A Hard Message for a Good King

And she said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Tell ye the man that sent you unto me, Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read.—2Kings 22:15,16

The Old Testament prophetess Huldah was the wife of Shallum. He was a man of dignity and from an eminent family, being the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (royal garments). Huldah reportedly lived in Jerusalem in the college (KJV) or school district. According to McClintock and Strong, "There is no ground to conclude that any school or college of the prophets is to be understood."1 The name of the section was Mishneh, meaning second part or district and was a suburb between the inner and outer walls of the city.

This Old Testament woman is mentioned in only two places in the Scriptures: 2 Kings 22:14 and 2 Chronicles 34:22. Both recount the prophecy made concerning the lost book of the law.

Huldah lived during the reign of Josiah who ascended to the throne as king of Judah after Manasseh’s son Amon was assassinated in his own house at the age of 24. Amon’s short reign of two years was filled with wickedness and an attempt to re-establish idolatry. His son Josiah was just eight years old when he became king.

As a servant of God, Josiah became one of the greatest reform kings in Israel. He was born during the period of Manasseh’s reformation movement, and his name means "Jehovah will support." His mother and maternal grandmother were apparently of godly parentage. Josiah’s mother was Jedidiah, a name meaning "the beloved of Jehovah." His maternal grandmother was Adiah, a name meaning "the honored of Jehovah."

It is reasonable to infer that Josiah was tutored by his mother and grandmother. According to 2 Chronicles 34:3, in the eighth year of his reign at the age of 16, "he began to seek after the God of David, his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images."

From the time Josiah was 20 until he was 26 years of age, he used his influence and power to overthrow idolatry throughout the kingdom. He worked to eliminate such wickedness both in Jerusalem and throughout Judah and extended his influence over a large portion of the territory once ruled by the ten-tribe kingdom. Thus he pushed the work of reformation and the destruction of idols as far as Naphtali on the sea of Galilee. Apparently there was a certain amount of opposition to his reform work, and the king’s presence seems to have been required through his servants to insure thorough destruction of the symbols of idolatry which were abundant in every district.

After King Josiah had cleansed the land of its idols, he returned to Jerusalem. As he looked for the next step to take in his service to God, he decided to repair the temple. Although his grandfather Hezekiah had cleansed the temple, it had been subsequently neglected. Many of the rafters were broken, and considerable repair was needed. As a result, Josiah collected donations for its repair and the work was completed.

During the temple’s repair, the priest Hilkiah "found a book of the law of the LORD given by the hand of Moses" (2 Chronicles 34:14). Bible scholars have connected this book with the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible. Presumably this was the copy of the law which Moses wrote with his own hand. In her 1993 bestseller entitled A History of God, Karen Armstrong wrote: "It is almost certain that the "Book of the Law" discovered by Hilkiah was the core of the text that we now know as Deuteronomy."2

When this treasure was found, Hilkiah took it to the king’s secretary Shaphan who read it to King Josiah. When Josiah heard the words of the law, he rent his clothes to show his dismay. What had been taught by the priests by word of mouth was very different from what was in the manuscript written by Moses. Josiah was greatly troubled when he realized how far short Israel had come and learned of the punishments that were prescribed for failing to keep the law. Although there had been occasional reformations, idolatry had flourished for over 300 years. During that time the people had not supported the priests and Levites who tried to remain faithful to the Lord.

Josiah sent the high priest Hilkiah and several of his court officers to inquire of the Lord about whether Israel might escape the punishment which he realized justly belonged to the nation under the conditions of the Law Covenant.

Although the prophets Zephaniah and Jeremiah were living and prophesying at that time, the messengers went to Huldah, the daughter-in-law of one of Josiah’s court officers. We can only speculate why the king passed up two prominent prophets in favor of Huldah, a prophetess who is otherwise unknown to us in the Scriptures. According to McClintock and Strong, "The place of Huldah’s residence is mentioned probably to show why she, being at hand, was resorted to on this urgent occasion and not Jeremiah who was then probably away."

In his article "The Lost Book Found" (R3490) Pastor Russell suggested four reasons why Huldah was consulted:

1. The king might have hoped to receive a softer and more peaceful message from a woman than from a man, especially since Huldah through her father-in-law was connected with Josiah’s court, and would therefore be disposed to give as kind a message as possible.

2. It may have been that Jeremiah and Zephaniah were on preaching tours away from Jerusalem and not readily available for communication.

3. Perhaps Josiah already knew what the other two prophets’ answer would be because they may have been publicly prophesying and foretelling the coming judgment of the Lord. Josiah could have considered their prophecies to be extreme, considering the reformations which he had inaugurated.

4. Josiah may have wanted to obtain an outside testimony instead of a response from someone related to the king or the high priest. Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, the high priest, and Zephaniah was Josiah’s own cousin.

McClintock and Strong add: "There were gates of the temple in the middle of the southern wall called `the gates of Huldah’ which, if they were so named from any connection with the prophetess, may indicate her residence on Ophel."

It is evident that the Lord replied through Huldah in a very direct manner, confirming all that had been declared by both Jeremiah and Zephaniah. The writings of Josephus confirm that Huldah reported that God had already given a sentence against them to destroy the people, cast them out of their country, and deprive them of all the happiness they enjoyed. This sentence could not be set aside by any prayers of theirs since it was passed because of their transgressions of the laws and of their not having repented in so long a time. In the meantime the prophets had exhorted them to make amends and had foretold the punishments that would come because of their practices. God would certainly execute these upon them so they would be persuaded that he is God and had not deceived them in any respect as to what he had told them through his prophets.

In 2 Chronicles 34:24,25, it is written, "Thus saith the LORD, Behold I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense unto other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched."

However, the last part of prophesy has some comforting words. In verses 26-28 we read: "And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same."

Josephus wrote that because Josiah was a righteous man, God would delay those calamities, but upon his death God would send on the people the miseries he had determined for the nation of Israel.3

Who was the real force behind the religious reform: King Josiah or the Prophetess Huldah? Shlomith Yaron, at The Open University of Israel in Tel Aviv, writes: "Most scholars believe that the role of women in the ancient Middle East centered around their homes and families only. Men dominated and ruled empires, made war, and legislated laws. On closer examination, however, we see that while this was usually the case, there were occasions when a woman was the moving force in initiating a war or in introducing or enforcing religious reforms: commander Barak refused to lead the Israelite campaign against the northern Canaanites without the participation of the prophetess Deborah; and had the prophetess Huldah not interpreted the ancient book found in the Temple, King Josiah might not have succeeded (or perhaps even tried) to enforce religious and cultic reforms and thus change the religious behavior of the Judaeans and Israelites at the end of the 7th century BC."

As we read in subsequent chapters, King Josiah did accomplish many reforms during his reign, including:

The abolition of idolatry and all that was associated with it (2 Kings 23:4-20,24; 2Chronicles 34:3-7).

A national observation of the Passover (2Kings 23:21-23; 2 Chronicles 35:1-19).

Repair of the house of God (2 Kings 22:3-7; 2 Chronicles 34:8).

Reversing 57 years of ungodliness (Amon, his father, reigned 2 years, 2 Kings 21:19; Manasseh, his grandfather, reigned 55 years, 2 Kings 21:1).

Some of the reasons for Josiah’s success were:

1. He remembered God in his youth.

2. He overcame the ungodly heritage of his father Amon and his grandfather Manasseh.

3. He was surrounded with good advisors and listened to their advice (Deuteronomy 32:7; Job 8:8-10). In addition to the high priest Hilkiah and the scribe Shaphan, he heeded the words of the prophetess Huldah.

4. He respected God’s word (2 Kings 22:8-13), hating what God hated and loving what God loved.

The lesson is that we should listen for God’s direction no matter where it may come from. Huldah was a tool in God’s hands, and King Josiah listened to the words of the Lord as given through her message. Sisters in Christ should be ready to be used of God when circumstances, experiences, and talents provide such an opportunity. "God, who is no respecter of persons, requires faithfulness on the part of female as well as male stewards in the use of all their talents" (R1549).

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NOTES:

1. McClintock & Strong. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, Reprinted 1981, Volume IV, pp. 398-399.

2. Armstrong, Karen. A History of God. New York: Ballantine Books, 1993.

3. Works of Josephus, Volume III (Antiquities of the Jews Books IX-XVII). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974, pp. 60-62.