2 Kings 22:14

THE PROPHETESS ANSWERED THE KING'S INQUIRY

"So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaph, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tkivah, the son of Harhaz, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they communed with her. And she said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: Tell ye the man that sent you unto me, Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read. Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched. But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel; As touching the words which thou hast heard, because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before Jehovah, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I have heard thee, saith Jehovah. Therefore, behold, I shall gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again."

Note that Huldah does not even mention any query about the authenticity of that discovery, simply because no question about that was necessary. It was at once recognized for what it was, namely, either the original Book of the Covenant (the Torah, called also the Pentateuch) which had been placed beside the ark of God upon the command of Moses, or an authentic copy of the same replacing it. What Huldah did was to answer the king's inquiry about whether the terrible curses and penalties were due for an immediate fulfillment or not. The key part of her reply was that the penalties would not be executed during Josiah's lifetime.

"She dwelt in Jerusalem, in the second quarter" (2 Kings 22:14). "Second quarter in this place is literally, the lower city."[28]

"Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace" (2 Kings 22:20). Of course, Josiah died in battle, and that fact gives the critics a cue to allege "contradiction," or "multiple sources," or "a later editor."[29] Keil gave the true explanation. "The expression `slept with his fathers,' while usually applicable to a peaceful death, was also applied to a violent death by being slain in battle."[30] In mercy, the life of Josiah ended without his living to see the devastation and destruction of his beloved city and its people, and that, of course, was the full and adequate fulfillment of the words of the prophetess. "Thus Josiah was taken away from the evil to come and died `in peace' (as regarded Jerusalem) prior to the attack,"[31] of the destroying army.

We have devoted much more space to our discussion of this chapter than some might consider necessary, but this very chapter is the tap-root of the most destructive criticism of the Bible which Satan ever launched. Right here is where they digged up the Piltdown Man of modern criticism (See the encyclopaedia), and we felt that it was necessary to expose and denounce the Great Fraud for what it most certainly is!