The Tender Heart and the Terrible Word Text: 2 Chronicles 34:22-28
Introduction: The Lost and Found Law
We live in a time much like Josiah's, though our situation is arguably worse. The book of the Law of the Lord has not simply been misplaced under a pile of rubble in the temple; it has been deliberately thrown out of the schools, the courthouses, and the town square. We have not just forgotten the words of God; we have self-consciously declared our independence from them. Our culture is not suffering from amnesia; it is suffering from rebellion. And so when the Law is rediscovered, when it is read aloud in the public square, the reaction is not the tearing of garments but the gnashing of teeth.
The story of Josiah is the story of a great and godly reformation. But it is also a story of a reformation that was, in one sense, too late. The apostasy of the nation under Manasseh and Amon had gone too deep. The rot was in the timbers. Judgment was baked in the cake. And yet, in the midst of this coming judgment, we see the stunning grace of God toward a man who took the Word of God seriously. This passage shows us the collision of two fixed realities: God's unquenchable wrath against covenant rebellion and His unswerving favor toward genuine humility and repentance.
Josiah hears the words of the Law and he does not make excuses. He does not hire a committee of scholars to explain how the text doesn't really mean what it says. He does not blame his wicked grandfather Manasseh. He tears his clothes. He recognizes the corporate guilt of his people and he identifies himself with it. He is a true king, a true federal head. And his first instinct is not to manage the political fallout, but to inquire of the Lord. He wants to know what God has to say about the matter. This is the mark of a man of God. He wants to hear the rest of the Word, even if it is a terrible word.
And so he sends his highest officials, not to the established male prophets like Jeremiah or Zephaniah, who were likely ministering elsewhere, but to a prophetess named Huldah. God is not a respecter of persons, and His word is not constrained by our expectations. He will speak through whomever He pleases. And the word Huldah gives is a two-edged sword. It is a word of unalterable judgment for the nation and a word of unmerited mercy for the king.
The Text
So Hilkiah and those whom the king had told went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her regarding this. 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 curses written in the book which they have read in the presence of the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore My wrath will be poured out against this place, and it shall not be quenched.” ’ 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 God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares Yahweh. “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 and on its inhabitants.” ’ ” So they brought back word to the king.
(2 Chronicles 34:22-28 LSB)
The Unflinching Prophetess (vv. 22-23)
We begin with the delegation to Huldah.
"So Hilkiah and those whom the king had told went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her regarding this. And she said to them, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Say to the man who sent you to Me...'" (2 Chronicles 34:22-23)
The king's men, including the high priest, go to a woman for the word of the Lord. This is a rebuke to all forms of chauvinism. God anoints whom He will anoint. Huldah is identified by her husband's name and occupation, he was the keeper of the wardrobe, likely the royal or temple vestments. She lived in the Second Quarter, a part of Jerusalem. These are mundane details, grounding this supernatural event in real history. God’s word comes into the real world, into specific neighborhoods, to specific people.
But notice the authority with which she speaks. She does not offer her opinion. She does not give them her best guess. She says, "Thus says Yahweh." This is the prophetic formula. She is a messenger, a mouthpiece. And her first words are startlingly blunt. She does not say, "Tell his majesty the king." She says, "Say to the man who sent you to Me." This is not disrespect. This is the leveling effect of the law of God. Before the holy Yahweh, all men, even kings, are just men. They stand on the same ground. Huldah fears God, not the king, and so she can serve the king faithfully by telling him the unvarnished truth.
The Unquenchable Wrath (vv. 24-25)
Huldah then delivers the first part of the message, the word of judgment against Judah.
"...thus says Yahweh, 'Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the curses written in the book which they have read in the presence of the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore My wrath will be poured out against this place, and it shall not be quenched.'" (2 Chronicles 34:24-25 LSB)
God's message is direct. The "evil" He is bringing is not some arbitrary disaster; it is specifically "all the curses written in the book." This is covenantal judgment. God is not making this up as He goes. He is simply doing what He promised He would do in Deuteronomy 28. The curses for covenant breaking are just as certain as the blessings for covenant keeping. God is faithful to His threats as well as to His promises. The judgment is not random; it is textual. It is the direct consequence of violating the contract they had signed in the blood of sacrifices.
The reason for this judgment is stated plainly: "Because they have forsaken Me." This is the root of all sin. It is apostasy. They abandoned the fountain of living waters and hewed out for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. And what did this forsakenness look like? They "burned incense to other gods." This is idolatry, which the Bible treats as spiritual adultery. They have given the affection and allegiance that belongs to their divine Husband to cheap, man-made idols. The phrase "the works of their hands" is a double indictment. They are worshipping idols that are the work of their own hands, and they are provoking God to anger with the wicked works of their hands. Their worship was corrupt, and so their ethics were corrupt.
Therefore, God says, "My wrath will be poured out... and it shall not be quenched." This is a terrifying image. It is not a trickle of displeasure. It is a deluge of holy fury. And it is unquenchable. This means that no amount of human effort, no last-minute reform, no desperate sacrifices could turn it back. The sentence was passed. The die was cast. The momentum of generations of sin had reached a tipping point. This is a sobering reality. There is a point of no return for nations. A nation can sin away its day of grace. This is the word for Judah, and it is a warning for us.
The Tender Heart (vv. 26-27)
But the message turns. Having addressed the nation, God now addresses the king personally.
"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 God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you," declares Yahweh." (2 Chronicles 34:26-27 LSB)
Here is the glorious pivot of grace. The national destiny is fixed, but the individual's standing before God is not. God's promise to Josiah is based on Josiah's response to the Word. God says, "because your heart was soft." The Hebrew word is rak, meaning tender or soft. This is the opposite of the hard heart of Pharaoh or the stiff neck of rebellious Israel. A soft heart is a responsive heart. It is a heart that is receptive to the conviction of God's Word. It is not calloused by pride or cynicism. When the hammer of the Law struck, Josiah's heart broke, it did not shatter into defiant pieces.
This soft heart led to genuine humility. "You humbled yourself before God." Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. It is seeing yourself in the proper relation to a holy God. Josiah did not argue with the text. He did not rationalize his sin. He submitted to the verdict. And this internal attitude had an external expression: he "tore your clothes and wept before Me." This was not performative grief. This was the outward sign of a broken heart. Tearing the garments was a visceral expression of anguish and repentance. God sees the heart, but He also sees the actions that flow from the heart. True repentance is a full-bodied affair.
And God's response to this is beautiful. "I truly have heard you." God's ear is inclined to the cry of the humble. He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Josiah inquired of the Lord, and the Lord heard him. This is the essence of a covenant relationship. It is communication. It is a back-and-forth. Josiah spoke to God in repentance, and God spoke back to him in mercy.
The Terrible Mercy (v. 28)
The final verse contains God's specific promise to the repentant king.
"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 and on its inhabitants." (2 Chronicles 34:28 LSB)
This is a terrible mercy. The mercy is that Josiah will be spared the sight of the destruction of his city and people. The terror is that the destruction is still coming. God promises to "gather you to your fathers." This is a common Old Testament euphemism for death, but it implies more than just burial. It speaks of joining the righteous dead in Sheol, awaiting the resurrection. It is a statement of his personal salvation.
He will be "gathered to your grave in peace." Now, we know from the end of his story that Josiah dies in battle against Pharaoh Neco (2 Chron. 35:20-24). So in what sense did he die "in peace"? This cannot mean a quiet death in his bed. The "peace" here is covenantal peace. It means he died at peace with God before the covenant curses fell on the nation. He died before the siege of Jerusalem, before the starvation, before the cannibalism, before the burning of the temple, before the mass deportation to Babylon. His death in battle, though tragic, was a merciful deliverance from witnessing the full outpouring of God's unquenchable wrath. God graciously took him home before the house fell down.
This promise does not remove the consequences of national sin, but it shelters the righteous individual from the experience of that judgment. God knows how to deliver the godly from trials (2 Peter 2:9). The judgment on Judah was not delayed. But Josiah's experience of it was preempted by his death. He saw the storm clouds gathering, but God took him into the ark before the floodgates opened.
Conclusion: Soft Hearts in Hard Times
What are we to do with such a passage? We live in a nation that has, for generations, forsaken the Lord and burned incense to the gods of secularism, materialism, and sexual revolution. The curses written in the book are not just for ancient Israel; the principles of God's justice are universal. When a nation mocks God, it will eventually be broken. We can see the cracks forming in our own foundations. The wrath of God is not a popular topic, but it is a biblical one, and it is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18).
The message of Huldah is therefore a message for us. The judgment on our land may very well be unquenchable. We may be past the point of no return. But the promise to Josiah is also for us. God is still looking for those with soft hearts. He is looking for men and women who, when they hear the words of the Law, will humble themselves, tear their robes in repentance, and weep before Him.
Your personal repentance cannot turn back the tide of national judgment. But it can secure your personal peace with God. God can gather you to your fathers in peace, even if the world around you is collapsing into chaos. Our calling is not to despair because the nation is under judgment, but to repent because the King is merciful.
The ultimate expression of this principle is at the cross. The unquenchable wrath of God against all our sin was poured out upon Jesus Christ. He did not see the evil in peace; He drank the cup of wrath to its dregs so that we could be gathered to our graves in peace. Because His heart was crushed, our hearts can be made soft. Because He humbled Himself to the point of death, we can be exalted. Because He wept in the garden, we can be heard by the Father. The story of Josiah points us to the greater Josiah, Jesus Christ, the king who not only repents with his people but bears the curse for his people. Our only hope, in a world awaiting judgment, is to be found in Him.