GOD’S PROPHETESSES IN SCRIPTURE

III. Huldah: God’s Servant Who Confirmed An Obedient Man’s Reward

(2 Kings 22:12-20)

I. Introduction

A. When God created the first woman, He made her to be a helpmeet for the first man, Genesis 2:20-23.

B. Four women were prophetesses of the Lord whose ministries are recorded in Scripture, and their ministries involved specific relationships with men, revealing God’s idea of a woman’s being a man’s proper helpmeet.

C. We view each prophetess in her ministry to learn God’s lessons on a woman’s godly role as a helpmeet.

II. Huldah: God’s Servant Who Confirmed An Obedient Man’s Reward, 2 Kings 22:12-20.

A. The prophetess Huldah lived in the reign of king Josiah in the Second District of Jerusalem, “the part of the city lower in the elevation than the rest” in southern Jerusalem (Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 581-582).

B. When Josiah came to the throne, Judah was in dire spiritual straits:

1. Josiah’s grandfather, wicked king Manasseh, had figuratively filled Jerusalem with the shedding of very much innocent blood in the city as he had committed much evil especially in his early days (2 Kings 21:16), so God had announced that He would assign the kingdom of Judah to be invaded and destroyed for Manasseh’s wickedness (2 Kings 21:10-15).

2. Josiah’s father and Manasseh’s son king Amon had then come to the throne and ruled for just two years, following in the wickedness of the early days of his father Manasseh, 2 Kings 21:19-22. Accordingly, Amon’s servants conspired against him and slain him in his own house, what had led to an uprising of the people against these servants so that they in turn had killed Amon’s assassins and made his son Josiah king in Amon’s place, 2 Kings 21:23-24.

C. Thus, gaining the throne of a divinely doomed kingdom following the reign of his wicked grandfather and evil father coupled with the uprising of his father’s servants and a civil reaction against those servants, Josiah began his reign with little hope from the human perspective that he would rule righteously. Nevertheless, Josiah did what he knew was right in the eyes of the Lord by trying to repair God’s temple, 2 Kings 22:1-7.

D. While these repairs were being performed, a copy of the Book of the Law, likely the Pentateuch, was found in the temple, 2 Kings 22:8. Manasseh or Amon had likely destroyed other copies of the law so that this find was an important one (Ibid., p. 581), and the book was brought to Josiah and read to him, 2 Kings 22:9-10.

E. Though this was Josiah’s first exposure to the Law, the mere reading of its contents led him to tear his clothes in deep remorse, and to command that five men, including the high priest Hilkiah, inquire of a prophet of the Lord as to what he should do since the Law declared great judgment on Judah for its sins, 2 Kings 22:12-13.

F. The prophet Jeremiah ministered at this time along with probably Nahum and Habakkuk (Ibid., p. 582), but the prophetess Huldah, wife of Shallum who was responsible for the royal or priestly wardrobe, was so highly regarded that these men sought her out for the word of the Lord, 2 Kings 22:14.

G. Huldah is called Shallum’s “wife” in 2 Kings 22:14, the word “wife” being ‘ishah, the word used of Eve as the “Woman” in Genesis 2:23 (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 3, 600). Notably, when Huldah gave Josiah’s men God’s message, in 2 Kings 22:15, she did not at first refer to him as “king” (melek), but as the “Man” (‘ish) who had sent them to her, the same word used by Adam of himself in Genesis 2:23 (Ibid., p. 3, 600)! In other words, godly Huldah was aware of her Biblical role as a helper to a godly man, and she proved to be a great help!

1. Huldah announced to king Josiah’s messengers that God would truly severely punish Jerusalem for all of the sins that the nation and its kings had committed against Him, 2 Kings 22:15-17.

2. However, since Josiah had repented so fully and transparently at the judgment announced in the book of the Law that had been read to him, God would allow Josiah to live in peaceful fellowship with the Lord before God expressed His wrath on the land of Judah, 2 Kings 22:18-20. God’s promise was one of a peaceful life for Josiah because he fellowshipped with God, not of a peaceful death, for he died in battle against Pharaoh Necho (2 Chronicles 35:23; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to 2 Kings 22:20).

Lesson: When God’s servant the prophetess Huldah was sought for the word of God by good King Josiah’s messengers, she viewed her proper role as that of being a helper as a “woman” of God to a “man” of God in announcing that he would be blessed in his life for his full and transparent submission to the Lord and His Word.

Application: (1) May godly women encourage godly men who have a good heart before the Lord and who heed His Word in fulfilling their role as women. (2) May godly men accept the efforts of godly women to encourage them.