What is the context?
The delegation goes to Huldah the prophetess in Jerusalem. She gives the Lord’s answer: calamity will come on the place and its people because they have forsaken Him and served other gods.
The answer then addresses Josiah’s own response. The Lord has heard his tears and humility when he learned of the judgment. He will be gathered to his ancestors and his grave in peace, and will not see the coming calamity.
The nation’s announced judgment and the king’s sincere humbling are therefore both retained. The message does not say that his response cancels all the accumulated wrongdoing of Judah.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley understands being gathered in peace in relation to avoiding the later national disaster and to peace with God, while acknowledging that Josiah dies in battle. The final clause of Huldah’s answer specifically concerns the calamity he will not see. That connection helps explain the reading without changing the later account into a peaceful natural death.
Huldah is presented as a prophetess whose answer the royal delegation receives and reports. The text does not explain the choice by saying that every male prophet was unavailable, nor does it supply a complete rule about every later office in the church.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.
Where can I study this further?
No deeper study linked yet.