Huldah: Housewife & Mouthpiece of God

Huldah.

Not a very "high profile" biblical woman. Not a name you hear every day, or even every year, even if you are a very active church member. Not a woman who would stand out in your mind, even if you've read the Bible through many times before.

But what an example she is for each of us!

This woman, briefly mentioned in 2 Chronicles 34 & 35, was used to turn a nation back to God after years of idolatry and evil had all but erased Israel's relationship with YHWH. Here's how she's introduced-- the King's advisors go to "Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum" and begin telling her about King Josiah's desire to follow the laws of God.

She wasn't, as far as is biblically recorded, a prophetess in the usual sense we think of it: as a God-endorsed and fully accurate weather forecaster of far-future events. No, she simply was a mouthpiece of God. She had HIS words in her heart, ready to speak to powerful men. Her words gave a King confirmation of his need to follow God, and because of her words, her generation lived at peace with God.

Though she was a prophetess, she did not live in exile as many prophets of those days had to do, but as Gien Karssen points out in Her Name is Woman, Book 2, "she was a housewife". Like me and maybe you, she was simply an ordinary women with ordinary daily tasks. She wasn't a queen or woman of significance, and she isn't regularly held up as an example for us. She cared for her husband and ran a household, but in the midst of these ordinary tasks, she carried out God's calling on her life. God Himself spoke through her, and because she KNEW the Words of God, "she could freely exhort and encourage other people with it."

We, too, should be women who know God's Word and can freely speak when given the opportunity. All too often, because we have neglected the Word and have not given it its proper place and authority in our lives, when the opportunity comes to speak, we either hesitate and say nothing or we give human wisdom, derived from Oprah, Dr. Phil, or the latest marriage/parenting book we've read.

Instead, we should be women who, like Huldah, speak the Word of God without hesitation anytime we have the opportunity. And with that, I need to get into the Word this afternoon. :)