Huldah

Do you remember Huldah from your Sunday School classes? No? Don’t worry. Neither do I. I came across her name while reading in 2 Chronicles.

In the 18th year of Josiah’s reign as king of Judah, the book of the Law was found again in the Temple and read to Josiah. King Josiah then gave orders for his helpers to “inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found.” (2 Chron. 34:21) So, the guys go out and find the prophetess, Huldah, who proceeds to give them five verses of God promising to all kinds of destruction on the people for forsaking Him, but sparing Josiah because Josiah is turning the people back to God.

And that’s all we hear of her. Apparently, she was known to the people of Judah as a prophetess. There didn’t seem to be some great debate as to who to go see when Josiah said to go “inquire of the Lord”. She didn’t appear to be a “second-choice” or the one prophesying because a man didn’t do his job.

Huldah appears to be a woman that God had placed in Jerusalem for a specific purpose – and she was ready to carry out that purpose. The story of Huldah is a reminder that we need to look at the entire Bible to sort out the whole issue of women’s “roles” and not pick and choose a few verses. Huldah is an example of a woman used by God in a male-dominated profession (prophesying – if you can call that a profession) in a male-dominated culture.

Just some food for thought.