“Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire 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.”
My Notes
What Does 2 Chronicles 32:31 Mean?
2 Chronicles 32:31 reveals something startling about one of the good kings of Judah: "Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire 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."
Hezekiah — the king who spread Sennacherib's letter before God, who prayed and saw 185,000 Assyrians die in a night, who was healed from terminal illness — had a moment when God stepped back. Babylonian ambassadors arrived, ostensibly to inquire about the miraculous sign (the sundial moving backward, 2 Kings 20:11). And when they came, "God left him." Not permanently. Not in judgment. To try him — to test him — to reveal what was actually in his heart.
The test was simple: what would Hezekiah do without the felt sense of God's presence guiding him? The answer (told more fully in 2 Kings 20:13) was that Hezekiah showed the Babylonians everything — all his treasures, all his arsenal, everything in his house. He was seduced by the attention of a rising empire. Without God's restraining presence, Hezekiah's heart revealed something he probably didn't know was there: pride, vanity, the desire to impress. The test didn't create the problem. It exposed it. God withdrew not to abandon Hezekiah but to show him what he was carrying that he didn't know about.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you experienced a season where God's presence felt withdrawn — and did anything surface in you that surprised you?
- 2.What do you reach for when God seems absent — comfort, control, approval, or something else?
- 3.How does knowing that God sometimes steps back to test (not to punish) change how you interpret seasons of spiritual dryness?
- 4.What might be hiding in your heart that only becomes visible when the guardrails are removed?
Devotional
God left him. Not because Hezekiah sinned. To see what would happen when the guardrails were removed. To reveal what was in his heart when he wasn't conscious of God watching. And what surfaced was pride — the desire to show off his wealth to foreign ambassadors, to impress Babylon, to let human flattery fill the space where divine guidance usually lived.
This is one of the most unsettling verses in Scripture because it means God sometimes tests you by stepping back. Not all spiritual dryness is punishment or neglect. Sometimes it's a diagnostic. God removes the felt sense of His presence — the inner check, the guiding nudge, the conviction that usually keeps you in line — and watches what you do without it. Not because He doesn't care. Because He wants you to see what's actually in you.
What surfaces when God steps back is the real you. The version of you that acts without accountability. The version that shows up when no one is watching and the divine pressure is off. For Hezekiah, it was pride and vanity. For you, it might be something different. But the test is the same: who are you when God seems absent? What do you reach for when the felt guidance disappears? That's the heart God is revealing — not to condemn it, but so you can see it and deal with it before it deals with you.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Of the ambassadors - See Kg2 20:13 (note), and the observations at the end of that chapter.
Here we conclude the story of Hezekiah with an account of three things concerning him: -
I. His sickness and his…
ambassadors Lit. "interpreters."
to inquire of the wonder According to 2Ki 20:12; Isa 39:1, the ostensible reason of the…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture