[1] Augustine, in his _Confessions,_ makes thankful note of the
manner in which in the years of his ungodliness, God had
raised up obstacles in his path of sin. When sinful desires
raged within him, he says, the means for gratifying them
were absent; or when the desires and the means of
gratifying them came together, some witness was present to
deter him; and when the means were present, and no
witnesses stood by to hinder him, the desire to transgress
was wanting. He rightly judges that these were no mere
accidents or coincidences.
[2] The preventing methods of grace may deservedly pass for
some of the prime instances of the Divine mercy to men in
this world. For though it ought to be owned for an eminent
act of grace to restore one actually fallen, yet there are
not wanting arguments to persuade, that it is a greater to
keep one from falling. Not to break a limb is more
desirable than to have it set and healed, though never so
skilfully and well. Preservation in this, as in many other
cases, being better a great deal than restoration; since
after all is done, it is odds but the scar will remain when
the wound is cured and the danger over.--_South._
[3] Ahaz listened in sullen and incredulous silence; and the
prophet resumes--"Ask thee a sign of Jehovah thy God; ask
it either in the depth, or in the height above." But Ahaz,
who looked on Jehovah not as his God, but only (like any of
his heathen neighbours) as the god of Judæa, and as such
inferior to the god of Assyria; and who had determined to
apply to the king of Assyria, or perhaps had already
applied to him, as a more trustworthy helper than Jehovah,
in the present strait; declines to ask a sign, excusing
himself by a contrary use of the words of Moses, "Thou
shalt not tempt Jehovah." He refused the sign, because he
knew it would confirm the still struggling voice of his
conscience; and that voice he had resolved not to obey,
since it bid him give up the Assyrian, and trust in Jehovah
henceforth.--_Strachey._
[4] Within the space of time figuratively indicated by the time
necessary for the child of the prophet to become capable of
discerning between good and evil--_i.e.,_ in about three
years,--Rezin and Pekah were slain, and the fact that they
were but "two tails of smoking firebrands" demonstrated.
(See 2 Kings xv. 27-30; xvi. 1-9.)