Huldah ( he, חֻלְדָּה ''Ḥuldā'') was a

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

in and . According to the Bible, she was a prophetess. After the discovery of a book of the

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

during renovations at

Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by th ...

, on the order of King

Josiah Josiah ( or ) or Yoshiyahu; la, Iosias was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE) who, according to the Hebrew Bible, instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Josiah is credited by most biblical s ...

Hilkiah Hilkiah ( ''Ḥīlqīyyā'', "my portion is Yah") was a Hebrew priest ("Kohen") at the time of King Josiah (reigned c. 641-609 BCE). His name is mentioned in II Kings. He was the High Priest and is known for finding a lost copy of the Book of ...

together with

Ahikam Ahikam (Hebrew אחיקם, "My brother has risen") was one of the five whom, according to the Hebrew Bible, Josiah sent to consult the prophetess Huldah in connection with the discovery of the book of the law. Biblical accounts He was the son of Sh ...

Acbor Achbor ( ''ʿAḵbōr'') is a name that means "gnawing" and is, by extension, used as the word for "mouse". There are at least two persons by this name in the Hebrew Bible. Achbor of Edom In the King Lists in the books of Genesis and 1 Chronicles ...

Shaphan Shaphan ( he, שפן, which means "hyrax"), son of Azaliah, is the name of a scribe or court secretary mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible (2 Kings and ; and parallels in 2 Chronicles ; see also Jeremiah 26:24; ; 39:14; and following; an ...

and

Asaiah Asaiah (Hebrew: עשיה "God made me") was the personal secretary of Josiah, king of Judah in the 7th century BCE, and according to the Bible (II Kings, Chapter 22, and Books of Chronicles 2, Chapter 34), is one of Josiah's deputation to the proph ...

approach her to seek the

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...

's opinion. She was the wife of

Shallum Shallum ("retribution") was the name of several people of the Old Testament. Shallum of Israel King of Israel. Alternative name of Jehoahaz King of Judah Son of Tikvah Keeper of the temple-wardrobe in the reign of Josiah (2 Kings 22:14) and hu ...

son of Tokhath (also called Tikvah), son of Harhas (also called Hasrah), keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, in the Second District or Second Quarter. The

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

of the Bible calls this quarter "the college", and the

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest an ...

calls it "the new quarter". According to Rabbinic interpretation, Huldah and

Deborah According to the Book of Judges, Deborah ( he, דְּבוֹרָה, ''Dəḇōrā'', " bee") was a prophetess of the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel and the only female judge mentioned in the Bible. Many scholars ...

were the principal professed woman prophets in the

Nevi'im Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim (wri ...

(Prophets) portion of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

, although Miriam is referred to as such in the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

and an unnamed prophetess is mentioned in Isaiah. "Huldah" derives from the Hebrew

lemma Lemma may refer to: Language and linguistics * Lemma (morphology), the canonical, dictionary or citation form of a word * Lemma (psycholinguistics), a mental abstraction of a word about to be uttered Science and mathematics * Lemma (botany), a ...

חלד, meaning to abide or to continue. The

Huldah Gates The Huldah Gates ( he, שערי חולדה, ''Sha'arei Hulda'') were one of the Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem leading into the Jerusalem Temple compound in the Hasmonean period and were named as such in the Mishnah. The term is currently b ...

in the

Southern Wall The Southern Wall ( ''HaKotel HaDromi'') is the retaining wall of the Temple Mount at the southern end. It was built during King Herod's expansion of the Temple Mount platform southward on to the Ophel. Construction The Southern Wall is in le ...

of the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compoun ...

are named for her.

Hershel Shanks Hershel Shanks (March 8, 1930 – February 5, 2021) was an American lawyer and amateur biblical archaeologist. He was the founder and long-time editor of the ''Biblical Archaeology Review''. Life and career Shanks was born in Sharon, Pennsylvani ...

, ''Jerusalem an Archaeological Biography''. Random House, 1995, p. 143. Hulda tomb

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In the Bible

The account in 2 Kings 22 recounts the consulting of Huldah as follows: After authenticating the book and prophesying a future of destruction for failure to follow it, Huldah concludes by reassuring King

that due to his piety, God has heard his prayer and "thou shalt be gathered unto thy grave in peace, neither shall thy eyes see all the evil which I shall bring upon this place". Huldah's prophetic oracle identifies the words the King of Judah heard (2 Kings 22:18) with what

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...

had spoken (2 Kings 22:19). According to William E. Phipps, Huldah is the first person to declare certain writings to be Holy Scripture. Huldah appears in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

only in nine verses, , . This short narrative is sufficient to make clear that Huldah was regarded as a prophet accustomed to speaking the word of God directly to high priests and royal officials, to whom high officials came in supplication, who told kings and nations of their fates, who had the authority to determine what was and was not the genuine Law, and who spoke in a manner of stern command when acting as a prophet. Nonetheless, the Bible does not offer the sort of background information it typically does with other pivotal prophets. Indeed, we are left knowing more about her husband's background than we know of hers, and the little information we know of her personality is largely about her husband.

In rabbinic literature

According to Rabbinic interpretation, Huldah said to the messengers of King Josiah, "Tell the man that sent you to me ..." (), indicating by her unceremonious language that as far as she was concerned, Josiah was like any other man. The king addressed her, and not Jeremiah because he believed that women are more easily stirred to pity than men and that therefore she would be more likely than would Jeremiah to intercede with God on his behalf (Meg. 14a, b; comp. Seder 'Olam R. xxi.). Huldah was a relative of Jeremiah, both being descendants of Rahab by her marriage with Joshua (Sifre, Num. 78; Meg. 14a, b). While Jeremiah admonished and preached repentance to the men, Huldah did the same to the women (Pesiḳ. R. 26 d. Friedmann, p. 129. Huldah was not only a prophet but taught publicly in the school (

Targum A targum ( arc, תרגום 'interpretation, translation, version') was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ''Tanakh'') that a professional translator ( ''mǝturgǝmān'') would give in the common language of the ...

to ), according to some teaching, especially the oral doctrine.

Burial site

Two conflicting traditions exist regarding the final resting place of Huldah. The

Tosefta The Tosefta (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...

records Huldah's burial site as between the walls of Jerusalem. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, a second tradition developed identifying Huldah's burial site with a cave carved out of the rock beneath a mosque on the

Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jeru ...

. (See:

Chapel of the Ascension, Jerusalem The Chapel of the Ascension ( he, קפלת העלייה ''Qapelat ha-ʿAliyya''; el, Εκκλησάκι της Αναλήψεως, ''Ekklisáki tis Analípseos''; ) is a chapel and shrine located on the Mount of Olives, in the At-Tur district of ...

) The cave is considered holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians.

References

"Huldah", ''The Jewish Encyclopedia''
(article in 1903 public domain ''Jewish Encyclopedia'').

In the Bible

In rabbinic literature

Burial site

References

Further reading