1 Thessalonians 2:17 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Being taken from you— The original word is very emphatical;— απορφανισθεντες. It is an allusion to that grief, anxiety, and reluctance of heart with which dying parents take farewell of their children, when they are just going to leave them helpless orphans, exposed to the injuries of the world; or that sorrow of heart with whichpoor destitute orphans close the eyes of their dying parents. The Apostle, by this metaphor, in a very lively and tender manner, expresses the concern and reluctance wherewith he had parted from his young converts at Thessalonica; being violently driven away from them by the unbelieving Jews; compelled to leave these his spiritual children amid the most restless and malicious enemies, without the guidance, defence, and support of their father in the gospel. Acts 17:5; Acts 17:10. The original, rendered, for a short time, signifies literally, for an hour's time; which is a figurative expression. It was several years before the Apostle returned to them; but his mind was full of the ideas of eternity, which annihilated, as it were, any period of mortal life.