The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 117, Josiah King Of Judah, Part Four

The Book of the Law has been found in the temple. This book was neglected during the reign of King Amon and King Manasseh and perhaps during the reigns of several other kings who did not reverence it. We discussed yesterday the theory that one or more priests had hidden---for its safety---it at some time when an idolatrous king was on the throne.

But now it has been found and read to King Josiah of Judah. When he heard the words read to him in yesterday's passage, he tore his robes in grief when he realized just how far his predecessors had strayed from the laws of God. After tearing his robes he gives orders to some of his top officials to seek the counsel of the Lord about how to rectify this serious spiritual situation.

"He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's attendant: 'Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord's anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.'" (2 Kings 22:12-13, 2 Chronicles 34:20-21)

When the king asks these men to inquire of the Lord for him, he intends for them to ask counsel from a prophet of the Lord. The Lord will speak to the prophet and the prophet will relay His message to Josiah's men. In this case, the prophet is a female. We find male prophets in the Scriptures far more often than we find female prophets but several female prophets are mentioned in the Bible, including Deborah from the era of the judges and the unnamed wife of Isaiah. The fact that male prophets are mentioned more often in the Bible than female prophets does not necessarily indicate that the Lord called fewer women than men to this honorable office. In the period of history we are studying, it would have been easier and safer for male prophets to travel about the countryside visiting the schools of prophets and speaking words of wisdom to kings and other top officials, but there may have been just as many female prophets. Female prophets, however, may have been obliged to mainly minister only to the citizens of their local communities, and this would have been due to the dangers inherent in women traveling alone from city to city and due to the fact that women in this period of history had little to no access to reliable methods for family planning. Because safe and effective birth control was not available to married couples in those times, a woman could produce a large number of children in her lifetime and she would be compelled by this to remain mostly at home during the years she was raising children. This may explain why Josiah's men visit the home of this female prophet instead of the king summoning her to his palace. 

"Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Akbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophet Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter." (2 Kings 22:14, 2 Chronicles 34:22) The wording of this is murky in relation to which person is called "keeper of the wardrobe". I personally think this person is Shallum, which appears to be the most commonly accepted translation of this sentence, but some think it might be Harhas since his name is mentioned right before the authors say "keeper of the wardrobe". I have my doubts about that because Harhas is Shallum's grandfather and likely too old to still be overseeing the king's wardrobe. In some cases the royal wardrobe also consisted of clothing for top officials and priests as well, for in 2 Kings 10 we found King Jehu ordering the keeper of the wardrobe (who was a male because the Bible uses the pronoun "he" for the keeper) to bring robes out for the priests of Baal. Whichever person is the "keeper of the wardrobe" during Josiah's reign, I do not believe it is Huldah because in the original Hebrew the word used for this person has a masculine connotation. Although many of us grew up with our mothers being the people who did the sewing in our households, it would not have been proper for a female seamstress to be alone with the king in his private chambers to measure him for clothing or to be present while he was trying clothing on in order to make alterations. 

Josiah's officials go to Huldah's house where they pass the king's request on to her. She will consult the Lord and He will answer her. His message, which we will study in our next session, contains both bad news and good news. Upon hearing the message, Josiah will do everything he can during his reign to ensure the spiritual health of the nation by making sure the people hear the words of the Book of the Law and by asking everyone to rededicate their hearts to the Lord.