2 Chronicles 32:31

31 Howbeit, in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to try him, that He might know all that was in his heart.

2 Chronicles 32:31 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 32:31

Howbeit, [in the business of] the ambassadors of the princes
of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire the wonder that was [done]
in the land
Not to see the two tables of stone which were in the ark, with the other two that were broken because of the sin of the calf, as the Targum; nor to ask about the destruction of the Assyrian army, and the manner of it, as Grotius; but to be informed of the miracle of the sun's going back ten degrees, when Hezekiah was recovered from his sickness; the Chaldeans being a people much given to astrology, and curious in their observations of that kind:

God left him to try him;
by showing him all his treasures:

that he might know all that was in his heart;
not that God might know, who knows all things, unless spoken of him after the manner of men; but rather that Hezekiah might know the pride lurking in his heart, and other sins which escaped his notice, ( Jeremiah 17:9 ) or that it might be known by others; that the children of men might know it, as Kimchi; and take warning by it, and observe the frailty and infirmity of the best of men.

2 Chronicles 32:31 In-Context

29 Moreover he provided for himself cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him very much substance.

30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the City of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.

31 Howbeit, in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to try him, that He might know all that was in his heart.

32 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his goodness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

33 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchers of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.