Philippians 4:10

Ἐχάρην δὲ. The thought now finally turns from the didactic to the personal.—R.V., “But I rejoice”; the present; taking ἐχάρην as an epistolary aorist. See on Philippians 2:25. The time reference, however, may be to the day when the gift arrived, now probably some while ago.

ἐν κυρίῳ. The persons and the act were all bound up with Him.

ἤδη ποτὲ. “At length,” R.V., a milder phrase than the “at the last” of A.V. No reproach, we may be sure, underlies the allusion to the interval; see the loving words of the next sentence. He may even mean to emphasize the thought of the Philippians’ persistence and fidelity.

ἀνεθάλετε τὸ ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ φρονεῖν. “You have burgeoned into thought on my behalf.” The poetic boldness of the phrase is unmistakable. It is an almost pleasantry of expression, full of courteous affectionateness.—Ἀναθάλλειν occurs here only in N.T. In the classics it is always intransitive; in Biblical Greek it is transitive as well, e.g. Ezekiel 17:24, ἀναθάλλων ξύλον ξηρόν: Sir 1:15, φόβος κυρίου�. Here either construction is intelligible.—Φρονεῖν (ἐφρονεῖτε) in this verse comes very near φροντίζειν in meaning; a rare phenomenon.

ἐφʼ ᾦ. “As to which”; i.e. as to St Paul’s condition and interests, implied in the ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ just before.

ἠκαιρεῖσθε. “You lacked the καιρός,” not having, at the moment the needed bearer for the subsidy.