Lives of Scripture

Achbor son of Micaiah was one of five officials King Josiah sent to inquire of the LORD after the Book of the Law was discovered in the temple during renovations. Alongside Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah, Achbor went to the prophetess Huldah in Jerusalem's Second Quarter to learn what the newly recovered Law meant for the nation (2 Kings 22:12-14; 2 Chronicles 34:20). Huldah's answer was sobering: judgment was indeed coming on Judah for its idolatry, but because Josiah's heart was tender and he had humbled himself before the LORD, he personally would be gathered to his grave in peace before the disaster fell (22:15-20). Achbor is not recorded speaking on his own, but his presence in this specific five-man delegation, named individually rather than folded into a generic "officials," marks him as one of the trusted men Josiah relied on at a pivotal moment in Judah's history. His son Elnathan continued in royal service after him: he was one of the officials King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt to retrieve the fleeing prophet Uriah (Jeremiah 26:20-23), and he was present in the scribe's chamber urging that Jeremiah's scroll not be burned when Jehoiakim destroyed it, though the king refused to listen (36:11-12, 25).