by
Damien F. Mackey
“Most biblical commentators are puzzled that King
Josiah chose Huldah to read and interpret the newly found scroll since the
prophets Jeremiah and Zephaniah were both active at the time, Jeremiah being
the more prominent of the two male prophets. Traditional commentators reason,
the male prophets have books included in the canon but Huldah doesn’t.
Therefore, it is assumed, she must have not been as renowned as the men”.
Robin Cohn
Introduction
We read in two virtually
identical accounts, in 2 Kings 22:14-20 and Chronicles 34:11-28, about the consultation
of the prophetess Huldah in relation to the discovery of a scroll of the Book
of the Law uncovered during a repairing of the Temple in the time of King Josiah.
Here is the narrative
of it from 2 Kings 22:14-20:
So
Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto
Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas,
keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they
communed with her.
And she
said unto them, Thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the Lord, 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:
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 kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.
But to
the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, as touching the
words which thou hast heard;
Because
thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake
against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should
become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me;
I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.
Behold therefore, I will gather
thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and
thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And
they brought the king word again.
That King Josiah would send five of
his top officials to consult Huldah the prophetess is a testimony to her greatness
and her oracular importance.
Bobby Valentine has not missed
this point in his fine article, “Huldah Who? The Forgotten Ministry of a Lady Prophet”: http://stonedcampbelldisciple.com/2006/06/27/huldah-who-the-forgotten-ministry-of-a-lady-prophet/
In
response to the discovery of the “book of the Law” Josiah is alarmed. But he is
not foolhardy. He needs to know if this work is authentic . . . If it is
“true.” What Josiah does next fits well with what we know from Assyrian
parallels of Esarhaddon and Nabonidus. When the king receives an oracle or an
omen he would “double-check” it with another “god.” Josiah has just received
bad news (an omen!) and wants to know if it is really the word of the
Lord. So he “double-checks” so to speak with the Prophet Huldah.
So
Josiah sends five men to “inquire of Yahweh.” Not just any men but some
of the, if not the, most important men in the nation. It might pay to reflect
on who these men are for just a moment:
1) Hilkiah the High Priest. The highest spiritual leader in the country.
2) Ahikam son of
Shaphan. The Shaphan family is important in Judah. Ahikam is father of Gedaliah
who becomes governor (2 Kgs 25.22)
3) Abdon (nothing
known of him)
4) Shaphan the
Secretary. He is basically the secretary of state or chief of staff for the
king.
5) Asiah the king’s
attendant.
These
men are important in ancient Judah both theologically and politically. We
should not miss this fact. ….
[End of
quote]
After learning of the scroll,
Josiah requested the prophetess Huldah to verify that it was the word of God.
What?
Why choose Huldah, who appears to
be otherwise unknown in the Scriptures?
And why a woman? Why not one of
the male prophets?
Most biblical commentators are
puzzled that King Josiah chose Huldah to read and interpret the newly found
scroll since the prophets Jeremiah and Zephaniah were both active at the time,
Jeremiah being the more prominent of the two male prophets. Traditional
commentators reason, the male prophets have books included in the canon but
Huldah doesn’t. Therefore, it is assumed, she must have not been as renowned as
the men. ….
Bobby Valentine goes even
further, referring to St. Paul’s sanction against women (op. cit.):
….
Where to
Begin?
I have
long been fascinated by the enigmatic figure of Huldah. I discovered Huldah in
1988 in an “OT” Survey class reading through the Bible. We never actually
discussed her and I am not sure we could have done so. But I never forgot
her. She has been a poltergeist floating in my mind for nearly 20 years!
Here was this woman placing a stamp of authenticity on Scripture, interpreting it and exercising authority over men . . . all at the same time! I did not know what to do with her. Since then I have been involved in many discussions regarding women in Scripture. Invariably I am told a woman never exercised authority over men with God’s approval because Paul forbade it. I then ask, “What about Huldah?”
Here was this woman placing a stamp of authenticity on Scripture, interpreting it and exercising authority over men . . . all at the same time! I did not know what to do with her. Since then I have been involved in many discussions regarding women in Scripture. Invariably I am told a woman never exercised authority over men with God’s approval because Paul forbade it. I then ask, “What about Huldah?”
The
response is almost (without exception) “Huldah Who?”
This article from Patheos also
discusses prophetess Huldah in relation to the rðle of women (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithpromotingrumor/2014/04/female-voice-and-the-prophetess-huldah/):
Female Voice and the Prophetess Huldah
April
11, 2014 ….
There has been a lot of talk lately about
gender equality and whether women have real voices in the church vis a vis the
all male priesthood. Of course, the standard position of church leaders is that
women are equally valued and that their perspectives are given full and
appropriate consideration given the divinely ordained channels of revelation to
the regularly constituted authorities. But somehow this rhetoric that “women
are equally valued and listened to” has not been able to allay the growing
perception and opinion of many that women are unequal to men at both
institutional and theological levels in [significant] ways.
So because of my interest in the Old
Testament, I thought of another way of testing the church’s rhetoric about the
place of women in the church. If the church claims that it values the voices
and contributions of women on a par with men, how well does the church listen
to the few voices of women that are already found in scripture and enjoy the
authoritative seal of belonging to the standard works? Are THEY given full and
appropriate consideration in our scriptural and doctrinal discussions?
Admittedly, there are not many women figures in scripture and their roles are
generally not as substantial as other male characters. But how we deal with
these women and to what degree we remember their actions and contributions to
scriptural history may tell us something about the place of women in our
collective ecclesiastical consciousness.
A great example to consider is the
prophetess Huldah. Do our Sunday School and church educational lessons do much
remembering and memorializing of this key biblical figure? I recently watched
the high quality film produced for church education in 2011 about Josiah and the Book of the Law and to
my amazement the presentation of the story completely skips over the episode of
Josiah’s consultation with Huldah. Most all of the major pieces of II Kings
22-23 are present, including Josiah’s childhood, the discovery of the scroll by
Hilkiah, its delivery by Shaphan the scribe to the king, the idolatrous
practices of the people of Judah under previous kings, Josiah’s repentance and
institution of reform, and his death at Megiddo by the hands of Pharaoh Necho.
But Huldah is nowhere to be found.
Why is this? What motivated completely
removing Huldah the prophetess from the LDS redacted narrative of Josiah’s
reforms? She is, after all, a critically important figure in the account and
has more speech than any other character aside from Josiah in II Kings 22-23.
When Josiah realizes that the people have gone astray after other gods and not
followed the laws of the new found scroll of Torah, he instructs his servants
to seek an oracle from Yahweh so that perhaps Yahweh’s anger would be averted.
These servants then go to visit Huldah and she delivers a lengthy oracle that
confirms the validity of the scroll of Torah, underscores Yahweh’s displeasure
with the people, and promises Josiah that he will be blessed to die before
Yahweh’s wrath breaks out in full (22:15-20).
One of the interesting things about
Huldah’s oracle is how much it emphasizes that she is a direct representative
of Yahweh. Uniquely, the prophetic introduction formula is repeated three times
(“thus says the Lord,” vv. 15, 16, 18) and she speaks in first person as though
the identification between her and the deity was seamless. In the broader
Deuteronomistic narrative, Huldah is about as authoritative as it gets. ….
[End of quote]
That Huldah and her prophetic words can
by no means be brushed aside, but must be taken very seriously indeed, is fully
apparent from Bobby Valentine’s explanation of the structural significance of
the Huldah narrative, a chiasm which “places [Huldah’s] work as the theological and structural center of the
Josiah narrative”:
Setting of the Huldah Narrative
Huldah is extremely important to the history known as
Joshua-Samuel-Kings and also Chronicles. Most of the names we think of when we
hear the word “prophet” are not even mentioned by either of these histories.
Jonah and Isaiah (“writing prophets”) are mentioned in Kings. Jeremiah is not,
to my knowledge mentioned at all. In Chronicles, Isaiah is mentioned as is
Jeremiah mentioned briefly as the author of a lament over Josiah (2 C 35.25)
and in 2 C 36. 12, 21. He is never mentioned in connection with Josiah’s reform
. . . But Huldah is given considerable space (comparatively) by both Kings
and Chronicles.
As we shall see the Huldah narrative is central not only to the Josiah
episode but to the entire structure of Chronicles (where I will spend most of
my time). Here is a structural outline that highlights what I mean:
A. Formulaic Introduction (34.1-2)
B. Cultic Purification of Judah & Jerusalem (34.3-5)
C. Cultic Purification of the North (34.6-7)
D. Discovery of the Book (34.8-18)
E. Prophecy of Huldah (34.19-32)
D’ Implementation of the Book (34.29-32)
C’ Cultic Purification of the North (34.33)
B’ Celebration of the Passover (35.1-19)
A’ Extended Formulaic Conclusion (35.20-36.1)
B. Cultic Purification of Judah & Jerusalem (34.3-5)
C. Cultic Purification of the North (34.6-7)
D. Discovery of the Book (34.8-18)
E. Prophecy of Huldah (34.19-32)
D’ Implementation of the Book (34.29-32)
C’ Cultic Purification of the North (34.33)
B’ Celebration of the Passover (35.1-19)
A’ Extended Formulaic Conclusion (35.20-36.1)
This structure, known as a chiasm (where the structure of the
work forms a mirror), places [Huldah’s] work as the theological and structural
center of the Josiah narrative. It stresses the authority of the prophetic word
and scripture. The king and the people stand under the prophetic word.
Her status and her character
“Young
Josiah had eminent teachers: Hilkiah, the kohen gadol (he was the great-grandfather of Ezra the Scribe);
the prophet Jeremiah; Shafan the scribe, and his son Ahikam; as well as Shallum
and his wife, Huldah, who took care of him in his early childhood”.
“The greatest character among the women thus far
mentioned (in the OT) is Huldah the prophetess, residing in the college in
Jerusalem”.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Mentor of a King?
Whilst the Huldah
narratives in 2 Kings 22:14-20 and Chronicles 34:11-28 do not relate
specifically that Huldah was King Josiah of Judah’s preferred choice for
consultation when the Book of the Law had been discovered, it is she to whom
the king’s five chief ministers will unhesitatingly turn, as Bobby Valentine
has noted (“Huldah Who?
The Forgotten Ministry of a Lady Prophet”: http://stonedcampbelldisciple.com/2006/06/27/huldah-who-the-forgotten-ministry-of-a-lady-prophet/):
When Josiah was in the midst of a great spiritual and moral crises, Huldah
is the single person to whom he turned. We do not know if Josiah told these men
to go to Huldah but that is what they did. The King wanted answers and these
five very important men went directly and naturally, apparently, to Huldah!
Given our history, and disposition, one is disposed to ask “why Huldah?”
The question is even more important when we realize that there were male
prophets active at this time. Most “famously” would be Jeremiah. But Zephaniah,
Nahum are also active prophets at this time ….
[End of quote]
But it becomes
apparent from Huldah’s immediate response to these ministers that she
understood them to have been sent to her by the king (22:15). There is the suggestion
that Huldah and her husband, Shallum, may in fact have been mentors of the
young Josiah, in which case he would quite naturally have opted for Huldah to
be consulted. For instance, we read at: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112503/jewish/Huldah-the-Prophetess.htm
Huldah the Prophetess
Published and copyrighted by
Kehot Publication Society
…. Huldah’s husband, Shallum, had a prominent position in the royal court.
He was the keeper of the king’s wardrobe, in charge of the king’s robes and
clothes for all occasions. He was also one of the king’s instructors when
Josiah was still a child. Josiah was only eight years old when he inherited the
crown from his father, Amon. His father, who had turned to idolatry, was
murdered in a plot by his palace servants after he had ruled for two years.
Young Josiah had eminent teachers: Hilkiah, the kohen gadol (he
was the great-grandfather of Ezra the Scribe); the prophet Jeremiah; Shafan the
scribe, and his son Ahikam; as well as Shallum and his wife, Huldah, who took
care of him in his early childhood. Under their teaching and influence Josiah
developed into a G‑d-fearing person. He did not follow in the footsteps of his
father and grandfather (King Manasseh), who worshipped idols and encouraged
idolatry in the kingdom of Judah. Rather did he follow in the footsteps of his
great-grandfather Hezekiah, who was a G‑d-fearing, Torah-loving king. At the
age of sixteen years Josiah grasped the reins of his kingdom firmly in his
hands, and began to introduce changes in the spiritual life of his people which
brought a new era into the land. For he steered the people toward the old
spirit of fear of G‑d and devotion to His Torah and Mitzvot. ….
[End of quote]
Despite her undoubted
greatness, though -
Huldah
is one of the seven women prophets of Israel enumerated by the Rabbis: Sarah, Miriam,
Deborah, Hannah, Abigail,
Huldah and Esther (BT Megillah 14a); she is also
mentioned among the twenty-three truly upright and righteous women who came
forth from Israel (Midrash Tadshe, Ozar ha-Midrashim [Eisenstein], p. 474).
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/huldah-prophet-midrash-and-aggadah
- Huldah is largely an obscure figure, very
much unknown and even - as we read in Part
One - quite forgotten. As is her husband, Shallum, whose reputation far
surpasses the facts known about him. It is not certain, for instance, that Shallum,
as said above, “had a prominent position in the royal court. He was the keeper of the
king’s wardrobe …”.
This description could simply be referring to
Shallum’s ancestor, Harhas (2 Kings 22:14): “Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe” (חַרְחַס שֹׁמֵר הַבְּגָדִים)
Moreover, the traditions about Shallum and
Huldah may be muddled. Tamar Kadari (“enyclopedia” article above) writes of a
certain fusing of two traditions about Huldah and her husband:
Huldah was descended from Joshua son of Nun, as is alluded in II Kings
22:14, according to which she was “the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah son of
Harhas”; and Jud. 2:9 states that Joshua was buried “at Timnath-heres” (BT Megillah
14a). Another tradition maintains that Huldah was one of the eight prophets and
priests, including Jeremiah, who were descended from the harlot Rahab. This is
derived from her identification as “the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah,”
combined with the account of Rahab’s actions in Josh. 2:18: “you tie this
length [tikvat] of crimson cord” (Sifrei on Numbers, 78). In an
attempt to resolve these two traditions, the Talmud suggests
that Rahab converted and became Joshua’s wife, so that Hulda is a decendent
both of Rahab and of Joshua (Megillah, loc. cit.). ….
[End of quote]
Whether or not Huldah’s descent from the harlot
Rahab is accurate, I have suggested in:
Bible Critics Can
Overstate Idea of 'Enlightened Pagan'
(this article heavily based upon the research of
others) that the harlot of the Book of Joshua may well have been a person
different from the woman of similar name in Matthew’s genealogy of “Jesus
the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:5).
Huldah’s husband Shallum has a sublime reputation
attached to him according to Jewish tradition, including even a purported
resurrection from the dead. Tamar Kadari again:
The midrash relates that Huldah was gifted with ruah
ha-kodesh (the spirit of divine inspiration) by merit of her husband
Shallum son of Tikvah, who was one of the outstanding individuals of his
generation and who engaged in acts of kindness every day. He would sit at the
entrance to the city and would revive any new arrival by giving him drink from
a goatskin of water. According to the Rabbis, Shallum son of Tikvah is “the
man” of whom II Kings 13:20–21 speaks. After Shallum’s death, according to the
midrash, all Israel sought to repay him for his kindnesses and accompanied him
to his grave. When they came there, they saw the legions of Moab, and they cast
Shallum into the tomb of Elisha. Upon coming into contact with the latter’s
bones, Shallum immediately came back to life. Afterwards a son was born to
Huldah and Shallum, named Hanamel, who is Hanamel the son of Jeremiah’s uncle
Shallum who features in Jer. 32:7 (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer [ed. Higger],
chap. 32). ….
[End of quote]
Far more convincing, I think, are
the Jewish traditions according to which Huldah was a teacher in an Academy.
According to: http://www.womeninthescriptures.com/2008/09/huldah.html
- She dwelt in the college, also known as the "Mishneh" or "second section" of Jerusalem. This is a geographical suburb of Jerusalem between the inner and outer wall;….
- She was literate. Which would have been an extraordinary thing for a woman at that time, not even the King was literate;
- The king sent the high priest Hilkiah, the scribe Shaphan, Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Asaiah, the King's servant to seek her wisdom concerning the book of the law that was found in the temple;
- She verified that the scrolls were the word of God, and that their prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem would come to pass (which they do 35 years later), but says that because King Josiah had a "tender heart" and had humbled himself before God, he would not be alive to see the destruction;
- She was the first to declare scripture to be holy. Up until this time written words had not been declared to be the word of God;
- She is the last (recorded) woman prophet before Judah falls to the Babylonians;
- Mishneh (the area where she lived) means " a repetition" in Hebrew, and it is thought that this would have been a place where the oral tradition was preserved and taught;
- According to Jewish tradition she had a school in Jerusalem where she taught the oral tradition ….[End of quote]
Whilst her literacy
was indeed a notable thing for the time, it is far from certain, as said above,
that “not even
the King was literate …”, especially if he had been mentored by Huldah herself.
Tamar Kadari reinforces the
view of Huldah as a highly educated teacher:
II Kings 22:14 has Huldah “living in Jerusalem in the
Mishneh,” which the Aramaic Targum renders as “study hall,” i.e.,
academy, a place of Torah. Another view is that she taught the Oral Law (= the Mishnah) to the
elders of the generation. According to another tradition, she would preach in
public and expound all the subjects mentioned twice in the Torah, and revealed
the punishments for those who act counter to the allusions and hidden things in
the Torah. Huldah’s chamber, close to the Gazit Chamber, was open to the
outside and closed in the direction of the Sanhedrin, out of modesty (see the
midrashic traditions cited in Rashi’s commentary on II Kings loc. cit; and on
II Chron. 34:22).
These traditions might possibly be connected with the
Huldah Gates on the Temple Mount. The Tannaim assert that there were five gates
to the Mount, two of which, known as the Huldah Gates, were the southern
entrance to the Temple Mount (M Middot 1:3). The Holy One, blessed be
He, took an oath that the Western Wall, the Priest’s Gate and the Huldah Gates
would never be destroyed, until He restored them to their former glory (Cant.
Rabbah 2:9:4).
[End of quote]
A straight-shooting character
One of the stand-out
features of Huldah’s response to King Josiah’s envoys, as I have thought, is to
be found in her very first utterance to the ministers (2 Kings 22:15): ‘Say to
the man who sent you to me …’. Such blunt reference to a king! Consequently
(Tamar Kadari again):
The Rabbis charge Huldah with acting arrogantly when she
told King Josiah’s emissaries (II Kings 22:15): “Say to the man who sent you to
me”; she should have honored the king and said to his representatives, “Say to
the king.” Because of her haughty deportment, she was given a denigratory name,
“huldah,” meaning “weasel” (even the Aramaic translation of her name—karkushta—sounds
ugly) (BT Megillah 14b).
Though such language on the part of the prophetess is
admittedly quite unexpected, a person of her wisdom and prudence is hardly
likely to have indulged in a rash vocal outburst.
If Huldah had been mentor to the king as a young lad,
then a certain degree of familiarity and casualness might easily be allowed
for.
Plus, given her status in the kingdom, Huldah may have
been at this point in time, an elderly lady, having seen kings come and go,
including the wicked Manasseh. Thus, whilst some might ask: “Huldah Who?”, she,
as an aged lady, may well have murmured, in her mind: “King Who?”
I conclude this article with more from Bobby Valentine in
praise of Huldah the Great (op. cit.):
So why her? One scholar opines, “It is
clear that Huldah was a major cult official, and her reputation in her own time
probably was greater than Jeremiah” (John Otwell, And Sarah Laughed: The
Status of Women in the OT, p. 158). I think in light of Huldah’s place in
the narrative of both Kings and Chronicles and the relative silence regarding
Jeremiah and other prophets that Otwell is probably correct in his opinion.
After the longest “introduction” given to a prophet in Chronicles (Hicks, p. 296) we hear the word of God flow from the lips of a female prophet. (READ 34.23-28).
Huldah “authorizes” the Book. She places her stamp of approval on the content as truly from the Lord. For the first time in history (that is recorded) we read of a writing being declared to be scripture . . . And a woman did it! As another has written, “The authority to pass judgment on this initial entry into the canon was given to a woman. At the beginning of the Bible we find Huldah; in her we discover the first scripture authority. . . How could we have lost sight of her all these years” (Swidler, p. 1783).
Huldah's authority is unquestioned by the king or his men. I have to
conclude that she likewise had the authority to declare the "book" to
be a fraud. If she would have declared it to be a hoax I do believe that Josiah
would have believed her. But her authority is what gave the book credibility
and power. But she did more than authenticate the book.
Josiah had placed the burden of the guilt of Judah in the past (v.21, “because of our fathers”), Huldah places the burden in the present (v.25, ‘they have forsaken me”). Please note that Huldah did not only place her stamp of approval on the book brought by the High Priest and his entourage. She became its interpreter. She set its announcement of doom in Judah’s contemporary condition. In fact I believe there are three implicit claims made by Huldah . . . And endorsed by the inspired authors of Kings and Chronicles. These claims are in “authorization movements”:
Josiah had placed the burden of the guilt of Judah in the past (v.21, “because of our fathers”), Huldah places the burden in the present (v.25, ‘they have forsaken me”). Please note that Huldah did not only place her stamp of approval on the book brought by the High Priest and his entourage. She became its interpreter. She set its announcement of doom in Judah’s contemporary condition. In fact I believe there are three implicit claims made by Huldah . . . And endorsed by the inspired authors of Kings and Chronicles. These claims are in “authorization movements”:
1) Huldah began as an authoritative person, one who made a claim, recognized by the king, the high priest and the secretary of state as a legitimate claim, to speak for the Lord God of Israel.
2)
Regarding the text she claimed the authority to declare it worthy of obedience
and representative of the will of God in the present day (of Judah)
3) She
judged the validity of the text vis-à-vis history by interpreting it in light
of the present condition.
These are no small claims but these are in fact what the Chronicler describes Josiah and the People of God giving her . . . And he does himself.
By way of just passing notice does not Esther do the same in Esther 9.29, 32?
Huldah the Female Prophet of God did the following things: she declared this book to be scripture, she interpreted it and applied it for and to both men and the nation of Israel as a whole.
….
What is Huldah’s legacy? Does she have one? Yes and No! If her legacy was great in the modern church I would not have titled my presentation “Huldah Who? The Forgotten Story of a Female Prophet.”
What is Huldah’s legacy? Does she have one? Yes and No! If her legacy was great in the modern church I would not have titled my presentation “Huldah Who? The Forgotten Story of a Female Prophet.”
But it has not always been so. She has been an inspiration to both men and women of God through the centuries beginning with our biblical historians. They did not want her forgotten . . . Historians are selective in what they can place in a work and they made sure she was included. That says a lot, I believe. If we had only Kgs we would never even know Jeremiah or Amos existed . . . But we would know of Huldah!
The early church recognized her greatness (along with other women of God) in the prayer for the ordination of a deaconess in the Apostolic Constitutions (Fourth Century A.D.):
“O eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of man and
of Woman, who filled Miriam, Anna, Deborah and Huldah with the Spirit . . .
Look upon your servant who is chosen for the ministry and grant her your Holy
Spirit.”
….
Elizabeth Cady Stanton defended her work on behalf of women’s rights by
appealing to Huldah. In her mind Huldah was one of the greatest of all God‘s
servants:
“The greatest character among the women thus far mentioned (in the OT) is Huldah the prophetess, residing in the college in Jerusalem . . . Her wisdom and insight were well known to Josiah the king; and when the wise men came to him with the ‘Book of the Law,’ to learn what was written therein, Josiah ordered them to take it to Huldah, as neither the wise men nor Josiah himself could interpret its contents . . .
“The greatest character among the women thus far mentioned (in the OT) is Huldah the prophetess, residing in the college in Jerusalem . . . Her wisdom and insight were well known to Josiah the king; and when the wise men came to him with the ‘Book of the Law,’ to learn what was written therein, Josiah ordered them to take it to Huldah, as neither the wise men nor Josiah himself could interpret its contents . . .
Final Thoughts
Huldah is an incredible woman of God. She was called by God to be a prophet. She had a great reputation in ancient Israel. She did in fact exercise authority by the very nature of her ministry. She is the first person to declare a text scripture but she also interpreted and applied it to her day. She stands at the very heart of the Josiah narrative and in fact his reform movement was the result of her prophetic work. But the Chronicler also uses her to articulate one the central motifs of his entire work . . . I do not have all the answers to the tough questions regarding women, or even, men in God’s church. But I do know this that we need to deal with all of God’s word and we need to deal with it honestly. We need to let Huldah challenge our notions. It is simply not the case that a woman has never exercised authority over men with God’s approval. Huldah did that . . . And much more. Must Huldah remain “Huldah Who?” Can we not be like Josiah and Hilkiah and learn from her?
….
“Keeper of the Wardrobe”
“… the prophetess Huldah, who
was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah,
the son of Harhas, keeper of
the wardrobe”.
2 Kings 22:14
“Keeper
of the Wardrobe” may have been a most prestigious position of honour somewhat
along the lines of what P. Dorman (in The Monuments of
Senenmut, Kegan Paul, London, 1988), but more especially J. Berlandini-Grenier (in “Senenmout, stoliste
royal, sur une statue-cube avec Neferoure”, B1FAO 76, 1976), have
suggested for Senenmut in Hatshepsut’s Egypt, as referred to in my article:
Solomon and Sheba
https://www.academia.edu/3660164/Solomon_and_Sheba
According to Dorman, Senenmut was present at Hatshepsut’s coronation
and played a major rôle there [54]. On one statue [55] he is given some unique
titles, which Berlandini-Grenier [56] identifies with the official responsible
for the ritual clothing of the Queen ‘the stolist of Horus in privacy’, ‘keeper
of the diadem in adorning the king’ and ‘he who covers the double crown with
red linen’. Winlock was startled that Senenmut had held so many unique offices
in Egypt, including ‘more intimate ones like those of the great nobles of
France who were honored in being allowed to assist in the most intimate details
of the royal toilet at the king’s levees’ [57]. The rarity of the stolist
titles suggested to Dorman [58] ‘a one-time exercise of Senenmut’s function of
stolist and that prosopographical conclusions might be drawn’, i.e., he had
participated in Hatshepsut’s coronation. ….
[End of quote]
Confusingly, the Septuagint translation renders Huldah [Olda], not as the
wife of Shallum, but as his “mother” (4 Kings 22:14): “So Hilkiah {gr.Chelcias}
the priest went, and Ahikam {gr.Achicam}, and Achobor, and Shaphan {gr.Sapphan},
and Asaias, to Olda the prophetess, the mother of Shallum {gr.Sellem}
the son of Thecuan son of Aras, keeper of the robes; and she dwelt in Jerusalem
in Masena; and they spoke to her”.
In the Greek:
και επορευθη χελκιας ο ιερευς και αχικαμ και αχοβωρ και σαφφαν και ασαιας προς ολδαν την προφητιν γυναικα σελλημ υιου θεκουε υιου αραας του ιματιοφυλακος και αυτη κατωκει εν ιερουσαλημ εν τη μασενα και ελαλησαν προς αυτην
But the Greek word here, γυναικα, is normally translated as “wife”, “spouse”, “woman”.
Her prophetical accuracy
“While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king
of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King
Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at
Megiddo”.
2 Kings 23:29
But
had not Huldah promised King Josiah that he would die in peace?
Having
initially referred to the king rather indifferently as “the man” (22:15) -
refer back to Part Two - Huldah will
now more respectfully entitle him (vv. 18-20):
‘Tell
the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, ‘This is what
the Lord,
the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself
before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its
people—that they would become a curse and be laid waste—and because you tore your
robes and wept in my presence, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. Therefore I
will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes
will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place’.’
Was
Huldah, then - despite my previous acclamations of her - a false prophet?
Emphatically
yes, according to this savage critique of her by Dr. Mike Bagwell (http://drmikebagwell.org/Web%20Pages/Old%20Testament/2nd%20Chronicles%2034,%20Josiah%20and%20Huldah.html):
King
Josiah needed some help. A Scroll of the Law of Moses had been found in the
Temple, having been misplaced there for some time.
Once
read, that divinely inspired Scripture brought a host of questions to the
Monarch's mind.
He
needed someone to interpret and explain the Text!
Part of
it was ever so clear! God judges sin!
Part
needed explanation.
Having
been instructed to "go and enquire of the Lord concerning the words of the
newly-found Book," a group of the King's advisors sought a Prophet of God.
One was
in residence.
Living
in the city of Jerusalem with her husband, Huldah was located. As to why
Jeremiah the great Prophet of God was not sought, the Bible is silent.
Apparently Josiah did not care who interpreted the Bible, anyone qualified.
Big
mistake!
Bear in
mind this fact. No where in all the Word of God do we find a woman prophet
correctly and accurately predicting the things of God. Or for that matter, even
proclaiming boldly and precisely God's perfect Will!
Truthfully,
only five ladies in the Old Testament ever bore that title, even with its wide
latitude of meaning. Miriam sang and was called a prophetess, hardly a Preacher
of the Word! Deborah was a Judge, but in Hebrews 11 she got no credit for her
exploits! And after this Huldah is mentioned, a prophetess named Noadiah
opposed and hindered the work of godly Nehemiah. Lastly, Isaiah
"nicknamed" his wife the prophetess!
There's
not a real Preacher among them all. It is not God's Way to use women, kind and
sweet and intelligent and talented as they are, to be spiritual leaders! God
does not call women to pastor Churches or become Evangelists! One of the very
requirements for serving the Lord in Christian ministry, according to the
Apostle Paul in 1st Timothy 3:2, is to be "the husband of one wife."
That surely establishes the sexual status of a Preacher!
I have
said these things to show the lack of foundation, the paucity of wisdom, these
emissaries of King Josiah exhibited.
They
went to the wrong Preacher!
And
here is part of what she said, the first sentence anyway. "Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell ye the man
that sent you to me ...."
Yes,
she uses the prophet formula that real Prophets utter! "Thus
saith the Lord!" I found that exact string of words 415 times in
the Bible! While Huldah might have thought God sent all her words, that is not
the case! What God says is without mistake, always! Huldah erred in her
prophecy. Part of it was critically untrue, mortally so!
And if
she spoke words, claiming them to be from God, while she herself composed the
message, she is worse than mistaken! She then is a liar! A deceiver!
Either
way, she is a false prophet! Make that false prophetess! Her message contained
inaccuracies.
Then
notice in today's Verse what she calls the King! "And
she answered them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent
you to me." That's all of 2nd Chronicles 34:23.
He's
just a "man" to her!
Feminists
never respect men!
[End of
quote]
Professor
Claude Mariottini has provided a far more sensible discussion of the two prophetic
utterances of Huldah concerning, firstly the kingdom of Judah, and then the
king himself (https://claudemariottini.com/2013/09/17/huldahs-oracle/):
….
Huldah’s oracle is significant
because she is the only woman prophet who proclaimed a message about future
events. She begins her speech, like the other male prophets, claiming that her
words were the words of God: “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel.” This
expression is the messenger formula that was used by the Old Testament prophets
to introduce their oracles. As a prophet, Huldah saw herself as a messenger of
God set apart to speak in God’s name.
The reason the prophets
claimed to speak on behalf of God was that they had a deep conviction that they
were called by God to speak God’s word to the people. The prophets received
God’s word in many different ways. Some prophets received God’s word through
visions and dreams. Others had an intense emotional experience in which they
heard God speaking to them.
Although the text does not say
how Huldah received her message, her oracle shows that she had an intimate
relationship with God and knew that God had a purpose for his people and that
he cared enough that he wanted to communicate his will through her. The way by
which a prophet became aware of God’s presence or the way a prophet became
aware of God’s word is not as important as the word the prophet received which
was to be communicated to the people.
Huldah’s oracle mentions
events that would happen in the future. Although many false prophets claimed to
speak for God, Huldah spoke concerning what God was about to do to Judah
because she knew the character of God, the nature of sin, and the rebellion of
the people of Judah. She, as a prophet, proclaimed the judgment of God because
of the wickedness of the people and because of their worship of false gods.
As a true prophet of God,
Huldah told the king’s servants that the message of the book was indeed
authentic and that God’s wrath was set against the people because they had
abandoned God and not followed his laws.
Huldah proclaimed that Yahweh
was going to bring his judgment upon the people of Judah because of their
disobedience to his teachings and because they worshiped other gods. She also
proclaimed that because Josiah had humbled himself before Yahweh that he would
not see the terrible events that would come upon the nation.
According to Huldah, the
judgment that God had in store for Judah could not be averted because of the
wickedness of the people. Because of Josiah’s faithfulness, Huldah predicted
that the judgment of Judah would not happen until after his death. She also
predicted that Josiah would die in peace and be buried in the grave of his
ancestors.
In her oracle, Huldah
mentioned that Josiah would die in peace: “Therefore, I will gather you to your
ancestors, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall
not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place.” However, Josiah died
fighting against the army of Neco, king of Egypt.
In his attempt at stopping
Egypt from helping Assyria in its struggle against Babylon, Josiah goes to
Megiddo to fight Neco in order to stop him. During the battle Josiah was
mortally wounded. His servants brought his body from Megiddo to Jerusalem in
the king’s chariot. Josiah was buried in his own tomb as the people lamented
his death (2 Kings 23:30).
The Chronicler, in trying to
explain how Josiah, a good king who followed the Lord with all his heart, died
at a young age, said that Josiah failed to obey the word of God in the mouth of
Neco:
Neco sent envoys to him, saying, ‘What have I to do
with you, king of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the
house with which I am at war; and God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing
God, who is with me, so that he will not destroy you.’ But Josiah would not
turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did
not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but joined battle in the
plain of Megiddo (2 Chronicles 35:21-22).
Josiah did not die according to
Huldah’s prophecy, but this does not mean that Huldah was a false prophet.
Huldah’s oracle that Josiah would die a peaceful death means that he would not
see the manifestation of God’s anger against Judah in his lifetime.
However, what Josiah’s death
shows is the beginning of the fulfillment of Huldah’s prophecy. Josiah’s death
brought about the events that would culminate with the destruction of the
temple and the exile of Judah.
As Baruch Halpern (1998:499)
wrote, the death of Josiah was “not as a postponement of Yhwh’s punishment, but
rather as its onset. Despite a loyalty to Yhwh comparable only to that demanded
by Moses (with all his heart, soul and strained fabric of his being: 2 Kgs
xxiii 25), the text takes Josiah’s killing as Yhwh’s affirmation of his
intention to reject Jerusalem and the temple by means of exile (xxiii 26-7,
29-30). The consequences were the captivity of Jehoahaz (xxiii 33-4), invasions
under Jehoiakim paving the way for an exile promised by Yhwh’s ‘servants, the
prophets’ (2 Kgs xxiv 1-4), the deportation of Jehoiachin (xxiv 10-16), and the
destruction of the temple and exile of the population under Zedekiah (xxiv 20,
xxv 21, 26). Josiah’s death is the milestone marking the start of the road to
exile.”
[End of quote]
But
Matthew J. Suriano has properly explained the significance of Huldah’s Oracle
in relation to the fate of King Josiah, and it by no means marks Huldah as a
false prophet. Thus Suriano has written (in The Politics of Dead Kings: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=MfSfzOq):
…. The Death of Josiah and Huldah’s Prophecy
Josiah's sudden and violent
death, which comes at the climax of his great reform, has both intrigued and
confused interpreters both ancient and modern. …. The political tragedy of this
event also appears to contravene the prophetic words addressed to Josiah in 2
Kg 22:15-20. …. This oracle, uttered by an obscure prophetess named Huldah, is
also one of the more problematic passages in the Hebrew Bible. …. Josiah’s end
at Megiddo certainly does not fit the fate that is read into Huldah’s oracle
(to die a natural death in the time of peace), and presents problems for the “prophecy-and-fulfillment”
motif that typifies the DtrH. The phrase is packaged in a hybrid form of the
two synonymous biblical-phrases for death, “I will gather you unto your fathers
[cf. Jdg 2:10] and you will be gathered into your graves in peace (2 Kg 22:20).
…. Later in the biblical narrative, Josiah suffers an inglorious end, killed in
battle by the Egyptians (2 Kg 23:29-30; 2 Chr 35:24) and his body is brought
back to Jerusalem and laid to rest with his fathers. The account of Josiah
lacks the standard epilogue (as it is defined in this study); standing in its
place is the report of the transportation of Josiah’s body (by chariot) to his royal
capital; his burial “in his tomb” (בִּקְבֻרָתוֹ),
as well as the emergency installation of his son Jehoahaz on his throne by the “people
of the land”.
The interpretive problem with Huldah’s oracle is due to the
wording of v. 20a, which includes the phrase “in peace” (בְּשָׁלוֹם)
along with poetic language drawn from the biblical idiom “gathered to his
people” and the dynastic notice “laid with his fathers”.
The quandary stems, in part,
from the idea that these phrases imply a peaceful death. As a result, several
biblical commentators often label the oracle of Huldah
[End of quote]
What became of Huldah?
We know nothing at all of the
fate of Huldah herself, qua Huldah.
Hence Professor Mariottini is quite correct
in concluding (op. cit.):
…. Little else is known about
Huldah. After giving her oracle to Josiah’s men, Huldah disappears from the
pages of Scriptures. She proclaimed her oracle and nothing else is written
about her. Her role in the story ends with these words, “They took the message
back to the king” (2 Kings 22:20).
Although nothing else is said
about Huldah, it is evident that her words had a profound impact on Josiah and
provided a prophetical approval to the religious reforms that attempted to
bring Judah back to the worship of Yahweh and the elimination of syncretistic
elements in the religion of Israel. ….
[End of quote]
However,
there must be far more to the impressive Huldah in the Scriptures, I strongly
suggest, than is known about her merely under the name, Huldah.
And
in future articles I hope to provide Huldah the prophetess with what is
completely lacking to her in 2
Kings 22:14-20 and Chronicles 34:11-28: namely, a beginning and an end.
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