Josiah son of King Amon and Queen Yedida, is just eight years old when he becomes the 16th king of Judah, following his father’s two year rule and brutal assassination. He’ll rule from 640–609 BCE.
Ten years go by before the big drama happens, and during that decade there’s a huge political shift in the region. Assyria begins its surprisingly swift decline as Egypt asserts its power. In that vacuum, Judah is left to deal with its internal affairs and Josiah’s mentors are ready to launch the largest nationalist religious reform the land has ever seen. This reform will alter and determine the centralization of Jewish religious practice in Jerusalem, and forever turn the focus from the spoken to the written word. In effect, this reform will create the Bible as we know it, for better or worse.
It begins with a makeover to Solomon’s Temple - hundreds of years old by this time, and in need of some repairs. While working on the site, a scroll is found hidden in the walls. When the High Priest and the Royal Scribe read it, they bring it to the king, who tears his clothes in terror.
To make sense of the situation the king turns to the wise woman of Jerusalem, who only appears once in the Bible, and leaves her mark on this monumental moment. We don’t know much about her from the Biblical sources but the later traditions have added quite a bit:
וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ חִלְקִיָּ֣הוּ הַ֠כֹּהֵ֠ן וַאֲחִיקָ֨ם וְעַכְבּ֜וֹר וְשָׁפָ֣ן וַעֲשָׂיָ֗ה אֶל־חֻלְדָּ֨ה הַנְּבִיאָ֜ה אֵ֣שֶׁת ׀ שַׁלֻּ֣ם בֶּן־תִּקְוָ֗ה בֶּן־חַרְחַס֙ שֹׁמֵ֣ר הַבְּגָדִ֔ים וְהִ֛יא יֹשֶׁ֥בֶת בִּירוּשָׁלַ֖͏ִם בַּמִּשְׁנֶ֑ה וַֽיְדַבְּר֖וּ אֵלֶֽיהָ׃
“The priest Hilkiah, and Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah—the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah son of Harhas, the keeper of the wardrobe—who was living in Jerusalem in the Mishneh, and they spoke to her.”
Kings 2 22:14
Hulda the Prophetess reads the scroll and hears what the courtiers and priests have to say. She sends the king her verdict: YHWH is mad at the many years of idol worship, turning away from his truth. The fire that will be lit in Jerusalem will not be extinguished and as told in this scroll - this is punishment for all the evil deeds. King Josiah, however, as he’s soft hearted and obeying his ancestral god, will be spared the sorrow, and die in peace.
So who’s Hulda of whom we know so little?
In Hebrew, her name means ‘weasel’ or ‘rat’ which seems weird, but also interesting that some of the names of the courtiers and scribes mentioned in this chapter are ‘rabbit’ and ‘mouse’. Maybe 7th century BCE Judah held reverence for rodents?
In the Babylonian Talmud Megillah 14a, Hulda is named as one of seven prophetesses of the Hebrew Bible: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Hulda and Esther. Hulda descends from the union of Joshua Ben Nun and Rahab the heroic harlot who enables the conquest of Jericho back in the second chapter of Joshua. The brief details here about her husband and residence refer to her esteemed social status. Her husband was likely one of the priests, in charge of the sacred uniforms, and their home in the Mishne - the Secondary - is likely the western hill that was added to the original city a few generations ago. Today it’s where the Jewish and Armenian quarters of Jerusalem’s old city are located. Other opinions claim that she lived and taught closer to the temple. There are also famous gates in the walls of Jerusalem leading into the temple compound that were named for her, possibly because of proximity to the supposed school she founded or her nearby tomb. Hulda's Gates were sealed shut many centuries ago and tradition has it that they’ll open when the messianic times arrive.
Another rabbinic tradition claims that she was one of three great prophets during this time. According to Midrash Pesiqta Rabbati , Jeremiah would prophecy in the market-places, Zephaniah would prophecy in the synagogues and Hulda would prophecy among the women of her generation.
And why would the young king send for her advice among these and other seers and prophets of the day? Some say that she indeed was the wisest, and some say that he was hoping for a more tender, motherly approach to the terrible tidings found in the scroll.
But what Hulda provides is only partial consolation. The king will die in peace and be buried among the kings of Judah, but the fate of the kingdom is doomed. The delegation of five courtiers head back to the palace to deliver her words to the king.
What was it about this scroll and its aftermath that is such a game changer? That’s in tomorrow’s chapter.
Image: Hulda, Prophetess of Doom, Micha Hayns
https://www.micahhayns.com/copy-of-unveiled
I took note of the anomalous animal names you cite and thought of the prevalence of beast fables in the ancient world, the most famous being the fables of Aesop. As far as I know---and this is basically from what I know of Homer--- whenever the oral tradition passes into the written, the work, as it is then edited redacted and passed down (previous manuscripts lost) bears traces of many hands and minds. Perhaps in these animal names there is a hint o scorn one narrative sect had for another.