Greatly desiring to see thee. — In view of that violent death which, at this time a close prisoner, he saw was imminent, the memory, too, of the tears of his friend made him long yet more earnestly to see him once again on earth.
Being mindful of thy tears. — Shed probably by Timothy when his aged master had last taken leave of him. It is likely that the clouds of danger which were gathering thickly round St. Paul towards the close of his career had oppressed the brave-hearted Apostle with a foreboding of coming evil, and had invested the last parting with Timothy with circumstances of unusual solemnity. St. Paul had affected others besides Timothy with the same great love, so that tears were shed by strong men when he bade them farewell. (See the account of the leave-taking of the Ephesian elders at Miletus, Acts 20:37-38 — “And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more.”)
There is no necessity for Hofmann’s singular, but rather far-fetched, theory here that the tears were simply an expression for Timothy’s intense sorrow at hearing of the Apostle’s arrest and close imprisonment, which sorrow St. Paul was made acquainted with in a letter. The tears, according to Hofmann, were those “welche Timotheus brieflich geweint hat.”
That I may be filled with joy. — When he meets Timothy again.