Acts 9:39 - Exposition

And for then, A.V. ; and when for when, A.V. All the widows . The article may denote all the widows for whom Dorcas had made garments, which the middle voice ( ἐπιδεικνύμεναι ), found only here, indicates perhaps that they had on them at the time. But it is quite as probable that αἱ χῆραι means the Church widows, as in Acts 6:1 and 1 Timothy 5:9 , and that we have here an indication that the model of the Jerusalem Church was followed in all the daughter Churches. Dorcas's almsdeeds would naturally have for their first object the widows of her own communion. As naturally would they all come to meet the apostle at her house.