Her name means: "Weasel"
Her character: Trusted by the king with a matter of great
importance, she was a prophetess whose word ignited a significant religious
reform.
Her sorrow: That God's people refused to respond to
him with loving obedience, ignoring repeated warnings about the consequences of
their unfaithfulness.
Her joy: As a prophetess, she was
privileged to be a messenger of God.
Key Scriptures: 2 Kings 22:14-20; 2 Chronicles 34:22-33
Her Story
She pressed the leather scroll against her breast, as though cradling a
living being. The high priest, Hilkiah, and several other men of Jerusalem stood
before her. King Josiah wanted to know—would the words of the Book of the Law,
which Hilkiah had just discovered in the temple, come to pass?
Holding the scroll by its wooden handles, she unrolled it carefully and began
reading:
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength…. Fear the
Lord your God, serve him only, and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow
other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is
among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will
destroy you from the face of the land" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, 13-15).
"Cursed in the city and cursed in the country … sudden ruin because of what
you have done … wasting disease … madness, blindness and confusion … an object
of scorn and ridicule to all the nations … because you did not obey the Lord
your God" (cf. Deuteronomy 28:15-68).
Though her voice was steady, Huldah's throat felt sore from the effort of
speaking such words aloud, terrible threats that made her eyes well over,
warnings that spawned vision upon vision from the past. In her mind, she watched
as Judah's kings Ahaz and Manasseh sacrificed their sons to pagan deities. She
saw the smoke of incense rising before pagan idols in the temple. She looked on
as prophets were murdered, as diviners and sorcerers were honored, as kings
bowed down to the stars and the people followed suit, prostituting themselves to
false gods and spurning the advances of the Almighty. She saw the children of
Israel marching in chains from the land of milk and honey. Her face flushed as a
burning sensation rushed through her body and searing words spilled from her
lips:
"This is what the Lord says: 'I am going to bring disaster on this place and
its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has
read. Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and
provoked me to anger by all the idols their hands have made, my anger will burn
against this place and will not be quenched.' Tell the king of Judah, who sent
you to inquire of the Lord: '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 accursed and laid waste, and because you
tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord.
Therefore I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be buried in peace.
Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.'
"
Huldah is one of only four women with an authentic prophetic ministry
mentioned in the Old Testament (along with Miriam, Deborah, and Isaiah's wife).
Though prophets like Jeremiah and Zephaniah were also active at the time, King
Josiah consulted Huldah about the amazing discovery of the Book of the Law
(material that probably forms the core of the book of Deuteronomy).
Beyond the brief scene imaginatively retold above, we know little of her
story—only that God entrusted her with his word in a time of national crisis. A
hundred years earlier, Judah had witnessed God's punishment of the northern
kingdom. Faithless Israel had been led captive to Assyria, just as the prophets
had warned. Huldah surely knew the sordid details. She could not have missed its
frightening significance for Judah. She may also have endured part of Manasseh's
fifty-five-year reign, the longest and worst of any king in Judah. Certainly,
she would have been heartened by the recent reforms of King Josiah—his attempts
to restore the temple though the people had all but forgotten God.
But her words of prophecy confirmed the king's fear. Judah was standing on a
precipice. God was a jealous lover who blessed those who loved and obeyed him
and cursed those who did not. Across the centuries, his slow anger was building
to a fiery crescendo. Judah's infidelities had not gone unnoticed.
After Huldah's prophecy, Josiah led one of the greatest religious reforms in
history, purging Judah and even parts of Israel of paganism. But the kings who
followed him soon reversed course, leading the people astray once again.
Thirty-five years after Huldah's prophecy, Judah was taken in chains to Babylon
and all of its cities were destroyed.
The magnificent kingdom of David and Solomon had come to an end. But though
every other nation captured by Assyria and Babylon ceased to exist, Israel still
had a future. Chastened, it was never destroyed. Disciplined, it was never
forsaken. All because God still loved his people.
The words of Isaiah, a prophet who preceded Huldah by a few decades,
proclaimed a future day of restoration: "They will rebuild the ancient ruins and
restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities…. Instead
of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace
they will rejoice in their inheritance" (Isaiah 61:4, 7).
Judgment and mercy, law and grace, punishment and salvation—these are the
tensions that characterize the story of God's love affair with his people.
Huldah was a woman who understood the paradox and who was not afraid to proclaim
the truth, even to a king. Her words must have cost her, but she spoke them
anyway. She cherished God's word in a time of spiritual crisis.
Her Promise
The story of Huldah and her words to the king illustrate the contrast between
God's judgment and his mercy. He judges those who deserve his punishment, but he
quickly forgives those who repent. In fact, he is eager to forgive, waiting only
for us to come to him in repentance.
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