My favorite woman in Scripture
Back in fall of 2019, I was coaching volleyball and we had a new assistant coach. Because of schedules and travel times, she rode with me to one of the games that was over an hour away. There was no point in both of us driving, right? Plus, I didn’t know her well and this would give us a great chance to talk, because if you don’t know, ball practice is not a great place for causal discussion among the coaching staff.
I learned where she was from and how she ended up in our town. Normal stuff that everyone expects in a conversation with an almost-stranger. Apparently, I can’t stay there long. I don’t know when the conversation took a turn, but the next thing I knew I was introducing her to one of my favorite women in the Bible, Huldah. (I might have also had her pull my Bible out of the backseat and read 1 Timothy 2 while we discussed it, but that’s a story for another day.)
You are all dying to go on a road trip with me now, I’m sure. I would say that I’m a little calmer but that’s probably not true. If you bring up women and the Bible, or even related topics, I will enthusiastically participate in the conversation.
I am always surprised at how many people have never heard of Huldah. I shouldn’t be; the story is deep in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles and really, how many of us camp out there? Except, many of us know about Josiah’s revival and it’s literally the same story. We just don’t mention Huldah when we tell it.
The story of Israel’s kings is long and a little terrifying. God didn’t want them to have a king to begin with, but they wanted a king so that they could be like everyone else. God actually said it was a rejection of God as king, which is a pretty serious accusation. Go and read 1 Samuel 8 for that part of the story. None of the kings were great. We often talk about David as if he was, but really, that’s the first half of his life and once he took over as king, his track record went downhill swiftly (read 2 Samuel.Yes, all of it). The best we can say of David and his sin is that he repented. But his power gave him the opportunity for heinous sin and he took advantage of that, along with taking advantage of other people. However, he was the best of the group. Most of the kings were far, far worse.
There were occasional bright spots. Josiah was one of them. He became king when he was eight (don’t we all have questions about that) and 2 Chronicles records that “he did what was right in the Lord’s sight (2 Chronicles 34:2) When he was sixteen, he started to seek God. Four years later, he started cleansing the land of symbols and spaces of idol worship. When he was 26, he sent Shaphan, Maaseiah (the governor), and Joah (court historian) to repair the temple. They took an offering to Hilkiah, the high priest and the work was started.
Next, Hilkiah found the book of the law of the Lord. I can’t help but wonder how long it had been lost. He gave it to Shaphan and Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. Josiah immediately realized how long the people had been breaking God’s law in terrible ways for a long time and sent five men to inquire of the Lord. Hilkiah went with them, and they went to Huldah, the prophetess. She told them the word of the Lord, confirming the judgment that God promised in the law. She also told them that God recognized Josiah’s heart and he would die in peace first.
Josiah read the book to all the people and then covenanted to keep the law. For the remainder of his reign, the people followed God and his direction.
It’s really an amazing story. After years of worshiping false gods and behaving in ways that God hates, the people followed God for the rest of Josiah’s lifetime. It might not have been deep heart work for the people, but it did protect so many people during his reign. It also shows the influence that the king exerted over the kingdom. It’s almost easy to overlook that a woman spoke the word of God to five men: five men that included the high priest. It’s not that there weren’t male options (a frequent commentary); She was a contemporary (and maybe a relative of) Jeremiah. But God chose to speak through a woman. Clearly she already had a reputation because the men chose to go to her when the stakes were high. I’d love to know more of her story, but I’ll have to wait for that.
Most of Huldah’s life isn’t recorded. Maybe she was always unaware that centuries later, believers would be reading her name in Scripture. That seems likely. Yet she was living in a way congruent with the God who had led Israel out of slavery in a time when few other people were. What kind of relationship did she and God have? Maybe she felt like it didn’t matter, that no one noticed, that it would be easier to do something else. But her worship of God—her being—made way for her service to God—her doing. May we take that note with us. If no one notices, may we be faithful. If no one else perseveres, may we refuse to give up. If the situation calls for strong words, may we use them.
We know little about her but she is one of my favorite women in the Bible. I take every opportunity I can to introduce people to her story. So, friends, meet Huldah. Go read her story.
Always,
Lisa
Links I Love:
This podcast on preaching was phenomenal.
Am I anticipating this fall series? For sure.
I want to make this torte but with berries.
I'm still out there on the blog too!