The Prophet Huldah: A Woman of Few Words - Research Paper Example

?(Add (Add (Add Information) (Add The Prophet Huldah: A Woman of Few Words Introduction A look into the Hebrew religion reveals that there were five women who possessed the title of prophetesses in total. They were Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Noadiah, and Isaih’s wife. A look into the Hebrew history proves that the female prophets were in no way different from the male prophets of that time. They too were respected as the mouthpiece of the sender. They spoke on behalf of the sender (Exodus 7:1-2) and foresaw the future (1Samuel 9:9). In addition, marital status of the prophetesses was not a consideration. To illustrate, Deborah, Huldah, and Isaih’s wife were married whereas, the marital status of Miriam and Noadiah was not specified. Out of them, the prophetess under consideration in this work is Huldah. Her name is mentioned only in two places: that is, 2 Kings 22:14-20 and 2 Chronicles 34:22-28. From the records, she was a contemporary of powerful prophets like Jeremiah and Zephaniah. 2 Kings 22 shows Josiah becoming the king of Judah at the age of eight years. Though he was a righteous ruler from the very beginning, as time passed, he forgot God. However, he tried to reform the nation by repairing the temple of the Lord. As the renovations were taking place, the high priest found a new set of scriptures known as the Book of the Law. The book revealed that curses would fall down on the nation as it was full of evil. When the message was revealed, the King became frightened and sent his leaders to seek a way out of the judgment. So, his five officials including the high priest went to prophetess Huldah to seek her advice. She prophesied that the curse would indeed fall down; but showed mercy to the king by declaring that the curse would not materialize until the king died. Though she appeared only for a very short while, she set a strong case for the consideration of research into the role of women and women prophetesses in the Hebrew religion. There are certain interesting factors which can be explored when the prophecy of Huldah is taken into consideration. The first one is that though she was a contemporary of powerful prophets like Jeremiah, yet the king chose to seek her advice instead of going to other prophets. Secondly, her role as a prophet can be set as the parameter to assess how the period thereafter dealt with women and women prophetesses. Why did the king consult Huldah? It is known that Jeremiah was Huldah’s cousin and he used to prophesy in the marketplace. Still, instead of consulting Jeremiah, the king came to Huldah. According to Neiman, one evident reason is that at that time, Jeremiah was abroad. As Jeremiah was away working among Jewish Tribes, the king was in need of another prophet. Also, Megillah (14b) reveals that Jeremiah never considered Huldah as a threat to his own prophetic status. Though these are sufficient grounds to see that it was not possible to consult Jeremiah at that point of time, the question remains as to why Zephaniah was not consulted. In order to answer this question one has to develop a complicated answer. In the words of Rachel Niemen, the answer lies in Talmud which states that “women are more compassionate than men.” Admittedly, prophets are just spokespersons of God. So, they would just declare God’s message word-for-word. If the scriptures revealed curse, then so should the prophets. So, presumably, the king was trying to get the element of compassion that only women prophets possessed, thereby getting benefit for the degree of humility he exhibited. The prophetess declared that the king would not see the punishment in his lifetime. Another possible reason, as put forward by Bronner is that Josiah consulted a female prophet because of ‘the influence of his godly mother, Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah’(88). The special role of women - the lessons from Huldah and other prominent women Despite all these controversies surrounding the consultation, there is the realization that during difficult times women have certain power and special qualities that give them importance. To illustrate, Josiah was told that for his humility he would not be made to witness the punishment. Here, one sees a perfect combination of prophesy and motherhood. While declaring in clear terms that the nation would be punished, she also finds a way to offer comfort to the king by declaring that he would be in peace. In the opinion of Rachel Nieman, it is Huldah’s tone of mercy in the delivery of God’s message that makes her different from the male prophets; “her prophecy contained a feminine tone of nurturing, sensitivity and compassion”. In other words, even at that time of difficulty, she manages to give the king enough encouragement and hope that he needs to remove idolatry from the Temple. It was the way of her prophecy that inspired the king and the whole nation to repent. At this point, it seems beneficial to look into the powerful role played by women’s speech in Judaism. According to Talmud, “Ten measures of speech descended to the world and women took nine measures of speech.” (qtd in “Women in Judaism..”). Thus, Judaism declares that women are potential communicators when they utilize these capabilities for productive purposes. With this power of communication, females align themselves with God. To illustrate, Psalm (33) says “with ten utterances the world was created”. In addition, Torah reveals that speech has enormous value as far as it is used to ‘emulate God’s ways’. In order to understand the special privilege given to women’s speech in the ancestry, it becomes necessary to analyze the use of speech by women from the very beginning. Thus, one reaches Eve who is certainly the mother of unproductive speech. She, through her unproductive speech, made Adam fall into sin that caused hardships for mankind for times ever after. Following Eve, one reaches Sarah who forced Abraham to banish Ishmael and Hagar. Though Abraham was too reluctant to do so, God intervenes and says “Whatever Sarah tells you, heed her voice…” (Genesis 21:12) The next important figure is Miriam who led the womenfolk when God was developing the Jewish nation. When God split the Red Sea, Miriam, along with other Jewish women, praised God and sang “Sing to Hashem for He is exalted above the arrogant, having hurled horse with its rider into the sea” (Exodus 15:21). In addition to praising God, Miriam led other women in persuading their exhausted husbands to retain family relations so that they could obtain God’s help in the effort to procure Jewish continuity. Thus, Miriam always remains the reminder of the role of women in Jewish future. Also she reminds women of their organized role and relationship with God. Another important figure is Deborah. She shows how to guide people by enabling them to do self-discovery rather than through criticism. Deborah tactically introduces her husband to Torah and the Torah-saturated environment of the Temple. This contact with the temple makes her husband a scholar. Again, another female figure shows how the society can be brought to the right path in a subtle and gentle way instead of coercion, threat and criticism. In a society where everyone is crazy about achievement but not about encouraging others to improve, Deborah manages to show a way for improvement introduced through motivation. The next female prophet is Chana. She is famous for her prayer which is termed as the epitome of Jewish prayer. Understanding the fact that God is looking for productive partnership with humans and that prayer is the way to communicate with Him, she manages to get a son as she promises God that she would dedicate her son to God. Thus, Chana stands out from the Prophets for the closeness and special connection she exhibited with God. Also, she taught the Jews how to pray. Also, she showed the presence of unlimited hope and strength which is the result of a proper understanding of the connection with God. Thereafter, there is Abigail who was married to Naval; a man who won the wrath of David for not showing hospitality. Abigail, with her wisdom, manages to make David understand that as he had not received the throne from Saul, David could not kill Naval under Jewish law. Also, she requests that she may be considered responsible for the sin of insulting a ruler. In such a complex situation, she successfully manages to churn out a solution that saves the life of her husband and the spiritual integrity of David. Then, there is Huldah who shows how mercy can be motivating even during the hours of crisis. When the Torah scroll which predicted the Temple’s destruction was obtained, Josiah prefers the advice of Huldah to gain some insight into the matter. As Torah itself reveals, the king chose Huldah because women are more merciful than men. So, Huldah would better understand the anguish of the king and the people. So, she would be able to pray more fervently than any other prophet would. Thus, Huldah brought another important feature of the female figures: their ability to understand and feel for the hardships of others. Thus, in a complex amalgamation of knowledge, compassion, mercy, foresight and motivation, Huldah manages to bring out redemption and improvement even in the face of fear and destruction. Thus, again, she provides a new lesson for women in today’s world by showing how intrinsic compassion could be channeled to motivate others. Thus, as Talmud says “women are a nation unto themselves” (qtd, Women in Judaism). This, in the simplest sense, means that women are provided with a unique mission. By looking at various prophetesses, it becomes evident that each of them sets an example as to how speech could be effectively utilized to guide the society ahead through transformation, which takes place in the most subtle way. Thus, the prophetesses in the Hebrew religion set a perfect example for the women of the present to follow. Women certainly possess all these personal qualities which can be utilized for the welfare of their family and society. They have the ability to guide people to the right in an unthreatening way; and they possess compassion, which makes them feel for the suffering. Also, they have the ability to motivate others even during the most difficult hours. Hebrew religion and women prophets According to Willbanks, in the ancient Hebrew religion, prophets were those who took message from the gods to the king and the nation (3). As said by Batto, both women and men were prophets and they functioned in three different ways: a respondent, an ecstatic, or a speaker for a particular deity (120). The respondents functioned by inspecting the omens while the ecstatic delivered the message from gods to the king which they often received through nontraditional ways like dreams. Also, regarding women prophets, Batto reveals that the prophecy of women was accepted without any question of their sex or status (125). That means, in Hebrew religion, women enjoyed unrestricted prophetic roles. However, this does not show equality between genders. While there are twenty-nine male prophets, there are just four women prophets evidently mentioned as prophets in the Hebrew Bible: Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, and Noadiah. However, it also should be noted that these four women together play a more important role than their male counterparts do. To illustrate, Miriam is the first person to be titled a prophet. Also, Deborah is the only person who played the multiple roles of judge, prophet, poet and military co-leader at the same time. Then, there is Huldah who is associated with the discovery of Torah from the Temple in Jerusalem. By authorizing the text, she led to the formation of the present-day Bible. Thus, it becomes evident that despite their limited number, these women played a very important role. As Elior points out, it was thereafter that the roles of these extraordinary women were denied and denigrated by new interpretations of the Rabbinic and later Christian traditions; and these new interpretations ‘replaced the beauty of prophetesses’ spirit with the beauty of their bodies’. They even cast aspersions on their morals in order to present them in a humiliating and hostile way. The social situation and female prophets It is pointed out by Atkinson, Buchanan, and Miles that the role of women prophets could be well understood if one gives adequate attention to the social circumstances of that time; and it is also pointed out women prophets only got a chance to come into leadership when there were periods of social and political instability (19). To illustrate, Miriam and Deborah came up during the periods of either great social upheaval or non-centralized authority, and Huldah was the product of an emerging transition. The same information can be utilized to deduce that as the reform efforts by Josiah resulted in the centralization and control of worship, Huldah lost her prominence as a prophetess. Thus, she only appears for a very short period of time. One can see that after the death of Jesus, writers of the Christian canon take care to avoid calling women ‘prophets’. Instead, they are termed as women with ‘the gift of prophecy’. To illustrate, Philip had four daughters with ‘the gift of prophecy’ but little is mentioned about their prophetic deeds. Also, one can see a slave girl who had a spirit of divination which made her follow Paul and Timothy for several days. The girl cried out “these men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation” (Acts 16: 17). Soon, Paul casts the spirit out of the woman. Thereafter, Paul declares in clear terms in his writings to Romans and Corinthians that prophecy is a divine gift which should be used cautiously. Thereafter, as hierarchy solidified and criticizers were suppressed in Christianity, the presence of women prophets became a near impossibility. As Mayeski points out, by sixth century CE, prophecy was defined as the ‘gift of interpreting the Scriptures in a manner that was both pastoral and practical’. That means, evidently, prophecy was considered as a way of supporting the already solidified Christianity. This definition again marred the chances for women to become prophets as they faced a lot of limitations in acting as pastors or priests. The period thereafter witnessed the development of two ideologies towards the prophecy of women. Those factions like the Quakers accepted the spiritual equality of women. It seems that the ones which give more importance to the Holy Spirit are more open to the public speech of women even now. On the other hand, the ones which give more importance to tradition and Scriptures do not allow women to flourish in leadership positions. From the above analysis, it becomes evident that during the period before the New Testament, women enjoyed a higher position in the society than they do in the New Testament. In the former period, though the number of female prophets was less, it seems that they held very important positions. However, later on, with the centralization of worship the developers of Christian canon made efforts to neglect the role of women. Despite all these efforts, the stories of the prophetesses in the Old Testament prove that women prophets had a very vital role to play as they were better communicators and negotiators than their male counterparts. Huldah gains an important position among the prophetesses for her ability to show sympathy and mercy in order to encourage people to change even during the hours of crisis. Works Cited Atkinson, Clarissa W., Buchanan, Constance H. & Miles, Margaret Ruth. Immaculate & Powerful: The Female in Sacred Image and Social Reality.USA: Beacon Press, 1985. Print. Bronner, Leila Leah. Stories of Biblical Mothers: Maternal Power in the Hebrew Bible. USA: University Press of America, 2004. Print. Batto, Bernard Frank. Studies on Women at Mari. USA: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974. Print. Elior, Rachel. “Female prophets in the bible and rabbinical tradition: Changing perspectives.” The Center for Cultural Judaism. (2003). Web. 18 March 2012. Mayeski, Marie Anne. “Let women not despair: Rabanus maurus on women as prophets.” Theological Studies. 56 (1997): 237-53. Web. 18 March 2012. Neiman, Rachel. “The prophetess Hulda: her message of hope.” Women in Judaism. Web. 18 March 2012. Willbanks, Nancy J. “Women’s voices/prophetic voices: women as prophets/women as other PLDT613, Feminist biblical hermeneutics. Women’s United Nation Report Network. (2005): 1-37. Web. 18 March 2012. “Women in Judaism - The Unique Potency of a Jewish Woman's Speech”. $Torah.com. Web. 18 March 2012 Read More