Hulda, Huldah - Prophetess - Librarian? Searchers for a
stand up, speak out role for women may have found a librarian rather
than a revealer of the Word of God.
The prophets were harsh
critics of the ceremonial
legalism of the priests and the evil
which resulted when the Word of God was lost by the
"preacher-priests." Women such as Deborah chided the men for not
taking the leadership and Huldah may have been a true Prophetess.
However, it is more likely that she was the librarian to whom the king
went when it seemed that the copy of the law when in
the hands of the "worship team" must surely be in error or the nation
would have been warned while "in church."
There is no need for the Word when one tries to
gain direct access to God through idols. When Amon, like Manasseh,
continued the worship of idols in the temple, the Law or the Bible
was lost. The king became so evil that his servants murdered him in
his own house.
JOSIAH was eight years old when
he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem.
And his mothers name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
2 Kings 22:1
And he did that which was right in the sight
of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and
turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. 2 Kings 22:2
And it came to pass in the eighteenth year
of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the
son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying, 2
Kings 22:3
Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he
may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord, which
the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: 2 Kings
22:4
And let them deliver it into the hand of the
doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord:
and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house
of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house, 2 Kings 22:5
Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons,
and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. 2 Kings 22:6
Howbeit, there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into
their hand, because they dealt
faithfully. 2 Kings 22:7
When eighteen year old king Josiah wanted to
repair the temple, the Law was found along with money and other
things:
And Hilkiah the
high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the
law in the house of the
Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 2Ki 22:8
And Shaphan the scribe came to the
king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have
gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it
into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of
the house of the Lord 2 Kings 22:9 .
And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king,
saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And
Shaphan read it before the king. 2 Kings 22:10
And it came to
pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that
he rent his
clothes. 2Ki 22:11
The king read the prophetic warning. He knew
what it said and he didn't need a prophet in the revealing sense.
Besides, Jeremiah and Zephaniah were revealing prophets at this time.
Therefore, Huldah was sought because she had something the prophets
did not have:
And the king
commanded Hilkiah the
priest, and Ahikam the
son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the
scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the kings, saying, 2Ki 22:12
Go ye,
enquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord
that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the
words of
this
book, to do according
unto all that which is written concerning us. 2Ki 22:13
To enquire of the Lord was often to enquire of
the Record
which He had given through the prophets. For instance, the prophets
still give us a direct revelation from God when we read Scripture:
So Hilkiah the
priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto
Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the
wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her. 2Ki 22:14
The raving maniacs who met Saul were "sons of
the prophets" in the sense of singing, dancing and playing musical
instruments. However, they were not true prophets. A wife of a
prophet was called a prophetess but we know little of Huldah's
husband. One who foretold the words of a prophet prophesied. And
there were a few, rare prophets who rose up in total opposition to
the "worship rituals of the priests." The prophets did not lead the
"worship services" for Israel.
For instance, while the men might be inside
singing, dancing, playing musical instruments and engaging in sex,
the true prophet or prophetess would be outside the "church building"
warning the priests. Therefore, Huldah cannot be a model for modern
"worship leaders" even though she is a model of a righteous,
intellectual woman. A prophet is:
Nebiyah
(h5031) neb-ee-yaw'; fem. of 5030; a prophetess or (gen.) inspired
woman; by impl. a poetess; by association of prophet's wife: - prophetess.
And Miriam the
prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her
with timbrels and with dances.
Ex.15:20
A prophetess might be many things. In this
case, Huldah was the librarian.
As New Testament prophesying involves
teaching, Huldah knew the law. The place where she worked was the
college
and not a place to get a direct word
from God. The college was:
Mishneh
(h4932) mish-neh'; from 8138; prop. a repetition, i. e. a
duplicate copy of a
document...
Josiah had read the law and was frightened
because he saw the prophecies coming down upon his head. When he sent
to Huldah who had a duplicate copy of the law which had not been lost
by the clergy it was not to get a prophecy in the foretelling sense
but in the forth-telling or teaching sense.
He needed to confirm the
word which
had been in the hands of the cleryg with the word as it had been written and
preserved as the temple was turned over
to idolatry:
And she said unto
them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you
to me, 2Ki 22:15
Thus saith the
Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even
all the words of the
book which the king of
Judah hath read: 2Ki 22:16
Because they have
forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods,
that
they might provoke me to anger with all the
works of their
hands; therefore my
wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.
2Ki 22:17
God's prophecy of destruction always included
the provision that repentance, humility and turning back to the Word
would cause Him to withold punishment. Therefore, Huldah could,
without predicting, tell Josiah what the Lord said to Him. When
revealed by checking the copy she gave a "thus saith the Lord" just
as we can still do today:
But to the king of
Judah which sent you to enquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to
him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, As touching the words which
thou hast heard; 2Ki 22:18
Because thine heart
was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou
heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof,
that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy
clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.
2Ki 22:19
The king HEARD God when he read the
document. Huldah would not gather the king but Huldah knew the Word
of God that peace was based on obedience.
Behold therefore,
I
will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into
thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil
which I will bring upon this
place. And they brought the king
word again. 2 Kings 22:20
From this we can learn three important
things:
First, when
the Bible gets lost by being "cut into pieces" in the "church house"
by those trying to appease the world just to get along we can always
go back to the recorded Word of God in the "library" and find out the
truth.
Second, Huldah
preserved the documents outside the "house" and
may have been a great scholar. However, she was not a priest and
therefore did not serve as a prophesier in the "congregational
assembly" and neither did male prophets. Therefore, she is not an authority
for the feminist move on the church.
Third, women
are often "more equal than men" in Bible knowledge. It is a pleasure
to discuss Biblical issues with women. However, if we go to Huldah,
at the college, and look at the duplicated copy of the word not perverted by human philosophy and "I wish it had
said that so I will just make it say that" then women may be the best
preservers of the Word (conservative) as
it has been written.
Hulda, Huldah - Prophetess - Librarian? She may
have revealed the word of the prophet Moses because she was the
keeper of the duplicate copy of the law. She may have been the
librarian. However, the episode of Miriam shows that even being
called a prophetess did not mean that she could reveal for God nor
could she be a worship leader.
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- Richland Hills Church of Christ and the
Deaconess
The
Deaconess - Rubel Shelly is
- Huldah - Prophetess - Librarian?
- Ezekiel 13 - Women in Ministry - Rubel
Shelly
- 1 Timothy 3:11 - Deaconesses
- Deacon in The Catholic
Encyclopedia
- Deaconess in the Catholic
Encyclopedia
- Deaconesses in the Council of Nicea A.D.
325
- Women Deacons (Deaconesses) -
Didascalia
- Women Deacons (Deaconesses) -
Tertullian
- Women in Worship - Deaconesses - Lifting Holy
Hands
Kenneth
Sublett
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