During his long idolatrous reign, King Manasseh had worked to rebuild the pagan shrines his father Hezekiah had destroyed (II Kings 21:1-3), and even sacrificed one of his sons as a burnt offering (21:6). Then his son Amon became king, and he also followed the pattern of idolatry set by his father (21:20-22): he and died at the hands of assassins from among his courtiers after just two years (21:23). Those officials were in turn killed, and Amon’s son Josiah was declared king. He was 8 years old.

King Josiah dedicated himself to doing what was right in the sight of the Lord (22:2). He employed workmen to repair the temple, which had fallen into disrepair. During their work they found the book of the law in the temple – for how long had it been missing!? – and so King Josiah sent his chief advisors to “go and inquire of the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book” (22:13).

To receive an authoritative answer, they did not go to the priests; indeed, the chief priest Hilkiah was one of those who went at the king’s command to seek an answer from the Lord. They went to the prophet Huldah. The text gives us a clue about her age in identifying her as the “wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe.” If we were to guess her grandfather-in-law Harhas might have been an active man of 60 or 65 in his responsible position in the palace, we would suppose his son Tikvah might be as old as 45 or 50, and his grandson Shallum might have been a young man, perhaps between the ages of 25 and 35. That would suggest that Shallum’s wife Huldah was a relatively young woman, in her twenties or early thirties. We should notice, then, that when the chief advisors of the king needed a definitive interpretation of the word of the Lord, it was to this young woman Huldah that they turned for answers.

In her response, Huldah used the classic formula of authoritative prophecy: “Thus says the Lord.” She went on to speak of Judah’s coming destruction in plain language (22:16-17). Judgment would indeed come upon the people, yet in the time of Josiah there would be peace (22:18-20). In response, Josiah did his best to turn the worship of Judah from Baal back to Yahweh, destroying pagan shrines (23:4-16), and celebrating the Passover (23:21-23). But the tipping point had been passed, and the exile would come (23:26-27).

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Great is your mercy, O Lord: and too often we presume upon it, expecting that you somehow owe us endless patience, and will always forgive us no matter how slight our repentance. Yet the time of judgment came upon Judah, and why should we think we would be immune? Teach us to turn to you, early and often, with all our hearts!

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