Did Hezekiah ‘pass the test’? While II Kings 20.12–19 does not allude to the concept of ‘test’, some elements of the story may have encouraged the Chronicler in this direction. To the divine message by Isaiah, Hezekiah responds with: ‘the word of the Lord which you have spoken is good’ (II Kings 20.19), an expression of absolute resignation to the divine will. In its spiritual disposition this statement may be compared to that of Job, in his famous words ‘the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord’ (Job 1.21), or further on, ‘Shall we receive good at the hand of
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