2 Chronicles 32:31

_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._ In the business of the ambassadors ... They brought a present (2 Chronicles 32:23) (see the notes at 2 Kings 20:12), and a letter of congratulation on his recovery, in which particular inquiries were made about the miracle of the sun's retrocession-a natural phenomenon that could not fail to excite great interest and curiosity at Babylon, where astronomy was so much studied. At the same time there is reason to believe that they proposed a defensive league against the Assyrians. GOD LEFT HIM, TO TRY HIM ... Hezekiah's offence was not so much in the dis

24-33 God left Hezekiah to himself, that, by this trial and his weakness in it, what was in his heart might be known; that he was not so perfect in grace as he thought he was. It is good for us to know ourselves, and our own weakness and sinfulness, that we may not be conceited, or self-confident, but may always live in dependence upon Divine grace. We know not the corruption of our own hearts, nor what we shall do if God leaves us to ourselves. His sin was, that his heart was lifted up. What need have great men, and good men, and useful men, to study their own infirmities and follies, and their obligations to free grace, that they may never think highly of themselves; but beg earnestly of God, that he will always keep them humble! Hezekiah made a bad return to God for his favours, by making even those favours the food and fuel of his pride. Let us shun the occasions of sin: let us avoi...

Verse 2 Chronicles 32:31. _OF THE AMBASSADORS_] See 2 Kings 20:13, and the observations at the end of that chapter. 2 Chronicles 20:20....

EXPOSITION This chapter of thirty-three verses is paralleled by the sixty-one verses that begin with 2 Kings 18:13 and end with 2 Kings 19:37; and by Isaiah 36:1; Isaiah 37:1. Our chapter gives, as might be anticipated, but a very partial and somewhat broken account, therefore,_ _of this stretch of Hezekiah's career, and no adequate impression whatever of the great power of some portions of the parallel. A close comparison of the two places leaves us tolerably clear as to the order and consecutiveness of the history, although perhaps not entirely so. The style of our present chapter betrays the usual marks of di

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 not...

CHAPTER 32 SENNACHERIB'S INVASION, THE DELIVERANCE, AND THE PASSING OF HEZEKIAH _ 1. Sennacherib's invasion (2 Chronicles 32:1)_ 2. The king's counsel and trust in God (2 Chronicles 32:3) 3. Sennacherib's threatening and arrogance (2 Chronicles 32:9) 4. Sennacherib's defiance of God (2 Chronicles 32:17) 5. Hezekiah's and Isaiah's prayer (2 Chronicles 32:20) 6. The deliverance ...

2 Chronicles 29:1 to 2 Chronicles 32:33. THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH (see notes on 2 Kings 18:2 f., 2 Kings 18:13; 2 Kings 18:19; 2 Kings 20:1). The Chronicler in this long section writes, from his own point of view, much that is quite unhistorical. The three main subjects treated by him here are Hezekiah's reopening of the Temple, the Passover, and the appointment of the Temple officials. In...

BABYLON. The first occurrence of the name in connection with Judah. THE WONDER. Compare 2 Chronicles 32:24. 2Ki 20:10, 2 Kings 20:11.Isaiah 38:7; Isaiah 38:8....

_ambassadors_ Lit. "interpreters." _to inquire of the wonder_ According to 2 Kings 20:12; Isaiah 39:1, the ostensible reason of the embassy was to congratulate Hezekiah on his recovery. The real object was to gain over Judah to an alliance against Assyria, against which Babylon was in a chronic state of revolt. _to try him, that_he _might know_, etc.] The phrase is based on Deuteronomy 8:2....

DISCOURSE: 429 THE WEAKNESS AND DEPRAVITY OF MAN 2 Chronicles 32:31. _God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart_. THERE is no character so excellent but there is some blot to be found in it. The most illustrious saints that ever lived, not only betrayed their weakness and sinfulness, but shewed themselves defective in those very graces for which they were most eminent. We must not wonder therefore that Hezekiah, who was in some respects as distinguished a character as any that either preceded or followed him, became at last a monument of human frailty. It is probable that the peculiar manifestations of the divine favour towards him had excited an undue degree of self-complacency in his mind: God therefore saw fit to try him, and, “in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who had sent unto him to inquire of the