But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.
Ver. 10. Hath reflourished] Ανεθαλετο. It had deflourished then for a season, and withered, as an oak in winter,Isaiah 6:13, and as a teil tree whose sap is in the root. The best tree may have a fit of barrenness. So may the best men suffer some decays for a season; the spiritual life may run all to the heart, as a people conquered in the field runs to the castle. Howbeit, as Eutychus's life was in him still, and he revived, though he seemed to be dead, and as trees in the spring grow green again, so do the relapsed saints.