In 622 BCE King Josiah of Judah ordered Hilkiah, the High Priest, to restore and refurbish the neglected Temple. So under the direction and watchful eye of Hilkiah, carpenters and masons set about repairing this most holy site. 

When payday arrived for the workmen, King Josiah sent his secretary, Shaphen, to pay them. Upon his arrival, Shaphen found Hilkiah eager to show him a dusty scroll that had been uncovered during the repairs. Hilkiah had realized the scroll contained laws, but couldn’t have imagined the significance of what he had handed over. 

When Shaphen returned to the royal palace with this unusual discovery, King Josiah had the scroll read to him. To his dismay, many of the instructions contained in the laws were in direct opposition to the prevailing practices of his kingdom. Although he was impressed by what was read to him, Josiah needed more proof of its divine authority. Only if the scroll contained an authentic revelation from God did Josiah feel he would be successful in introducing sweeping reforms for the kingdom of Judah. 

As all good leaders do, Josiah sought council on such a serious question — commissioning his top officers to ascertain whether the scroll was authoritative or not. But the men Josiah had commissioned soon realized it would take the skills of a prophet to best discern if the scroll contained the authentic word of God. 

Now in those days it was not as difficult to find a prophet as it would be today. According to Biblical scholars there were three well-known prophets living nearby at the time: Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and Nahum. In fact, these prophets had already been assisting Josiah in his attempts to return the kingdom to the traditions of the Israelite religion. Knowing this makes what happened next all the more surprising. 

Despite the nearness of the able male prophets, the delegation of royal officers chose not to use them and turned, instead, to Huldah, the prophetess. This is startling since Jeremiah was the most outstanding prophet of his time and was already a close confidant of King Josiah. But the Biblical story (Second Kings 22 &23) in no way suggests that there is anything unusual about a male high priest and a male secretary of state seeking divine revelation from a woman. 

Later Rabbinic teachings point out two important things: That Huldah had credentials of merit (she conducted an academy in Jerusalem); and that the men who sought her council felt a woman would be more compassionate and more likely to report a positive message from God. These pieces of information were likely included so that later readers would not question the resulting ruling on the authenticity of the scroll.  

What Huldah declared to be holy and of extraordinary importance is, as scholars now agree, the core of the book of Deuteronomy — the fifth book of the Torah. 

At any rate, Huldah did a momentous thing that day in 622 BCE. Until then no writing had been designated as holy scripture. Manuscripts had been accumulating since the rise of literacy, but none had been singled out as holy until Huldah declared this first piece and in so doing began a process that, after eight centuries, would result in the gathering of dozens of scrolls into what we now call the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible). 

The canonization of the Tanakh at the Synod of Yavneh in 100 CE was the culmination of more than a half millennium of serious effort. So often little is said of how the Tanakh came to be and more importantly came to be recognized as holy. For certain, the prophetess Huldah should now be granted her rightful place in the history of Judaism, but perhaps more importantly she should be granted her rightful place in the eyes of our daughters and our sons; they should see the important role she played in creating our holy scriptures by being the first to recognize them as the word of God. May her memory be for a blessing.

Rabbi Bernard Solomon Raskas is Rabbi Laureate of Temple of Aaron Synagogue in Saint Paul, Minnesota and a Distinguished Professor in Religious Studies at Macalester College.

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