Text: 2 Chronicles 32:31
OT Text Referred to: Deuteronomy 8:2
Subject: testing through prosperity
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Deuteronomy 8:2 states God tested Israel "to know what was in your heart" (לָדַעַת אֶת אֲשֶׁר בִּלְבָבְךָ, lada'at et 'asher bilvavekha), and 2 Chronicles 32:31 uses strikingly similar language about Hezekiah: "God left him to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart" (לְנַסּוֹתוֹ לָדַעַת כָּל אֲשֶׁר בִּלְבָבוֹ, lenassoto lada'at kol 'asher bilvavo). The verbal parallel is nearly exact—both texts use the sequence נסה + לדעת + בלבב (test + to know + in his heart). The Chronicler deliberately applies Moses's wilderness-testing theology to Hezekiah's encounter with Babylonian envoys, interpreting the diplomatic visit as a divinely orchestrated test that revealed Hezekiah's heart—just as the wilderness tested Israel's heart. This is one of the clearest cases of a later author deliberately applying Deuteronomic theology to a specific historical situation.