Huldah: The Prophetess
Scripture references: 2 Kings 22:12-20, 2 Chronicles 34:20-28
Date: around 625 B.C
Huldah lived during critical years in Judah's history. For over half a century, kings with no loyalty to the Lord had ruled, and most of Judah's people turned to paganism. Then Josiah became king and set out to lead his people back to God.
In the process of repairing the temple a lost book of God's law, generally thought to be Deuteronomy, was discovered. When Josiah read the lost book he was shocked and shaken. Josiah had not fully understood how guilty his people were from departing from God, nor had he known the punishments Scripture decreed for their sins. Immediately the king sent representatives to inquire about what God wanted and what He would do.
What is fascinating is that the representatives were sent to Huldah, a prophetess. Clearly, Huldah had established a reputation as God's spokesperson. We are even more impressed when we realize that the prophet Habakkuk, whose book is part of the Old Testament, was living at the time. Yet Huldah was clearly the king's first choice when seeking to know God's will.
His choice was wise, for Huldah had a word from God for the young king. God would indeed bring calamity on His sinning people. But because Josiah's heart was tender and he had responded when he heard God's Word, judgement would not fall during Josiah's reign.
Each verse where Huldah's name is mentioned refers to her as a prophetess and as the wife of Shallum. Huldah had experienced no conflict between roles of prophetess and wife. Huldah's husband did not feel threatened by the fact that his wife had an important ministry. A woman can have a ministry and still win a reputation as a good wife. Marriage and ministry are not necessarily in conflict.
In summary: Huldah was a prophetess living in Jerusalem; and a contemporary of the prophets Jeremiah, Zephaniah and Habbakuk. She was introduced as the wife of Shallum, the wardobe keeper in King Josiah's court (2 Kings 22:14, 2 Chron. 34:22). She gave a word from God (2 Kings 22:16-20) and was responsible for Josiah beginning a religious reform (2 Chron. 35:1-25).
Lois and Eunice
Scripture references: 2 Timothy 1:5, Acts 16:1, 2 Timothy 3:15
Only a single verse memorializes these two women, but for Christians they stand for faithful mothers everywhere. Paul declared that he thanked God:
"when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also" (1 Timothy 1:5)
Lois and Eunice have rightly been honored as model mentors for rearing children. They had genuine faith, and they passed it on to young Timothy. We can picture the mother and grandmother, guiding and correcting the growing boy with precepts drawn from Scripture. We can be sure that they prayed each day that Timothy might know the Lord and choose to serve Him.
Timothy did grow up to become a leader of the early church. We don't know what young Timothy was like. We do know that Lois and Eunice had a "genuine faith" in God, and shared that faith with Timothy.
The genuine faith we share with our children does take root. Some faith planted in difficult soil may be slow in growing into healthy adulthood. But, watering with prayer, we can trust the God of all grace to see to it that the faith planted in children's hearts will one day flower.
In summary: Lois, the maternal grandmother of Timothy (2 Tim. 1:5), whose family including Timothy's mother, Eunice, lived at Lystra (Acts 16:1). Lois was a deeply committed Jew who probably converted to Christianity during Paul's first missionary trip (Acts 14). Paul commented that Timothy shared the faith of his grandmother and mother.
Eunice was married to a pagan Greek. She was a Jewish Christian (Acts 16:1). She apparantly taught her son the OT Scriptures "from childhood" (2 Tim 3:15) and was converted to Christianity during Paul's first trip to her home in Lystra previous to his visit in Acts 16.
Sources: Ilumina Digital Bible & Encyclopedia
King James Bible, Zondervan
Amplified Bible, Zondervan
"Every Woman In The Bible"-Sue and Larry Richards.
Buy them at Amazon.com!
Visit: ilovejesus.com
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