Hilkiah

1. A Merarite Levite, the son of Amzi.

2. A gatekeeper serving under David and a descendant of Merari.

3. Father of Eliakim, a court officer of King Hezekiah.

4. A high priest during the reign of King Josiah who discovered the Book of the Law while the Temple was being renovated.

5. A supporter of Ezra's reforms who stood next to Ezra at the time of the public reading of the Book.

6. Head of a family of priests that returned with Zerubbabel from the Babylonian Exile.

7. Father of Jeremiah the prophet.

8. Father of Gemariah, a messenger sent by King Zedekiah to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.

Concordance
HILKIAH 1: I Chr 6:45
HILKIAH 2: I Chr 26:11
HILKIAH 3: II Kgs 18:18,26, 37. Is 22:20; 36:3, 22
HILKIAH 4: II Kgs 22:4, 8,10, 12, 14; 23:4, 24. I Chr 6:13; 9:11. II Chr 34:9,14-15, 18, 20,22; 35:8. Ezra 7:1. Neh 11:11
HILKIAH 5: Neh 8:4
HILKIAH 6: Neh 12:7, 21
HILKIAH 7: Jer 1:1
HILKIAH 8: Jer 29:3

Hilkiah was a Hebrew Priest at the time of King Josiah. His name is mentioned in II Kings. He was the High Priest and is known for finding a lost copy of the Book of the law at the Temple in Jerusalem at the time that King Josiah commanded that the Holy Temple be refurbished (2 Kings 22:8). His preaching may have helped spur Josiah to return Judah to the worship of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

Hilkiah may have been the same Hilkiah who was the father of Jeremiah the prophet. As such he would have lived in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, and was the father of an influential family in the Kingdom of Judah.^[1]

The "Book of the law"

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Some^[who?] identify the rediscovered book as the Book of Deuteronomy. Some^[who?] argue that the Deuteronomic Code differs in tone and narrative style from the preceding four books of the Pentateuch while still referring to them throughout. Scrolls and books of later antiquity, particularly those of the Greco-Roman rule in Judea, were summarily discounted by Hebrew biblical redactors. Conversely this book, whose discovery is touted in 2 Kings, was therefore believed to have been of an early enough authorship to validate, not only its inclusion, but the book's ultimate placement as the 5th of the "Five Books of Moses".

References

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1. ^ It is unsure whether the Hilkiah that is the father of Jeremiah, is the same Hilkiah that is the Father of Eliakim (see 2 Kings 18:18, 18:26, 18:37; Isaiah 22:20, 36:3, 22)

Preceded by Shallum

High Priest of Israel circa 600s BC

Succeeded by Azariah IV

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