Titus 2 Men And Women

Huldah
By Teddi Neevel

Scripture: 2Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 34

Background:
The Hebrew people had arrived in the Promised Land with the law in their possession. Their priests were offering sacrifices and they were observing the various Holy Days. But the Hebrews saw the people around them and wanted a king to rule over them. God gave them their first King...Saul. We know the history of Saul and David. God rejected Saul because of his disobedience. Saul figured he could keep what God said he should destroy, then when he was challenged by Samuel, Saul claimed they only kept the best things so they could sacrifice them to God. 1Samuel 15.
After Saul, David was king and God declared this would be the line from which the Messiah would come. The monarchy passed from David to his son Solomon who asked God for wisdom. After the death of Solomon his son Rehoboam began his reign by driving a wedge of contention between the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern 10 tribe of the kingdom of Israel.

King after king the conflict continued. Some kings trying to serve the Lord and others trying to pacify everyone by allowing any kind of worship or sacrifice. Fifteen kings and 323 years after the end of Rehoboam’s reign Josiah was anointed king. Josiah’s grandfather King Manasseh was so wicked the God declared him to be worse than the Amalekites that he had commanded Saul to destroy. Because the Hebrew children had forsaken God’s law, God said He would wipe them like a dish and turn them upside down. When Manasseh died his son Amon became king. He had learned many things from his father but not to avoid his mistakes. After only 2 years of his wicked leadership Amon’s servants killed him and all of his political followers. Now we pick up the history of the monarchy with 8 year old Josiah.

2KINGS Chapter 22:1-20
1 Josiah [was] eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
2 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.
3 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,
4 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:
5 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,
6 Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.
7 Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.
8 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.
9 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.
10 And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.
12 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 king's, saying,
13 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.
14 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.
15 And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,
16 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:
17 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.
18 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;
19 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.
20 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.

2CHRONICLES Chapter 34:22 gives us a little bit more information about Huldah the prophetess.

And Hilkiah, and [they] that the king [had appointed], went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her to that [effect].

These 2 passages of scripture are the only references of Huldah in the Bible but they tell us a great deal about Huldah.
1. She was a prophetess.
2. She was married to a man whose grandfather was a valet or porter. In fact several references mention various men who were named Shallum and called them porters. The name as indication of their position in society is indicative of a humble family background.
3. She was at the college at Jerusalem. Perhaps a college of prophets or a school of Hebrew history. However, it went against the customs of the time for a woman to attend a school. It is more likely that she served in some capacity at the school as cook, waiting on tables, housekeeper or some menial labor and in her position was able to hear the students discussing the law of God. She may have made comments at some time that caused the students and staff to recognize her ability to rightly divide the word of truth.
4. Hilkiah, the high priest knew of her and respected her knowledge. This implies that she had been impelled to speak up at other times.
5. She willingly answered the question the King had asked even though the King had the power to have her killed if he didn’t like her answer. She didn’t give him the answer he wanted to hear.
6. Huldah, spoke forth the word of God.

Huldah recognized the lost book of Moses…the book of the law as being the Word of God. The Jewish people were told over and over again to destroy all the idols, groves and places of heathen worship. They were told to keep themselves pure as a nation and to not intermarry with the heathens. Deuteronomy 7:26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: [but] thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it [is] a cursed thing. Deuteronomy 8:6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

God had made a covenant with the Hebrew people, when they broke the covenant He had to fulfill His promise of chastening.

Psalms 119:89 Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, [even] in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams.

There is a quotation that says “Don’t ask permission, beg forgiveness.” Sadly, many Christians have accepted that quote as their philosophy in dealing with God. I know it’s wrong and God won’t give me permission, but I’ll do it anyway and then beg God’s forgiveness later. If we are going to be prophetesses we must know the word, walk in it and speak up when the Holy Spirit gives us opportunity.

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