Huldah the Prophetess, Class Announcements, Instagram Page

Hi All,

Summer is coming to an end very quickly. I hope you have had some good family time! The first day of class this year will be October 13.  We will meet on Thursdays this year; it will better align our discussions with Come Follow Me schedule. The time and place will be the same: 9:30-11 am. at Old Gilbert Building. 

We have started an Instagram page where we will post quotes occasionally and class announcements. You can find it on Instagram as Seek the Covenant Path. We hope to see you there!

This week's reading includes the story of the Prophetess Huldah. Her story is found in 2 Kings 22:11-20 and 2 Chronicles 34:19-28. Her story appears at a pivotal moment in Jewish history, in about 624 BC. She was a contemporary of the great prophet Jeremiah and was an advisor to the righteous king Josiah. 

"Her name 'Huldah' means 'a burrowing animal.' Scholars, in their own way, burrow, seeking out and examining little pieces of knowledge/wisdom to nourish the mind and heart. Huldah was just such a scholar." https://womeninthebible.net/women-bible-old-new-testaments/huldah/

"Huldah, the wife of Shallum ben Tikvah, was one of seven prophetesses mentioned in Tanach who lived in different times. These seven prophetesses were: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah and Esther." https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112503/jewish/Who-Was-Huldah-the-Prophetess.htm

In her book, "Reading the Women of the Bible," Jewish scholar, Tikva Frymer-Kensky provides this insight into Huldah.

"Huldah is a pivotal figure. The last prophet in the Deuteronomic history, she provides closure to the period of the occupation of the land (introduced by Rahab), to the monarchy (proclaimed by Hannah), and to the throne of David (proclaimed by Abigail). But she marks not only an end. She is also the beginning of the new phase of biblical interpretation that becomes ever more important in Israel. Like the many interpreters who came after her, Huldah is a link, a triangulation point between herself, the words of the Book, and the world around her. She recognizes her own society in the dictates of the Book and in its failure to observe those prescriptions, and she applies the Book’s own curses to her own day. The king and his emissaries give her this authority on the basis of her own qualifications as prophet. Later, Israel, no longer inquiring of prophets, rested its interpretative behavior on the authority of the Book itself."

These women of the Dueteronomic history have much to teach us. Reading and pondering their scriptural accounts can provide direction we need in a confusing world. Courage, faith, inspiration and loyalty to Jehovah shine in their stories.