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.
Ver. 31. Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors.] See 2 Kings 20:12,14 .
God left him, to try him.] As he oft doth his best children, Gen 22:1 Job 1:12 ; Job 2:3 ; Job 2:6 but forsaketh them not utterly. Psa 119:8 The humility that Hezekiah showed when the prophet admonished him, and his perseverance in piety, do show that God never quite deprived him of his grace: only sivit eum agere ex affectu suo, he let him, for this once, do as he would, not strengthening him by his Spirit in this temptation of worldly ambition, that he might discover him to himself and to others; for that a man is, that he is in a temptation. Satan can work but according to the matter he findeth in us. The wind addeth no water to the sea, only can make the waves to rise and surge. The fire addeth nothing to the water when it is set upon it, but attenuateth it only, and causeth it to boil, &c.