If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend [against] the generation of thy children.
Ver. 15. If I say I will speak thus] If I should give way to such a wicked thought, &c. Here the Spirit beginneth to get the upper hand, to gain the wind and the hill of the flesh. The Spirit would always get the better of the flesh, were it upon equal terms. But when the flesh shall get the hill, as it were, of temptation, and shall have wind to drive the smoke upon the face and eyes of the combatant, that is, to blind him, upon such a disadvantage he may seem to be overcome.
Behold, I shall offend against the generation, &c.] As if they were no children, because so sharply chastened; whereas the saints are unto God as the apple of his eye, that little man in the eye, as the word signifieth. The eye is a tender part; yet when dim and dusky we apply sharp powders or waters to it, to eat out the web, pearl, or blindness, and yet love it never the less. No more doth God his children, though he apply corrosives or caustics to their flesh, if need require.