Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [1 Thessalonians: Chapter 2].
proverb: _Honos propter onus_. So he adds, including Silas and
Timothy, {as Christ's apostles}, as missionaries clearly, whether
in the technical sense or not (cf. Ac 14:4,14; 2Co 8:23; 11:13;
Ro 16:7; Php 2:25; Re 2:2). They were entitled to pay as
"Christ's apostles" (cf. 1Co 9; 2Co 11:7ff.), though they had
not asked for it.
2:7 {But we were gentle in the midst of you} (\alla egen•th•men
n•pioi en mes•i hum•n\). Note \egen•th•men\ (became), not
\•metha\ (were). This rendering follows \•pioi\ instead of
\n•pioi\ (Aleph B D C Vulg. Boh.) which is clearly correct,
though Dibelius, Moffatt, Ellicott, Weiss prefer \•pioi\ as
making better sense. Dibelius terms \n•pioi\ _unmoglich_
(impossible), but surely that is too strong. Paul is fond of the
word \n•pioi\ (babes). Lightfoot admits that he here works the
metaphor to the limit in his passion, but does not mar it as
Ellicott holds. {As when a nurse cherishes her own children}
(\h•s ean trophos thalp•i ta heaut•s tekna\). This comparative
clause with \h•s ean\ (Mr 4:26; Ga 6:10 without \ean\ or \an\)
and the subjunctive (Robertson, _Grammar_, p. 968) has a sudden
change of the metaphor, as is common with Paul (1Ti 5:24; 2Co
3:13ff.) from {babes} to {nurse} (\trophos\), old word, here
only in the N.T., from \treph•\, to nourish, \troph•\,
nourishment. It is really the mother-nurse "who suckles and
nurses her own children" (Lightfoot), a use found in Sophocles,
and a picture of Paul's tender affection for the Thessalonians.
\Thalp•\ is an old word to keep warm, to cherish with tender
love, to foster. In N.T. only here and Eph 5:29.
2:8 {Even so, being affectionately desirous of you} (\hout•s
omeiromenoi hum•n\). Clearly the correct text rather than
\himeiromenoi\ from \himeir•\, old verb to long for. But the verb
\homeiromai\ (Westcott and Hort _om_., smooth breathing) occurs
nowhere else except MSS. in Job 3:21; Ps 62:2 (Symmachus) and
the Lycaonian sepulchral inscription (4th cent. A.D.) about the
sorrowing parents \homeiromenoi peri paidos\, {greatly desiring
their son} (Moulton and Milligan, _Vocabulary_). Moulton suggests
that it comes from a root \smer\, remember, and that \o-\ is a
derelict preposition \o\ like \o-duromai, o-kell•, •-keanos\.
Wohlenberg (Zahn, _Kommentar_) calls the word "a term of
endearment," "derived from the language of the nursery"
(Milligan). {We were well pleased} (\•udokoumen\). Imperfect
active of \eudoke•\, common verb in later Greek and in N.T. (see
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