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Unto Huldah the prophetess; for we read of women prophetesses, both in the Old and New Testament; as Miriam, Exo_15:20, Deborah, Jud_4:4, Hannah, 1Sa 2, Elisabeth, and the blessed Virgin, Lu 1, and Philip’s daughters, Act_21:9.
Quest. But why did he send to this woman, and not rather to Zephaniah, or Jeremiah, who were prophets in Josiah’s days?
Answ. Either, first, Because the king’s earnest affection in this business required great haste; and she was in Jerusalem, which is therefore noted in the following part of the verse, when Jeremiah might at this time be at Anathoth, or in some more remote part of the kingdom; and the like may be said of Zephaniah, who also might not be a prophet at this time, though he was afterward, in the days of Josiah, which is all that is affirmed of him, Zep_1:1. Or,
2. Because the king or his courtiers had longer and greater experience of the eminency of her prophetical gifts than of Jeremiah’s, who began not to prophesy till the thirteenth year of Josiah, Jer_1:2; and being well assured of her fidelity in delivering the mind and counsel of God to those that inquired of her, they rightly concluded that it was much more considerable what message God sent, than by whom it was conveyed to them. In the college; where the sons of the prophets, or others who devoted themselves to the study of God’s word, used to meet and discourse of the things of God, and receive the instructions of their teachers. Others both ancient and modern render it, in another or the second part, to wit, of the city, i.e. in the suburbs, which also were fortified and walled about by Hezekiah, 2Ch_32:5.