Hilkiah (High Priest)
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Hilkiah was high priest in Jerusalem during the reign of King Josiah. While the temple was being repaired in Josiah's eighteenth year, he found 'the book of the law in the house of the LORD' and gave it to Shaphan the scribe, who read it to the king. Josiah tore his clothes at what he heard and sent Hilkiah with other officials to ask the prophetess Huldah what the LORD would do. Hilkiah then led the priests in carrying out of the temple all the vessels made for Baal, for the grove, and for the host of heaven, as Josiah's reform swept the land. The genealogies list him as an ancestor of Ezra the scribe.
Biography
- Occupation
- High Priest
- Tribe
- Levi
- Children
- Azariah
- Era
- Divided Kingdom
- Nationality
- Israelite (Judah)
Family
Did You Know?
The book was found during repairs paid for with silver collected at the temple door, and the workers were trusted so fully that 'there was no reckoning made with them of the money' (2 Kings 22:7).
He should not be confused with Hilkiah the father of Jeremiah, one of 'the priests that were in Anathoth' (Jeremiah 1:1); Scripture never identifies the two.
Hilkiah appears in the high-priestly line of 1 Chronicles 6:13, and Ezra 7:1 traces Ezra the scribe's descent through 'Azariah, the son of Hilkiah.'
Key Chapters
Key Passages
Sent to Hilkiah
2 Kings 22:3-7
Faithful stewardship of the temple repairs sets the scene; the workers were so trusted that no accounting was asked of them.
3nd it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,
I Have Found the Book of the Law
2 Kings 22:8-10
A forgotten scroll recovered in the house of God becomes the spark of national repentance.
8nd Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
Enquiring of Huldah
2 Kings 22:12-14
The high priest goes to a prophetess for the word of the LORD, recognizing that the recovered Scripture demanded a response.
12nd the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king’s, saying,
Clearing the Temple
2 Kings 23:4
Hilkiah leads the priests in removing every trace of idolatry from the temple, turning conviction into action.
4nd the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
The Chronicler's Account
2 Chronicles 34:14-15
Chronicles calls it 'a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses,' stressing the authority of what Hilkiah found.
14nd when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses.
