.).
Tab'itha (Ta/3t3a ; Vulg. Talitha), also called Dorcas {^opKaq), a female disciple of Joppa, "full of good works," among which that of making clothes for the poor is specificallj' mentioned (Acts ix, 36-42). A.D. 32. While Peter was at the neighboring town of Lydda, Tabitha died, upon which the disciples at Joppa sent an urgent message to the apostle, begging him to come to them without delay. It is not quite evident from the narrative whether they looked for anj' exercise of miraculous power on his part, or whether they simply wished for Christian consolation under what they re- garded as the common calamity of their Church; but the miracle recently performed on ^Eneas (ver. 34), and the expression in ver. 38 {litK^tiv swc in-uov), lead to the former supposition. LTpon his arrival Peter found the deceased already prepared for burial, and laid out in an upper chamber, where she was surrounded by the re- cipients and the tokens of her charity. After the ex- ample of our Saviour in the house of Jairus (Matt, ix, 25; Mark v, 40), "Peter put them all forth," prayed for the divine assistance, and then commanded Tabitha to arise (comp. i\Iark v, 41; Luke viii, 54). She openeil her eyes and sat up, and then, assisted by the apostle, rose from her couch. This great miracle, as we are fur- ther told, produced an extraordinary effect in Joppa, and was the occasion of many conversions there (Acts ix, 42). See Peter.
The name of "Tabitha" (XP^^ZJ) is the Aramaic form answering to the Hebrew n'Sti, tsebiijah, a "fe- male gazelle," the gazelle being regarded in the East, among both Jews and Arabs, as a standard of beauty — indeed, the word "^2^ properly means " beauty." Luke gives "Dorcas" as the Greek equivalent of the name. Similarly we find ^opKac as the Sept. rendering of "'3^ in Deut. xii, 15, 22; 2 Sam. ii, 18; Prov. vi, .5. It has been inferred from the occurrence of the two names that Tabitha was a Hellenist (see Whitby, ad loc). This, however, does not follow, even if we suppose that the two names were actually borne by her, as it would seem to have been the practice even of the Hebrew Jews at this period to have a Gentile name in addition to their Jewish name. But it is by no means clear from the language of Luke that Tabitha actually bore the name of Dorcas. All he tells us is that the name of Tabitha means " gazelle" (^opK-af), and for the benefit of his
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Gentile readers he afterwards speaks of her by the Greek e(iuivalent. At the same time it is very possible that she may have been kuDwn by both names; and we learn from Josephiis (ll'((r, iv, 3, 5) that the name of Dorcas was not unknown in Palestine. Amongj the Greeks also, as we gather from Lucretius (iv, 1 154), it ■was a term of endearment. Other examples of the use of the name will be found in Wettstein, ad loc. — Smith. See DoKCAs.