The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 389

'I' .•rnor of ,T udlll& on Nebuchadnezzar's final were Jeremiah, whose m1ss1on had oom- eonquest (Jer. xxxix. H; xl. 7). "Shaphan," menccdin Josiah's thirteenth yeo.r (Jer. i. 2). his father, is no doubt" Sbapban the scribe." and Zephanie.h, the son of Cushi, who,ie And Aohbor the son of Miohaiah. The paral- prophecy appears by interne.l evidence. to lel passage of Chronicles (2 Chron. x.xxiv. have belonged to the earliest part of J oshh's 20):bas "Abdon the son of Micah," which reign (Pusey, 'Minor Prophets,' p. 438). It is probably a corrupt reading. Achbor was might have been expected that the matter the father of El-natban, one of the" princes would have been laid before one of these of Judah" (Jer. xxxvi. 12) in Jehoiakim's two persons. Possibly, however, neither of reign. And Shapha.n the scribe, and Asa- them was nt Jerusalem. Jereminh's eo.rly hiah a aerva.nt of the king's-or Awiak, as home was Anathoth, and Zephanio.h may the name is given in Chronicles, l. 8. o.- have finished his course before Josiah'& saying, eighteenth year (see Pusey, l. s. c.). Hul- Ver. 13.-Go ye, inquire of the Lord for dah may thus have been the only possessor me. Inquiry of the Lord, which from the of the prophetic gift who wo.s accessible. time of Moses to that of David was ordi- The son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; narily "by Urim e.nd Thnmmim," was after literally, keeper of the garments (comp. eh. Dand's time always made by the consul- x. 22). In Chronicles the name of the tation of a prophet (see l Kings xxiL 5-8; keeper is given os "Hasrah." Now she eh. iii. 11; viii. 8; Jer. xxL 2; xx.xvii. 7: dwelt at J"erusalem in the college-mther, Ezck. xiv. 7; xx. 1, etc.). The officers, in the lower city (comp. Zeph. i. 10 and Neh. tuerefore, understood the king to mean that xi. 9; literally, in each place, "the second they were to seek out a prophet (see ver. 14), city ")-and they communed with her; lite- and so make the inquiry. And for the rally, spoke witk l1er; l>..d.>..11cr1111 ..-pbs rib.-1111, people, and for all Judah-the threats read in LXX. tLe king's ears were probably those of Deut. xxviii. 15-68 or Lev. xui. 16-39, which Vera. 15-20.-The prophecy of Huldak. extended to the whole people---0onceruing The word of the Lord comes to Hulde.h the words of this book that is found. Not with the arrive.I of the messengers, or per- "whether they are authentic, whether they are really the words of Moses" (Duncker), haps previous to it, e.ud she is e.t once ready for of that Josiah appears to have had no with her reply. It divides itself into two doubt; but whether they a.re words that a.re parts. In vers. 15-17 the inquiry made is to have e.n immediate fulfilment. "whether," a.nswered-e.nswered affirmatively, "Yes, the as Von Gerlach says," the mee.snre of sin fiat is gone forth; it is too late to avert the is already full, or whether there is yet hope of grace?" (compare Huldab's answer in sentence; the anger of the Lord is kin,lled, vers. 16-20, which shows what she under- and Bk all not be quenched." After this, i 11 stood the king's inquiry to be). For great vers. 18-20, e. special message is sent to the is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled king, granting him e.n arrest of judgment, against us. Josiah recognized that Judah on account of his self-humiliation e.nd a.base- had done, e.nd we.s still doing, exactly those ment. "Been.use his bee.rt was tender, and things age.inst which the tbreatenings of the Law were directed-had foraa.ken Jehovah, he had humbled himself before Jehovah, the and gone after other gods, and made to them- evil should not happen in his day." selves high places, e.nd stot up images, and done after the customs of the nations whom Ver. 15.-And she eaid unto them, Thus the Lord ho.d cast out before them. He aaith the Lord God of J;sre.el. Huldah is could not, therefore, doubt bnt that the the only exam plo of o. prophetess in Israel, wrath of the Lord "was kindled; " but who seems to rank on the so.me footing would it blaze forth at once? Beoe.uae our with the prophets. Miriam (Exod. xv. 20), fathers have not hearkened unto the words Deborah (Judg. iv. 4), Isaiah's wife (Isa.. of this book, to cio according unto all that viii. 2), and Anne. (Luke ii. 36) a.re called which is written oonoeruing us. Josiah as- "prophetesses," but in a secondary sense, sumes that their fathers Lave had the book, e.s holy women, having a certain gift of song and might have known its words, either or prediction from God. Hulduh bas the because be conceives that it bad not been full prophetic afflatus, and deliver's God's very long lost, or because he regards them oracles, just as Isaiah and Jeremiah do. B,B having possessed other copies. The case ill e. rcmarknble exception to the Ver. 14.-So Bilki.a.h the priest, and Ahi- general rule that women should "keep ke.m, a.nd Aohbor, a.nd Bhaphan, a.nd Aea- silence in the Churches." Tell the me.n hiah, went unto B:ulda.h the propheteas, the that eent yon to me. The contrast between wife of Bhallum the 10n of Tikvah. The this unceremonious phrase e.nd that used in principal prophets at or very nee.r the time ver. 18 is best explained by Thenius, who on, XXII, 1-20.] THE SECOND BOOK OF 'l'HE KINGS. 439