Huldah the Prophet

2 Kings 22:14–20; 2 Chronicles 34:22–28

Huldah was not a priest.

Not a scribe.

Not a king.

She wasn’t at the top of the hierarchy,

but somehow she was the one they listened to.

When the book of the law was found — dusty, dangerous, alive —

it was Huldah they sought out.

A prophet living in Jerusalem’s Second Quarter,

a place away from the palace —

possibly a district for artisans and workers.

Her husband kept the wardrobe —

temple robes, maybe. Royal attire, perhaps.

And Huldah?

Perhaps she was a seamstress,

perhaps not.

An unknown known.

Hidden in plain sight.

A woman without status,

but with a word from the Lord.

She spoke, and the king listened.

She named truth with no tremble in her voice.

She called out injustice, idolatry, and unfaithfulness.

She did not bow to power,

but spoke directly into it.

We need voices like Huldah’s today.

Because too often, those at the top

are too entangled in the systems they lead

to name what is broken.

Too invested in the way things are

to imagine the way they could be.

We need prophets who can interpret the Word,

not commodify it.

Not mould it to fit the interests of empire,

but let it speak with unsettling clarity.

Prophets who dream, imagine, and articulate

a different voice —

a different truth —

one that resists the mainstream and calls us back

to mercy, to justice, to covenant faithfulness.

Because the Word is not a brand to be managed.

It is a fire to be carried.

And those who carry it

often come from the margins.

Down in the cracks,

at the edge of the city,

in the waiting rooms, shelters, and foodbanks,

among the overlooked and overburdened —

are those who see clearly.

Who carry truth not on platforms,

but in their bones.

We need prophets who weave justice into the fraying seams of our world.

Who stitch together hope and warning,

mercy and challenge,

judgement and grace.

You might not see them on a stage.

But they are there.

Listening, watching, naming.

Unknown knowns, being made known.

And if we have ears to hear —

like Josiah —

we just might find ourselves

undone,

humbled,

and ready to change.

Artwork: "Treasure the Word" by Elspeth Young