And she said to them, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel Tell the man that sent you to me,
Josiah has just heard the book of the law read aloud, torn his clothes, and sent his officials to ask God what it means for him and his people. Verse 15 opens the answer they brought back. Two things stand out: who delivers it, and how God names the king who sent for it.
Josiah wanted more than a report from his priest or his secretary. He wanted the word itself. But the only person who could give it showed how far things had fallen.
And now, who will interpret this Word for us? This Word shows that we have brought God's displeasure on ourselves. How then are we to "inquire of the LORD" about what we should do? Only the prophet can interpret it for us, for he represents the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1:11). Josiah does not turn to Shaphan the scribe for this, or even to Hilkiah the high priest. He seeks direct contact with the Word. There were many prophets in the days of wicked Manasseh. In Josiah's time, days of revival but of deep weakness, we find a prophetess at Jerusalem. Prophets were not lacking in Judah, but work handed to a woman marks decline, just as with Deborah in the book of Judges. Like Deborah, Huldah does not seek a public ministry, as the false prophetesses of our day do. She uses her gift in the place appointed to her.
For a king, going to a woman for counsel looked humbling. Josiah's broken heart made the channel irrelevant.
Things were low. But the grace of God was unfailing and abundant. Josiah was so broken down that he was ready to take God's mind from whatever channel brought it to him. This was morally lovely. To nature's eye, it might seem very humiliating for a king of Judah to turn to a woman for counsel. But that woman held the mind of God, and for a humble and contrite spirit like Josiah's that was quite enough.
Huldah speaks in God's name, not her own. She does not soften the book or add to it.
Huldah was a faithful woman. She told Josiah's servants the plain, uncompromising truth from God. She confirmed what Josiah had read in scripture: a dreadful judgment would fall on Jerusalem. It expressed the fierce anger of the Lord against their wickedness.
Josiah had already heard these words read. Hearing them a second time, addressed to him by name, landed differently.
All this only repeated and confirmed what the king of Judah had already heard with an open and attentive ear. But now it came with fresh force, emphasis, and interest, as a direct personal message to himself. That earnest sentence gave it added weight: "Tell the man who sent you to me."
The reply then comes in two parts. Each part names the same man differently.
The message comes in two parts. The first part opens with 'tell the man'. It says the judgment will come and can no longer be turned aside. The second part speaks to 'the king of Judah'. It reassures Josiah that God had accepted his humbling of himself and would not bring the judgment in Josiah's day.
Jeremiah was already prophesying in Judah at this time. God passed him over here, and the writers do not pretend to explain it.
But although the above is true, we must never lose sight of the sovereignty of God. He works as He pleases, and gives no account of His matters. This is even more so when everything is in confusion among His people. Why the LORD chose to speak through Huldah to the king and to the high priest is known to Himself alone. Jeremiah was already in His service, for he began his prophetic ministry in the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign (Jer. 1:2), and the book of the law was not found until five years later. Yet the LORD spoke through Huldah on this occasion, and not through Jeremiah!
The judgment stood. Josiah could have decided there was nothing left to do.
Josiah might have thought the case hopeless. He might have thought that nothing could turn back the mighty tide of wrath and judgment about to roll over Jerusalem and the land of Israel. He might have thought that any move of his was useless — that God's purpose was settled, the decree gone out, and that he had only to stand by and let things take their course. But Josiah did not reason this way. He bowed before the divine testimony. He humbled himself, tore his clothes, and wept. God took notice of this.
- Sent — Josiah would not settle for a second-hand report. He sought direct contact with God's word.
- Channel — a woman in the prophet's place showed how low things had sunk. A broken king still took the word, whatever channel God used.
- Sovereign — Jeremiah was already prophesying. God chose Huldah instead, and gives no account of why.
- Confirmed — the message added nothing to the book. It drove home what Josiah had already heard.
- Answered — the judgment still stood, yet God noticed Josiah's tears. "Tell the man" became a personal word for "the king of Judah."
Thus saith Jehovah Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof, all the words of the book that the king of Judah hath read.
Josiah has just heard the newly found book of the law read aloud, and he sends men to ask God what it means. Huldah's reply softens nothing: disaster is coming on Jerusalem, and that raises the hard question — why could a real revival not cancel it?
Josiah asked God about the words he had already read. The answer matched the book in front of him.
Huldah was a faithful woman who told Josiah's servants the plain, uncompromising truth from God: the Lord would bring disaster on this place and on its people, "because they have forsaken Me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands. Therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched" (vv.16-17). Huldah confirmed what Josiah had read in scripture, that a dreadful judgment would fall on Jerusalem.
The sentence was not sudden. It answered a guilt that had been building for centuries.
Ruin was waiting for the nation. Its cup of sin had been filling up for centuries. Manasseh's defiance of Jehovah's Word and his extreme evil made the cup overflow… They had provoked their God to anger "since the day their fathers came out of Egypt." So the evil was persistent and beyond remedy… Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 are two of the most terrible chapters in the Word of God. In them God set out, before Israel entered the land, what must follow if they rebelled against Him. It was probably those very chapters that so alarmed Josiah and made him tear his clothes and weep before God.
The messenger God chose says something about the state of the nation.
In Josiah's time, in these days of revival but of deep weakness, we find a prophetess at Jerusalem. Prophets were not lacking in Judah (2 Kings 23:2). But work given to a woman marks decline, just as with Deborah in the book of Judges. Like Deborah, Huldah is a servant of Jehovah. She does not try to exercise a public ministry like the false prophetesses of our day. She uses her gift in the place appointed to her… But the Spirit of Christ speaks through this woman, to confirm "all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read" (v. 16).
Josiah never objected to who brought him the message.
To human eyes it might seem very humbling for a king of Judah to turn to a woman for counsel. But that woman was the keeper of the mind of God, and this was quite enough for a humble and contrite spirit like Josiah's… It did not matter how the voice of God reached his ear. He was ready to hear and obey.
That leaves one question: could the king's own godliness have saved the nation?
Did the piety of Josiah turn away the wrath of God from Judah? No. Josiah "turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might" (2 Kings 23:25). Yet verse 26 adds: "Still the LORD did not turn from the burning of His great wrath, by which His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him."
The threat stood, yet God had a separate word for the king himself.
Because his heart was tender, he had humbled himself before the Lord when he heard the Word of God. He had torn his clothes in self-judgment and had wept before the Lord. So the Lord took full account of his repentance (vv.18-20). For this reason the Lord assured Josiah that he himself would die before Judah's solemn calamity came. This may remind us of Isaiah 57:1: "The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity."
The next generation heard a written warning too.
Josiah had good reason to tear his clothes when he read what was in store for Israel if they forsook their God and turned to idols. Yet what a contrast between Josiah and his son Jehoiakim! When Jehoiakim heard the words written in Jeremiah's scroll, he cut it with his penknife and threw it into the fire (Jer. 36:23).
- Book read — The law was read aloud, and it told Judah what was coming. Josiah's first move was to ask God about those words.
- Book confirmed — Huldah added nothing new. Everything written in the book would happen, because the nation had left the Lord for other gods.
- Book vindicated — Sin piled up for centuries and overflowed under Manasseh. Nothing would quench that wrath, not even Josiah's wholehearted reform.
- Book received — God answered the one man whose heart was tender. Josiah humbled himself, tore his clothes and wept, and God promised he would die before the disaster came.
- Book refused — Josiah's son heard the same kind of warning and cut the scroll to pieces. The same words either break a heart or harden it.
Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my fury is kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.
Josiah sent his men to ask God about the book found in the temple. The answer came back through Huldah the prophetess. This verse gives the reason for the sentence: Judah had left God for other gods. It also gives its measure — an anger nothing will put out.
Josiah had already heard the book read aloud. Huldah gave him no new information. She confirmed that the judgment he had read about would really fall.
Huldah was a faithful woman who told Josiah's servants the plain, uncompromising truth from God... She only confirmed what Josiah had read in Scripture: a dreadful judgment would fall on Jerusalem. It would express the fierce anger of the Lord against their wickedness.
Josiah had a scribe and a high priest close at hand. He took his question somewhere else:
Josiah does not turn to Shaphan the scribe for this, or even to Hilkijah the high priest. He seeks to be put into direct relationship with the Word... But the Spirit of Christ speaks through this woman. She confirms "all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read" (v. 16), and at the same time reassures Josiah about his own future.
The charge is specific: they forsook God and made offerings to other gods. The sentence matches the charge. Josiah's own goodness could not cancel it.
Yet God had told Josiah that His wrath was aroused against Judah because of all their iniquity, and that wrath would not be quenched... Josiah's faithfulness had only delayed the judgment during his own reign. Manasseh turned to God in his later years, but the evil he had done was enormous, and it had defiled Judah deeply. God's grace may triumph over man's sin and save him from eternal judgment. Yet God's government still calls for the judgment of whatever evil has been done... Jerusalem, God's centre, and God's house there would be cast off, even though God had established His name in it.
Josiah's reform changed the whole country, yet the wrath stood. One writer asks why God was not satisfied.
Royal power had brought about a great reformation. But it left the hearts of most of the people untouched... So why could God not rest in the improved outward state of the kingdom of Judah in Josiah's day? He looked beneath the surface. He looked for reality, for tenderness of conscience, for a heart subject to His word. He did not find them... God will never be satisfied with anything less than thoroughness.
Huldah's reply comes in two halves. The change of address marks the break. The first half is for the man who sent them. The second is for the king of Judah.
The first part starts with "tell the man". It states that the judgement will come and can no longer be turned aside. The second part speaks to "the king of Judah". It reassures Josiah that God had accepted his humiliation and would not bring the judgement in Josiah's day.
The comfort for the king was personal. It came in a form that looks at first like loss:
So the Lord assured Josiah that death would take him away before Judah's solemn calamity came. This may remind us of Isaiah 57:1: "The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity." How often God takes a godly person away before some great trouble that would be most painful for him to watch!
Josiah's revival did not cancel the judgment. One writer draws a warning from that for later ages.
And here is an important lesson for our own times. Reformations and revivals cannot keep back the decreed judgments of God. Many think that great waves of reformation and revival prove the world is getting better, and that only good lies ahead for this age... Reformation-revival movements are evidences, too, that the threatened judgment is not far away. As the end approaches God warns us and His Spirit presses home the truth once more to awaken the consciences of men.
- Cause. The wrath has a stated reason. Judah left God and gave His worship to idols they had made themselves.
- Confirmation. Huldah added nothing to the book. She confirmed that its words now rested on this place and these people.
- Unquenchable. Grace may save a person from eternal judgment. God's government still deals with the evil done. The wrath was delayed, not cancelled.
- Surface. The reform was royal and outward. God looked beneath it for a tender conscience and a heart subject to His word. He did not find it.
- Shelter. Wrath that nothing could quench still made room for one tender heart. God took Josiah away in peace before the trouble he would have had to watch.