Huldah
Biblical, reputedly flourished circa 620 B.C.E., Jerusalem
Huldah, a school teacher and prophetess living in Jerusalem, was asked to deliver God’s opinion when Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, was rediscovered in the 620s B.C.E. She told Hilkiah, the high priest of the Temple of Jerusalem who had come to seek her help, that it was in fact a lost book of the law and that, if not treated accordingly, great evil would be visited upon Jerusalem and its inhabitants. As a result of her words, a ceremony was organized and King Josiah of Judah read the entire text to those assembled. The text formed the basis of the Deuteronomic Reform, which involved the destruction of pagan idols, outlying religious centers, and fertility cults and the centralization of worship in the Temple of Jerusalem.
