Peter continued his itinerant ministry around Palestine (cf. 8:25).
9:32 Lydda (modern Lod, the site of Israel's international airport) lay on the Mediterranean coastal plain about 10 miles from the sea. It was about 25 miles northwest of Jerusalem. It stood at the junction of the roads from Joppa to Jerusalem and the highway from Egypt to Syria.414There were already "saints"there (cf. vv. 13, 41).
9:33 Peter healed another lame man in Lydda (cf. 3:6-8; Luke 5:17-26).415Aeneas is a Greek name. He was probably a Hellenistic Jew. We do not know if he was a Christian. The fact that Luke called him a man, but referred to Tabitha as a disciple (v. 36), may imply that he was not a believer.
9:34 Peter announced that the healing was Jesus Christ's work (cf. 1:1; 3:6). Jesus had also told a paralytic in Capernaum to take up his pallet and walk (Matt. 9:6; Mark 2:11; Luke 5:24). He later told another paralytic who lay at the Bethesda pool in Jerusalem to do the same thing (John 5:8).416The power of Jesus was still at work through Peter. The formerly paralyzed man arose immediately. Later Paul healed Publius' father (28:8).
"I think every one of the different diseases mentioned in Scripture was intended by God to illustrate in some way the effects of sin."417
9:35 Sharon was the name of the section of maritime plain that stretched from Joppa to Mt. Carmel. Lydda was near its southeastern edge, and Caesarea was at its center on the Mediterranean coast. As with the healing of the lame temple beggar, and Jesus' healings of the paralytics at Capernaum and Jerusalem, the healing of Aeneas resulted in many people hearing the gospel and believing in Jesus.
One of the reasons Luke included this healing in his book seems to have been because the results of this healing affected the people living in this area of Palestine. One of these people was the Gentile Cornelius, who will figure significantly in the next chapter.
