March - Women's History Month Biblical Leaders in the Old Testament

God sent prophets to call his people back to him. During the period of the kings, both Israel and Judah slowly spiraled downward into disobedience. After David and Solomon, the kingdom was split in two and the people began to wander from God into wickedness and disobedience. There were occasional good and faithful kings, but most were not. Repeatedly, God sent prophets to call them to return to the Lord, to return to their first love. Elijah and Elisha, Micah and Amos, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah were all sent by the Lord to speak his word so the people would repent and return. Sometimes the people listened, and sometimes they did not. One of the lesser-known prophets, though no less significant, was a woman named Huldah. Huldah was a relative of Jeremiah, both being descendants of Rahab by her marriage with Joshua. While Jeremiah admonished and preached repentance to the men, Huldah did the same to the women). Huldah was not only a prophet but taught publicly in the school, according to some teachings, especially the oral doctrine. Huldah transmitted the word of the Lord. This woman was very close to the king's royal court and the temple, a devoted, respectable, and well-known woman. She prophesies to bring a message from the Lord to the king. “Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Michaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, 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 aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us” 2 Kings 22:11-13 (NKJV).

Huldah prophesied to them, saying God was about to bring disaster to this place and these people, according to all that Josiah had read. Because they had abandoned God and sought other lovers and idols, God’s anger would burn against the people for what they had done. They could not escape destruction and would be punished for abandoning God. However, because Josiah had repented and humbled himself before God, tore his robes, and wept in God’s presence, Josiah would die in peace. He would be spared. He had done his best to lead his people back to God, and so God would let him die before destruction would be brought upon them. In the years to come, Huldah’s prophecies would prove true. The reign of Josiah would be a period of calm and peace before the storm. In the days of Josiah’s sons, Judah would fall and the people would enter exile. But Josiah himself would die in peace. Huldah’s prophecy was brought back to the king. Josiah heard Huldah’s words as a word from the Lord. The king then called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He and all the people of Judah, from the least to the greatest, went to the Temple in Jerusalem. There, for all to hear, he read from the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the Temple. In the presence of the Lord, the king renewed his covenant with God. He would follow the Lord, and keep God’s commands, statutes, and decrees, with all his heart and all his soul. And all the people, too, followed Him, and pledged themselves to the covenant. When a spiritual crisis gripped the king and the nation, Josiah sent for a woman known for her wisdom and authority. Huldah the prophetess spoke God’s word faithfully, even when the words she was given were challenging. The king listened to this godly woman and turned his heart and his people to follow the Lord. 

Huldah the prophetess had a difficult message to share with the people of Judah. Yet she bravely and faithfully delivered God's warnings about the disobedience of Judah. Like Huldah in the Bible, each of us is called to listen to the Holy Spirit and share God's message with boldness. “So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke with her.  Then she said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read— because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched.’”’ But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, in this manner you shall speak to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Concerning the words which you have heard— because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the Lord. “Surely, therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place.”’” So they brought back word to the king ” 2 Kings 22:14-20 (NKJV).

Huldah was a well-known woman in the kingdom of Judah because it says that the king sent five of his personal messengers to where she was located with the Book of the Law. She was a prophet in the time of King Josiah. They consulted Huldah on finding the lost book of the law. Israel’s leaders, including the king, the elders, the prophets, and the people, accepted her word as divinely revealed. Lastly, Huldah was subservient to the Word of God. Her prophetic words were inspired by the Holy Spirit, but she remained rooted and subservient to the word of God. She proclaimed the coming judgment upon Judah “according to everything written in the book the king of Judah. She stood firm upon the Word of God and, therefore, her bold words rested on a solid foundation. This is a challenge for men and women who are called to speak on behalf of God. When we preach, however boldly, our words should be “according to what is written in the book” of God’s Word, just as Huldah’s were. Conclusion God called the prophetess Huldah to speak the word of the Lord to the king. In a time when there were other significant male prophets, the king, priest, and other leaders came to Huldah because they recognized her wisdom and authority. She spoke boldly on the firm foundation of God’s word. The king listened and the people entered a period of renewal under Josiah’s leadership. Few of us may ever be asked to speak to a king. However, God still calls men and women to speak his word with boldness, to stand firm on His Word, and to trust that God will bring about his will through it. Huldah the prophetess is a vivid example of a godly woman who answered God’s call to speak his word. “So Hilkiah and those the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke to her to that effect. Then she answered them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah, because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place, and not be quenched.’”’ . . . So they brought back word to the king. Josiah Restores True Worship Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. The king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the Levites, and all the people, great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord. Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. And he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin take a stand. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers” 2 Chronicles 34:22–32 (NKJV).