The account in 2 Kings 22 recounts the consulting of Huldah as follows: After authenticating the book and prophesying a future of destruction for failure to follow it, Huldah concludes by reassuring King Josiah that due to his piety, God has heard his prayer and "thou shalt be gathered unto thy grave in peace, neither shall thy eyes see all the evil which I shall bring upon this place". Huldah's prophetic oracle identifies the words the King of Judah heard with what Yahweh had spoken. According to William E. Phipps, Huldah is the first person to declare certain writings to be Holy Scripture. Huldah appears in the Hebrew Bible only in nine verses,,. This short narrative is sufficient to make clear that Huldah was regarded as a prophet accustomed to speaking the word of God directly to high priests and royal officials, to whom high officials came in supplication, who told kings and nations of their fates, who had the authority to determine what was and was not the genuine Law, and who spoke in a manner of stern command when acting as a prophet. Nonetheless the Bible does not offer the sort of background information it typically does with other pivotal prophets. Indeed, we are left knowing more about her husband's background than we know of hers, and the little information we know of her personally is largely in relation to her husband.
In rabbinic literature
According to Rabbinic interpretation, Huldah said to the messengers of King Josiah, "Tell the man that sent you to me...", indicating by her unceremonious language that as far as she was concerned, Josiah was like any other man. The king addressed her, and not Jeremiah, because he believed that women are more easily stirred to pity than men, and that therefore she would be more likely than would Jeremiah to intercede with God on his behalf. Huldah was a relative of Jeremiah, both being descendants of Rahab by her marriage with Joshua. While Jeremiah admonished and preached repentance to the men, Huldah did the same to the women. Huldah was not only a prophet, but taught publicly in the school, according to some teaching especially the oral doctrine.
Burial site
Two conflicting traditions exist regarding the final resting place of Huldah. The Tosefta records Huldah's burial site as between the walls in Jerusalem. During the Middle Ages a second tradition developed identifying Huldah's burial site with a cave carved out of the rock beneath a mosque on Mount of Olives. The cave is considered holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
