17, 18. ‘ But as for ourselves, Brothers, when we had been bereaved of you for a short season, albeit the separation was in bodily presence, not in heart, we were exceedingly desirous to see you again face to face, and all the more so because of the hindrances we encountered. For when we had resolved to revisit you— so far indeed as I Paul was concerned this resolution was actually come to on two separate occasions— it was only to find that Satan had effectually blocked our path.’ 17. ἀπορφανισθέντες] The metaphor underlying ἀπορφανισθέντες (ἅπ. λεγ.. N.T., elsewhere Aesch. Choeph. 241, Philo) can hardly be pressed in view of the latitude with which ὀρφανός is often used (e.g. Pind: Isthm. 7. 15 ὀ. ἑταίρων), though the closeness of the ties between the Apostles and their converts (cf. 2:7, 2:11) makes the special meaning very appropriate here. Th. Mops.: ‘ desolati a uobis ad instar orphanorum’ ; Oecum.: ἄνωμὲνεἶπεν, ὅτι, ὡςπατὴρτέκνα, καὶὡςτροφός· ἐνταῦθαδέ, ἀπορφανισθέντες. πρὸςκαιρὸνὥρας] ‘ for a space of an hour’ (Vg. ad tempus horae, Beza ad temporis momentum), the combination laying stress on the shortness of the period referred to (cf. ‘ horae momento’ Hor. Sat. 1 Thessalonians 1:7 f., Plin. N. H. 7:52). For the simple πρὸςκαιρόν cf. Luke 8:13, 1 Corinthians 7:5, and for πρὸςὥραν cf. 2 Corinthians 7:8, Galatians 2:5, and for πρός c. acc. to denote the time during which anything lasts cf. πρὸςὀλίγον (1 Timothy 4:8), πρὸςτὸπαρόν (Hebrews 12:11), and such a passage from the papyri as C.P.R. 32, 9 f. (3./a.d.) πρὸςμόνοντὸἐνεστὸςβ´ ἔτοςμισθώσασθαι. προσώπῳοὐκαρδίᾳ] ‘ a local dative ethically used’ (Ellic. on Galatians 1:22): cf. WM. p. 270. The same contrast is found in 2 Corinthians 5:12 : for the thought cf. 1 Corinthians 5:3, Colossians 2:5. Grotius cites by way of illustration the line descriptive of lovers, ‘ Illum absens absentem auditque videtque.’ περισσοτέρωςἐσπουδάσαμεν] ‘ were more exceedingly anxious’— a sense of eagerness being present in the verb ἐσπουδάσαμεν, which we do not usually associate with our Engl. ‘ endeavoured’ (A.V., R.V.). Tindale, followed by Cranmer and the Genevan versions, has ‘ enforsed.’ For σπουδάζειν, which in the N.T. is regularly constructed with inf. (in 2 Peter 1:15 acc. and inf.), cf. Galatians 2:10, Ephesians 4:3, 2 Timothy 2:15, Hebrews 4:11, 2 Peter 1:10; 2 Peter 3:14. The comparative περισσοτέρως (for form, WSchm. p. 98) is apparently never used in the Pauline writings without a comparison, either stated or implied, being present to the writer’ s mind (cf. WM. p. 304 f.). In the present instance this is best found not in the preceding ἀπορφ. (‘ separation, so far from weakening our desire to see you, has only increased it’ Lft.), nor in what the Apostles had learned regarding the persecutions to which the Thessalonians had been exposed (P. Schmidt, Schmiedel), but in the hindrances which, according to the next verse, had been thrown in the way of their return, and which, instead of chilling their ardour, had rather increased it (Bornemann, Wohlenberg). ἐνπολλῇἐπιθυμίᾳ] ‘ with great desire’— one of the few instances in the N.T. in which ἐπιθυμία is used in a good sense, cf. Luke 22:15, Philippians 1:23, Revelation 18:14.