Key Scriptures: 2 Kings 22:14-20; 2 Chronicles 34:22-33
It has been said that Huldah was a woman of spiritual awareness with a great love for God. Huldah knew what her purpose was and informed King Josiah of God's plan. Our text states that as a prophetess, she was privileged to be a messenger of God. This statement made me think of words spoken so eloquently on Saturday at the Thomasboro COC Ladies Tea, by Sisters Rita Cannady and Shanita Jones when they spoke about some of the challenges we should take on as Christian women.
Can you believe that once again we witness another account in the Bible where a man listened to a woman? Do you know what your purpose is? Do you know of any woman in our time that could make people take notice of God's word. Could that person be you? Keep these things in mind as you answer one or all of the questions below. Feel free to make additional comments:
1. Judah had followed false gods for many years. What do you think made Josiah receptive to God and this reading of the law?
2. What about your description of Huldah would you like to be true of you? What can you do to develop that part of your character?
3. Why was God so angry with his people? What was he planning to do?
4. What was God's specific word to Josiah? Why was God's response to Josiah different from his response to the people?
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6 comments:
1. Judah had followed false gods for many years. What do you think made Josiah receptive to God and this reading of the law?
If you read in 2 Kings about Josiah's reign verses 1 & 2 state that he was eight years old when he became king and he reigned for 31 years. Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of David not turning aside to the right or to the left. He succeeded his father Amon, who did evil like his father Manessah. The bible states in 2 Kings 21 that Mannaseh did such detestable things during his reign that the word from God through the prophets was: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. Josiah knew the end of those that did evil before God. His father was assasinated and He was focused on doing God's will. He was fervent in his zeal to follow God. He had a receptive heart to receive God's word from Hulda. It's the same with us today, when our hearts are open to accept God's word. We will obey Him. We have free will therefore we can choose to live righteous or sinful lives. Josiah could have choosen to be King like the evil ones of the past, but he choose to listen to Hulda's message from God.
Hulda great messenger of God! We as women we need to strive to be like Hulda,proclaiming and sharing the word of God. Sisters, please pray for me while I am in Panama to share the word of God to whom would listen! I am the only woman in my family that is in the body of Christ. Let us immitate Hulda! Praise God for women like her!
Love you,
p.s
Greetings from Panama! Saludos desde Panama.
Hola Rosalinda (risas)
In 2 Kings 22:16 - God let the people know that evil would come upon the place. God was mad because of refusal. I can only imagine how he feels today when we refuse to do what he says. Doing what God tells us to do really isn't hard, we make it complicated. We try to reason and find ways around just plain out doing the right thing. God knows that we are not perfect but we should never live imperfect. Just because we know forgiveness is available we should never take sin as a free opportunity. If we willfully sin, not only does God become angered but we blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
We as Christians must be very careful that we are not putting anything before God, i.e. families, work, friends, cars, money, unhappiness, loneliness, the economy, ect. Realizing it or not, the more we focus on those things we can sometimes be taken away from God. Now i'm not saying that God doesn't want us to give our attention to our families, he just doesn't want anything to become an idol in our lives.
2 Kings 22:19-20 allows us to see that if we are truly repentant, honest, humble and sincere, God is really there waiting to aid and assist. That gives me such reassurance that God is at a ready stance to help protect us. God protects us even when we least deserve it, but we must be sincere in our walk to God. As stated before, we can put on masks/makeup/ cover girl/ or whatever, but God knows and sees the real us!
Like Hulda, We must be committed and ready to testify for our Lord.
Shanita
P.S. Thanks for the support on Sat.
Josiah became king at a very young age. This was probably a good thing because he became king before he really had a chance to get involved in evil doing. He walked upright as Job did. Because of his fear,respect and repentance,God, spared his kingdom during his reign. God has such righteous judgment and we are very blessed that he searches our heart instead of always judging our actions.
Hulda must have had a mighty reputation as one of God's spokesperson. Why did Josiah send his representatives to her? Why not Habakkuk who was living during this time? This just goes to show you that God uses women in many ways but we still have to maintain our role as women.
Hulda was a prophetess in addition to being a wife. Note that when she is mentioned in different verses of the bible, it always indicates that she was the wife of Shallum. Deborah, who was also a prophetess, was mentioned in the same way. Do you think this is significant? Why would the bible point this out? I believe the bible is letting us know that we as women can be apart of a ministry or ministries but we should always be aware of our roles as wives. We should always put God first but He expects us to balance our lives appropriately.
In this day and time, I would love to be like Hulda and help people in this country return to God. We have turned away from God to the point that it's scary. My goal is to try to lead people in the right direction before it's too late. Thank God for Hulda and Josiah.
Side bar: Why does her name mean weasel? I thought that there was something in a name. LOL!
It seems we can only speak for God when God is in us and if we are dwelling in the Holy Spirit. Hulda must have been seeking God to be able to speak so boldly about the power and justice of God. If we are consistently in His Word, we will know that our actions will bring repercussions because God is a jealous God.
One scripture has come to mind in regards to how eloquently Hulda delivered her message from God... Luke 21:15.
May God Bless you Ladies!
~Melanie Joyce Johnson~
The bottom line.... Is to see how God works... By doing His will and by following His faithful commands He will allow the Holy Spirit to always guide us. Josiah was a good man and king of course! who made all of judah go back to worshiping God in the way they were supposed to and by destroying all of baal's temple. The Word said that he did Good in God's eye's and followed his forefathers way (King David) by believing in God and living according to God's ways. He wanted to make sure that he was doing what God would have him to do. So He wanted to hear what the Lord had to say, and was lead by the Holy Spirit to sought out Huldah, which was a prophetess who followed all of God's commands and will to tell God's people what the Lord had to say.
Its true that we need to seek and save those who are lost without Christ Jesus. Amen! Amen!
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