Women with a Story to Tell: Huldah the Prophet.

 Time is running out on the kingdom of Judah; the only political stronghold left to the people of Israel since the northern kingdom was destroyed and dispersed in 721 BC. Today’s story occurs about 100 years later, specifically 640 to 609 BC, during the reign of King Josiah of Judah. 

  Judah is on a downhill skid, more like a roller coaster ride; down, then up, down, down, then up, etc. Soon the downs will overcome the ups and Judah will also disappear from the map. After that, there will be a Greek province, then the Roman province of Judea that existed when Jesus was walking and teaching, but even that political reality will end at the hands of the Roman general Vespasian in 70 AD. 

 However, there have been a few good kings. David and Solomon, of course. We met another one last week, the boy king Joash who was hidden by Jehosheba from the evil Queen Athaliah. Joash put a stop to the shift from YHWH to Ba’al worship. Another one was Hezekiah, coming about 100 years later, who listened to the good counsel of the prophet Isaiah and thus navigated the political storms of the time, for the most part. After him, though, Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh and grandson, Amon, were terrible kings who turned the nation away from YHWH. 

 Josiah became king at age 8 after his father Amon had been assassinated. Fortunately, Josiah had good counselors around him, as we will see, and he was blessed with faithful prophets to whom he listened for the word of God. The prophets were Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Huldah.  

 First, notice that God is very involved in individual lives, but God also is concerned with group behavior, that is, which way does the corporate nation go? God guides nations, if they will listen, when they listen. 

 Second, notice that a nation, even one called by God, has a tendency to cycle back and forth between faithfulness to God and ungodly living, not following the character of God who defines himself as full of love, mercy, and justice. Israel cycled down right out of history. Judah is spiraling down, until Josiah and the prophets put on the brakes. In any nation, including America, you can tell what direction we are going by whether the nation is taking care of the poor and needy, the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant are treated. Then look in the mirror and see if our behavior reflects like God’s behavior. 

 Third, God calls prophets, priests, and kings to repent from their evil deeds and to lead the way to reform. Some heed the call and do right. However, some kings rebel against God and seek only power for themselves. Some priests serve other interests, particularly self-gain and self-glorification. Some prophets turn out to be false, that is, they are prophets for hire by the government in power. Realize that all these behaviors are real choices and all these temptations produce a conflict-laden society. Look out the window.    

 What is the story, and who is Huldah the prophet? King Josiah ordered the temple be cleared of altars to other gods. It’s hard to imagine that there were such, but perhaps we need to examine our own worship spaces for idols, ideas, or ideologies that support other beliefs before we judge. During cleansing and remodeling the temple, one day a discovery was made.

 "The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD’. When Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, he read it. Then Shaphan the secretary came to the king and reported to the king … ‘The priest Hilkiah has given me a book’. Shaphan then read it aloud to the king” (II Kings 22: 9-10). 

 We do not know exactly what scroll was found. However, the Hebrew says it was a ‘scroll of the torah’, and so scholars have supposed that it was an early copy of Deuteronomy (which means: deutro ‘second; nomos ‘law’). Deuteronomy is a revision of Leviticus with more explanation of what will happen when God’s law is not followed. For example, “Cursed be anyone who deprives an alien, an orphan, or a widow of justice. All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’” (Deuteronomy 27: 19).

 This scroll appears not to have been in common use because the priest and the secretary or scribe are surprised to find it. In the Ancient Near East, it was common to build temples with foundation stones holding tablets or scrolls of importance concerning the building, either its structure or theology (Craig Keener and John Walton, editors, The NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, 2019, page 671). 

 So, this is new information for the High Priest and cabinet as well as for King Josiah. What was Josiah’s response? 

”When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and the king’s servant Asaiah, saying,  ‘Go, inquire of the LORD for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us’” (II Kings 22: 11-13).

 What the king read was shocking, thus confirming that the scroll had disappeared from public view. Tearing one’s clothes, in those days, was a sign of repentance and sorrow. Here the king of the nation humbles himself. Imagine that. 

 King Josiah wanted to be sure, so he used a trusted means to test the authenticity of the book and confirm the warnings of the Lord. Given what he knew about current worship conditions and the behavior of the people, was it true that God’s wrath was on the horizon?

 There were three prophets available: Jeremiah who wandered the towns of Judah, Zepheniah who preached in the temple, and Huldah who was also close at hand in Jerusalem. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1: 4-13) and Zepheniah (Zepheniah 1: 4-6) had already made their position clear; idolatry was going to be the destruction of the Judah society. That left Huldah.

”So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophet Huldah the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; she resided in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, where they consulted her” (II Kings 22: 14-15).  

 King Josiah sent a delegation of officials to the prophet Huldah. Hilkiah was the high priest at the temple, Shaphan was the king’s personal secretary, Ahikam was the son of Shaphan, Achbor perhaps another relative of Shaphan (see II Chronicles 36: 11), and Asaiah was the king’s servant. 

 This shows great respect for this woman who is a prophet in Israel, although she is not well known to us. I wonder why? Apparently, she is being chosen for her expertise in the law, for the integrity of her prophecies, and for her reliability as an independent thinker. She could not be bought and would bow to no one but the Lord. Expertise, integrity, and independence does not always get respected. Some rulers prefer the personal loyalty of sycophants who have no other skills or experience for the job. ‘Yes men’ are easy to come by among those willing to sacrifice their own soul to power. The prophet Huldah is not a ‘Yes man’. 

 Hulda is rather like Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings. Eowyn faced a haughty being who claimed that “No man can kill me.” Eowyn threw back her hood, let her hair flow free, drew her sword, and informed this tin-can despot; “I am no man.” Then she dispatched the dark lord. A fearless woman not intimidated by power.