2 Kings 22:14

14. Huldah the prophetess All we know of this celebrated woman is recorded here and in the parallel history of Chronicles. Even her husband and his ancestors are mentioned nowhere else. But this short narrative has immortalized her name, and her oracle on the occasion has given her a place above many of the prophets of Judah. The loftiness of her position is enhanced by the fact that the high priest and the king’s most honourable ministers seek knowledge at her hand. In the bestowal of the Divine gift of the Spirit Jehovah is no respecter of persons or of sex, yet in the field of prophecy woman has appeared less frequently than man. Only two other women of the Old Testament bear the title of prophetess, Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, (Exodus 15:20,) and Deborah, (Judges 4:4;) but they seem not to have attained the spiritual elevation of Huldah. In the spirit of ecstasy they sang sacred songs, and aroused the people to enthusiasm after signal victories; but they did not prophesy in that loftier sphere of Divine authority which is expressed in “Thus saith Jehovah.” 2 Kings 22:15-16.

The wardrobe Either of the king or of the priests. Compare 2 Kings 10:22.

In the college This rendering seems to have been taken from the Targum of Jonathan, which reads, house of instruction, and probably originated in the supposition that Huldah had charge of a school of the prophets. The Hebrew is במשׁנה , in the Mishna, and is thus translated as a proper name in the Septuagint; but it means literally, in the second, and is so rendered in Zephaniah 1:10, where it means the second part, or a later addition to the city. Thus the word designates the section or district of Jerusalem in which Huldah lived. This quarter of the city might have been called the second for various reasons now unknown to us. Josephus ( Ant., 2 Kings 15:11 ; 2 Kings 15:5) speaks of the other city ( αλλη πολις ) as of a well-known section of Jerusalem.