G360 ἀναλύω (analýō)

Depart (return) (360) (analuo) means transitively to loose or until and intransitively to depart or return. In Phil 1:23 analuo is used as a euphemism of "to die." In secular Greek analuo described the loosing of the anchor or mooring of a ship so it could depart port and set sail. Analuo was also used of striking one’s tent as one would do in the military when "breaking camp". The latter figure may have been the main idea Paul wanted to convey here since he was a tent maker by trade and spoke of the human body as a tent. Compare his description in Second Corinthians - " For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (2Cor 5:1) Paul used the related (cognate) noun analusis in his last letter writing "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure (analusis) has come." (2Ti 4:6) In the NT, analuo is used twice, first to return from wedding (Lk 12:36) and here in Philippians where Paul says that "setting sail" to a better and a more blessed world is very much better. Luke 12:36 "And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. (Comment: Luke used analuo of men who should be prepared should their master “depart” from the marriage feast with the implication that he would then return.) William Barclay on analuo - (i) It is the word for striking camp, loosening the tent ropes, pulling up the tent pins and moving on (read 2Cor 5:1-8-note). Death is a moving on. It is said that in the terrible days of the war, when the Royal Air Force stood between Britain and destruction and the lives of its pilots were being sacrificially spent, they never spoke of a pilot as having been killed but always as having been “posted to another station.” Each day is a day’s march nearer home, until in the end camp in this world is for ever struck and exchanged for permanent residence in the world of glory. (ii) It is the word for loosening the mooring ropes, pulling up the anchors and setting sail. Death is a setting sail, a departure on that voyage which leads to the everlasting haven and to God. (iii) It is the word for solving problems. Death brings life’s solutions. There is some place where all earth’s questions will be answered and where those who have waited will in the end understand. (Daily Study Bible) Wiersbe adds that "depart" (analuo) had 2 additional secular usages that Paul may have had in mind: "departure was also a political term; it described the setting free of a prisoner. God’s people are in bondage because of the limitations of the body and the temptations of the flesh, but death will free them. Or they will be freed at the return of Christ (Ro 8:18-23) if that should come first. Finally, departure was a word used by the farmers; it meant “to unyoke the oxen.” Paul had taken Christ’s yoke, which is an easy yoke to bear (Mt 11:28-30), but how many burdens he carried in his ministry! (2Co 11:22-12:10.) To depart to be with Christ would mean laying aside the burdens, his earthly work completed. (Wiersbe, W. W. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books) Complete Biblical Library Greek-English Dictionary - The classical definition of analuo includes the senses of “to unloose” or “to set free.” It refers to the “unwinding” of a cocoon or to the melting of snow with the subsequent emergence of the ground. It can denote the “loosing” (and hence “departing”) of a boat from its moorings and the “unloosing” of a garment for such a wide variety of reasons as bearing a child or having sexual relations. Aristotle employed analuo in reference to “reducing” a syllogism by means of logic (Analytica Prioria) Liddell-Scott - analuo = to unloose, undo, of Penelopé's web - “During the night she undid it” (Homer, “Odyssey,” ii., 105), Od. 2. to unloose, set free, release, II. to restore to a dead man the use of his eyes and voice, Pind. 2. to analyse, Arist. 3. to put an end to a thing, Xen.:-to abolish, cancel, Dem.:-Med. to cancel faults, Xen., Dem. III. intr. to loose a ship from its moorings, weigh anchor, depart, Polyb.:-metaph., of death, NT 2. to return, Ib. The only other uses of analuo are in the Apocrypha - 1 Esd 3:3; Jdt 13:1; Tob 2:9; 2 Macc 8:25; 9:1; 12:7; 15:28; 3 Macc 2:24; 5:21, 40, 44; 7:13, 20; Wis 2:1; 5:12; 16:14; Sir 3:15. Moule - Analuo "does not occur in the LXX., but is not infrequent in the Apocrypha, and there usually means to go away, or, as another side of the same act, to return (cp. Tob 2:8; Jdt 13:1)." Moule - Suicer (Thesaurus, under analuo), says that Melanchthon on his death-bed called the attention of his learned friend Camerarius to this word, dwelling with delight on the passage, correcting the “dissolution” of the Vulgate, and rendering rather, “to prepare for departure,” “to migrate,” or “to return home.”—Luther renders here abzuscheiden, “to depart.” (Cambridge Bible Commentary) Adam Clarke - It appears to be a metaphor taken from the commander of a vessel, in a foreign port, who feels a strong desire, to set sail, and get to his own country and family; but this desire is counterbalanced by a conviction that the general interests of the voyage may be best answered by his longer stay in the port where his vessel now rides; for he is not in dock, he is not aground, but rides at anchor in the port, and may any hour weigh and be gone. You have to love Spurgeon's picturesque comment - "The sail is spread; the soul is launched upon the deep. How long will be its voyage? How many wearying winds must beat upon the sail ere it shall be reefed in the port of peace? How often shall that soul be tossed upon the waves before it comes to the sea that knows no storm. Oh tell it, tell it everywhere; yon ship that has just departed is already at its haven. It did but spread its sail and it was there." Hallelujah! Amen!