Prophetess Huldah

Huldah was a prophetess living in the Mishneh, the "Second Quarter" of Jerusalem, and the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, keeper of the royal wardrobe. In −622, when a Torah scroll was found during Temple repairs, King Josiah sent the high priest Hilkiah, the scribe Shaphan and three other officials to consult her. She confirmed the book's words: the disasters written in it would fall on Jerusalem for its idolatry, but because Josiah's heart was tender and he had humbled himself, he would be "gathered to his grave in peace" and not see the catastrophe (2 Kings 22:14–20; 2 Chronicles 34).

Her oracle set off Josiah's sweeping reform. The Talmud (Megillah 14b) counts her among the seven prophetesses of Israel, with Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail and Esther, and suggests that the king turned to her rather than to Jeremiah because women are more compassionate. The Mishnah (Middot 1:3) calls the two southern gates of the Temple Mount the Huldah Gates; their blocked outlines can still be seen in the southern wall, and tradition places her tomb on the Mount of Olives.