Might be fully known,— Πληροφορηθη,— might be carried on with confidence. It was a glorious testimony to the honour of Christianity, that the apostle couldthuscourageouslymaintainit, when all his friends forsook him, and his enemies were so fiercely raging against him. By the lion, the apostle (according to many commentators) means the emperor Nero; whom, it is remarkable, Seneca calls by the same name. But, since Clement says that he suffered martyrdom under the governors, (see on 2 Timothy 4:16.) some think it more probable, that by the lion the apostle intended Helius; who was, if possible, more savage than his master, and whom Nero had at this time left with an absolute authority in Rome during his absence in Greece. The sacred Scriptures frequently represent idolatrous, bigotted, and cruel princes, under this image. Comp. Amos 5:19. Jeremiah 2:30. Joel 1:6. Nahum 2:12. The apostle may allude here to the circumstance in Daniel 6:22. See Psalms 35:17.
Related Commentaries of 2 Timothy 4:17
2 Timothy 4:17
17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.