Commentary - 2 Kings 22:14-20

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, we see the collision of God's settled covenant wrath and His tender personal mercy. After the rediscovery of the Book of the Law, a terrified King Josiah sends a high level delegation to inquire of the Lord. They are directed to Huldah the prophetess, who delivers a two-part message directly from Yahweh. The first part is a word of unquenchable judgment against Judah for their generations of high-handed idolatry; the covenant curses, long-delayed, are now coming due. The second part is a word of personal comfort for Josiah. Because of his genuine, heartfelt repentance, God promises to gather him to his grave in peace, sparing him from witnessing the coming national catastrophe. This text starkly contrasts the corporate destiny of a rebellious nation with the individual hope of a penitent king, showcasing both the severity and the kindness of God.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her.

When the king is shaken to his core by the words of the law, he doesn't send an intern. He sends his top men, the priest and his most trusted officials. This is a matter of state, a matter of life and death. And where do they go? Not to Jeremiah, not to Zephaniah, though they were ministering at the time. God, in His inscrutable sovereignty, directs this high-powered delegation to Huldah. The text makes a point of telling us who she is, and who she isn't. She is a prophetess, full stop. Her authority comes from her office, given by God, not from her gender. She is also a wife. Her husband has a perfectly respectable but unremarkable job as "keeper of the wardrobe." She lives in the Second Quarter, a part of the city, not in some lofty palace office. God raises up His messengers from wherever He pleases, and when He gives them a word to speak, their station in life is entirely secondary. The authority is in the "Thus says Yahweh," not in the resume of the speaker.

v. 15-16 And she said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Say to the man who sent you to me, thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read.” ’ ”

Huldah does not mince words. She begins with the ultimate authority: "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel." She is a conduit. The message is for "the man who sent you," a formal and somewhat distancing title for the king. And the message is grim. God is "bringing evil." We must be clear here. This is not arbitrary cosmic spite. The "evil" is the covenant curse. It is the just and holy penalty for covenant rebellion that God had spelled out in excruciating detail centuries before in the very book that had just been read to Josiah. God is a covenant-keeper, which means He keeps His promises of blessing for obedience and His promises of cursing for disobedience. Judah had been running up a sinful tab for generations, and the bill was now coming due. The judgment would be comprehensive, affecting both the "place" and its "inhabitants," and it would correspond exactly to "all the words of the book." God does what He says He will do.

v. 17 “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 is set aflame against this place, and it shall not be quenched.”

Here is the charge sheet. The reason for the judgment is not complicated. It is idolatry, which the Bible treats as spiritual adultery. They have "forsaken Me." This is the heart of it, a personal betrayal of their covenant Lord. This betrayal was expressed in tangible acts of worship directed at false gods, burning incense to them. And notice the source of these idols: "all the work of their hands." They were worshipping things they themselves had made, an ultimate act of foolishness and rebellion against the unmade Creator. The result is God's wrath, described as a fire that "is set aflame" and "shall not be quenched." This is a settled, determined, irreversible judgment. The time for national repentance has passed. The fire has been lit, and it will burn until it has consumed its fuel. This is a terrifying reality, but it is the necessary response of a holy God to persistent, high-handed sin.

v. 18-19 “But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of Yahweh thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “Regarding the words which you have heard, because your heart was soft and you humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become an object of horror, and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares Yahweh.’ ”

Now the message pivots. After the word of corporate doom comes a word of personal grace. God addresses Josiah directly. And God gives the reason for this grace. It was Josiah's reaction to the reading of the law. Here we have a textbook definition of genuine repentance. First, his heart was "soft." It wasn't calloused or cynical; it was receptive to the hard word of God. Second, he "humbled" himself before God. He didn't make excuses or try to shift blame. He accepted the verdict. Third, his inner contrition was matched by outward signs of grief: he "tore" his clothes and "wept." This was not for show. This was a man broken by the realization of his people's sin and God's righteous anger. And what is God's response to this kind of brokenness? "I truly have heard you." God sees and responds to the tenderhearted. While the nation as a whole was hard-hearted and headed for judgment, the king's personal repentance was seen, heard, and honored by God.

v. 20 “Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace, so your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place.” ’ ” So they brought back word to the king.

Because God heard his cry, He makes a promise. This is the "therefore" of grace. Josiah will be spared the sight of the coming judgment. He will be gathered to his grave "in peace." Now, we know from the subsequent history that Josiah dies in battle against Pharaoh Necho, which doesn't sound very peaceful. But the peace spoken of here is covenantal peace. He will die at peace with God. He will be spared the horror of seeing the city he loved besieged, starved, burned, and its people slaughtered or dragged into exile. His death, while violent from a human perspective, is an act of divine mercy, a shelter from the coming storm. God's promise is not that Josiah will avoid physical death, but that he will be graciously delivered from witnessing the fullness of the covenant wrath he now knew was coming. The delegation then returns to the king with this heavy, two-sided word: national doom, but personal deliverance.

Key Issues

Application

We live in a nation, and a broader Western world, that has for generations forsaken the Lord and burned incense to other gods, the works of our own hands, whether they be gods of materialism, sexual revolution, or autonomous self. The words of this passage should fall on us with great weight. The wrath of God against such things is not quenched, and we have no basis for assuming that our nations are exempt from the principle of covenantal consequences.

The church is called to be a prophetic voice like Huldah, speaking the hard truths of God's law and the coming judgment for sin, without flinching. We cannot offer cheap grace or say "Peace, peace" when there is no peace. The word of God is a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces, and we must wield it faithfully.

At the same time, the story of Josiah is a beacon of gospel hope. No matter how far a culture has fallen, the individual heart can still be soft before God. When we hear the words of the law and see our own sin and the sin of our people, the proper response is to tear our garments, to weep, to humble ourselves. And when we do, we find a God who hears. For us, this repentance leads us to the foot of the cross, where the Lord Jesus Christ absorbed the full, unquenchable wrath of God for us. He is our Josiah, the truly righteous king, and through His death, we are gathered into peace with God, spared from the ultimate judgment our sins deserve.