Our DNA molecule is beautiful in design as it rules biological life from the nucleus of every cell in the human body by a twisting ladder. This ladder is held in place by rungs of nitrogenous base pairs, spelling complex instructions to form the building stones of flesh and bone until a breathing, mindful soul is knit.

Jacob saw another ladder. He dreamed it was set up on earth and reached straight upwards into heaven. Angels of God ascended and descended upon this ladder and the Lord stood above all. He said, ‘I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac’. He promised Jacob that the land on which he lay would be given to him and his seed, that his seed shall spread abroad as the dust of the earth, so that all the families of the earth shall be blessed. ‘Wherever you go, I will be with you and I will bring you again into this land. I will not leave you until I have done this’. Jacob called that place the house of God. (Gen 28:12)

Tabitha was given two names to describe a change that happened in her soul. 

 Act 9:36-43 – There was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation was called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and deeds. And it came to pass in those days that she was sick and died. They washed her and laid her on a bed in an upper chamber. And then sent two men to Peter, begging him to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper chamber where all the widows stood by weeping, showing the coats and garments which Dorcas had made while she was still with them. But Peter pushed it away and kneeled down and prayed : and then turned to her body and said, ‘Tabitha arise.’ And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up and called the widows, and presented her alive. And it was known throughout Joppa and many believed.

Tabitha – means beautiful gazelle in hebrew, in the land of Judah where she was born. 1) I think she was the equivalent of a modern day fashion designer and exporter. She traded in Greece where she was then given a new name – Dorcas. 2) Dorcas gazelles are known to quench their thirst by life giving desert streams. Tabitha became a Dorcas, a new kind of gazelle. 3)

I wanted to see Tabitha-Dorcas the new creature raised up. I used the form of a teapot-combine. I imagined her hollow teapot belly soul thirsting for life and satisfied with life in Jesus Christ. 

 

 

 

Bibliography

1. Strong’s Concordance, 5000, Tabitha: gazelle Hebrew root is 6646: a female gazelle to be compared with 6638 in the sense of prominence, splendor and beautiful as a gazelle.
2. Strong’s Concordance, 1393, Dorcas: gazelle, a Christian woman
3. 2 Cor 5:17-18 Therefore if you are in Christ, you are a new creature: old things have passed away and all things have become new. And all things are from God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.