Today's Reading:

2 Kings 22
2 Kings 23
2 Chronicles 34
2 Chronicles 35

The prophetess Huldah is mentioned only in this short section of Scripture. She would have been highly respected, since King Josiah’s officials did not seek out other prophets such as Zephaniah or Jeremiah. They sought out a woman. When the Book of the Law was found and read, the curses had caused the king to humble himself. Huldah told him God said because Josiah’s heart was tender and he humbled himself to the Lord, he and his ancestors would not be cursed.

In a culture where women rarely held public prophetic roles, God chose to speak through Huldah at this moment. Her story reminds us that the Lord is not limited by who can carry His word. He raises up the faithful, male and female, to deliver His truth to the kings and people. Huldah’s short ministry shows God honors humility and repentance, and He uses whoever will help Him do His will.

How does Huldah’s example challenge modern assumptions about who God can use to deliver His truth? In what ways does her story invite us to reconsider how God still raises up women (and other “unlikely” voices) today to speak His Word with authority in the home, the church, and out in the world?

Josiah, King of Judah #16 (south)- Josiah was put on the throne when his father, King Amon, was assassinated by his officials. He was made king at the age of 8, by the common people who wanted to maintain the Davidic line. Josiah became the last good king of Judah. During his reign were the prophets Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk. Notice that Scripture said, “He did right in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Kings 22:2) BEFORE the Book of the Law was found. Josiah used the same procedure of a collection box that the doorkeepers had used when King Joash made the Temple repairs. This was after the destruction during the reigns of Manasseh and Amon. Joash collected donations and hired men to supervise the workers and make sure they received pay. Now Josiah was making repairs to the Temple and entrusting the funds to honest supervisors.

In the process of repairs, Hilkiah the high priest found the Book of Law! The Book of the Law was a scroll that contained the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). There would have been other copies, but it is possible that Manasseh may have destroyed the ones that were not hidden. Upon hearing the Word of the Lord, Josiah tore his robe in grief and mourning. He realized that the prior kings, and now currently, Judah had not been following the Law, and that was why God had been angry with them. The high priest and other officials went to see the prophetess Huldah. She said that because Josiah humbled himself, he and his ancestors would not be cursed. Josiah would be exempt from God’s judgment.

Josiah called all the leaders together: the priests, the prophets, and all the people from Jerusalem. Everyone in the land was to hear the Words of the Lord from the “Book of the Covenant” (from when Moses read God’s laws to the Israelites, Exodus 24:7). He most likely read all five books. Then the entire nation pledged to follow; this was a public binding agreement.

Josiah had all of the pagan items removed from the Temple and fired the idolatrous priests that had been appointed by Manasseh, Amon, and Ahaz. He had the ashes of burned idols taken to Bethel, one of the places Jeroboam had set up in the north as a religious site. He used the ashes to desecrate the site. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua. This gate was possibly in Jerusalem and named after Joshua, a governor/mayor who was responsible for justice. Remember, the gates were not just entrances to the city but also like courts, where legal decisions were made. He demolished the gates and altars, and not even one governor, mayor, or city official was exempt from getting rid of idolatry.

Josiah went to all of the cities, destroying idolatry because worship was supposed to be at one central location, in Jerusalem, where God commanded. Topheth (in the Valley of Hinnom) was a notorious site for child sacrifices to Molech. The parents actually passed the kids through the flames. Josiah defiled the places so they could never be used again by using bones from tombs to permanently defile the altars. He turned them into the ultimate “unclean” zones. Like God deals with idolatry in our own lives, He does not just remove it but makes it so repulsive we never go back. It fulfilled the 300-year-old prophecy from a “man of God” against Jeroboam’s altar centuries earlier (1 Kings 13:2). It was predicted that a king named Josiah would become the king and destroy Jeroboam’s altar and burn bones on it.

He got rid of the solar worship (sacred horses were symbols of the chariots of the sun). Josiah smashed Manasseh’s altars into pieces. He was thorough in destroying any and all pagan places regardless of who built them. Josiah even traveled into the Northern Kingdom to their capital, Samaria, to tear down altars. He killed all of the high priests there since they were following pagan rules and not Levites, which made them not legitimate priests.

Josiah was a light and brought reform to Judah. He had them celebrate Passover as it was written, which they had not been doing for centuries. He reconnected them to the God who had delivered them from Egypt. Passover had not been celebrated properly for at least 400-500 years. “Josiah turned to God with all of his heart and all of his soul and with all of his strength” (2 Kings 23:25). God still said that, because of Manasseh, judgment would have to come.

Josiah saw Egypt as a threat and intercepted Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo when the Pharaoh was on his way to help Assyria against Babylon. Necho warned Josiah to back down, that this was not his fight, but Josiah refused to listen. While in disguise, Josiah was shot with arrows; he was taken back to Jerusalem, where he died and was buried. God had promised he would die in peace, which explains why he died after being brought back to Jerusalem (2 Kings 22:20, 2 Chronicles 34:28).

Jehoahaz, King of Judah #17 (south)- Jehoahaz was Josiah’s youngest son. His reign was only three months. Jehoahaz was not like his father and turned back to evil. Because of this, Pharaoh Necho removed him from the throne and put him in an Egyptian prison where he died. Pharaoh then installed Jehoahaz’s brother, Eliakim (renamed by Pharaoh to Jehoiakim) as a vassal king.

Jehoiakim, King of Judah #18 (south)- Originally named Eliakim, was another son of the good King Josiah. Pharaoh Necho, after killing Jehoahaz, placed Jehoiakim on the throne for 11 years. He was an unfaithful king and taxed the people in order to pay tribute to Egypt and later Babylon. He rejected the prophet Jeremiah’s warnings.

Today's Discussion question:

How does Huldah’s example challenge modern assumptions about who God can use to deliver His truth? In what ways does her story invite us to reconsider how God still raises up women (and other “unlikely” voices) today to speak His Word with authority in the home, the church, and out in the world?

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