Paul, His Nurse Metaphor (1 Thessalonians 2:7), and the Thessalonian Women Who Turned against Their Idols

Paul's image of a nursing mother/wet nurse in 1 Thess 2:7 is intriguing. Why does he use a female image to describe himself, Timothy, and Silvanus? And why does he compare three males to a singular female ("like a nurse")? I argue for an explanation of this text by first addressing the difficulties Christ-believing women would have faced, especially regarding childbirth. In having turned away from their idols (1 Thess 1:9), they may have felt angst as they faced childbirth. Would they relapse or even apostatize looking for help from the goddesses long thought to help birthing mothers? I relate recent kourotrophic archaeological data (i.e., nursing goddess amulets) from Thessalonica and imagery of nutrices (triadic nursing mother goddess imagery) from Roman Poetovio (modern Ptuj, Slovenia) to their situation. I suggest that Paul was very likely in an ongoing struggle with his newly converted birthing mothers to usurp the function of the goddesses upon whom they relied; he had styled himself as the nurse with the nurturing power of the gospel he brought them, assisted by Silvanus and Timothy (as in the triadic Poetovio nutrices imagery discussed).