TEACHING THE STORY: Sherrie Johnson, “The Boy King,� Friend, Apr. 1986, 48, contains a simplified retelling of this story that could be used in a variety of ways:
–Give each child a copy of the retelling and have them write the verse numbers next to the sentence that describes the verse. This would be a good activity to do with a partner.
–Cut one copy of the story into paragraphs and pass around the papers. Have the students find the verses described on their paper and be prepared to read and explain them to the class.
–Give each child (or: each set of partners) an envelope with the story in it cut into paragraphs and have them arrange the strips in the correct order.
VISUAL AIDS: “Josiah—Believer in the Scriptures,� Friend, Feb. 1998, 10, contains pictures that you could use in a variety of ways (flannel board, coloring page, puppets on sticks, etc.) to tell the story. You can include Huldah by using the woman from “Scripture Figure,� Friend, May 1986, 43, or the figure of Esther from “Esther Saves Her People,� Friend, Sept. 1998, 39.
REIVEW GAME: Write the name JOSIAH, HULDAH, or EZRA on the board vertically. Throw a soft ball to one of your students and ask them to describe the person whose name is on the board with a word that begins with the first letter of his or her name. (For example, for Huldah you would need an ‘h’ word such as heroic, humble, etc.) Tell them that they will only have 15 seconds to think of a word; you may want to assign one of your students to be a timekeeper. If they think of a word, they can write it on the board. Then, repeat the process with a word beginning with the second letter of the name.
HIDDEN TREASURE ACTIVITY: Bring a large jar filled with rice, stones, beans, etc. Before class, hide strips of paper with the reference to ten of your favorite scriptures on them. Give each class member a chance to feel around in the jar (no peeking!) until they find a verse and then have them read it. Then, explain why that verse is one of your favorites. End this activity by telling your class that just as Josiah had to work a little bit to get to the scriptures and just as they had to hunt a little to find the scriptures in the jar, we usually have to put in some effort to study, ponder, and pray about the scriptures, but we will be blessed when we do so.
Huldah! Good for you! I’ll bet she wasn’t in the lesson manual—and juxtaposing her with Ezra—what a kick. I champion Huldah at every possible opportunity. After I have given my Huldah spiel I finish with “remember 2Kings 22�. I hope, expect, all those 2-s make her easier to find.
You may be too young to know this, but in the pre 1979 edition of LDS scriptures Huldah was in the Bible dictionary. (Maybe being part of the computer generation you didn’t know she isn’t in there now.) In the late 70s (and before anyone was thinking of the possibility of computer search engines) somebody or somebodies took it on themselves to remove Huldah and virtually every other reference to prophetesses from our current Bible dictionary. For example, Huldah simply disappeared (she used to be between “house� and “Hur�) and Deborah became “a famous woman� (check it out). All my life I have heard about those “wicked� people who altered scriptural text to say what they wanted it to say. Well, we did not alter the scriptural text, but we did deliberately make some things very difficult to find, which certainly seems in the same spirit as the wicked text alterers. But, ah—now there is the “Revenge of the Computer Search� and every prophetess now appears with the click of a key!