Ahikam
A royal official under Josiah and Jehoiakim, and one of the five sent to consult the prophetess Huldah when the book of the law was found in the temple. His most consequential act came later: when the priests and prophets demanded Jeremiah's death for prophesying against the temple, Ahikam's protection kept him from being handed over to the people. His son Gedaliah was appointed governor of Judah after Jerusalem fell.
What we know — and how we know it
!["Gemaryahu [son of] Shaphan" bulla, City of David Area G ("House of the Bullae"), excavated by Yigal Shiloh 1982; publ. Y. Shiloh, "A Group of Hebrew Bullae from the City of David," Israel Exploration Journal 36 (1986): 16-38; names Ahikam's brother Gemariah (Jer. 36:10).](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/City_of_David%2C_Southern_Wall_Temple_Mount_Kidron_Valley_Ophel_and_Siloam.jpg/1280px-City_of_David%2C_Southern_Wall_Temple_Mount_Kidron_Valley_Ophel_and_Siloam.jpg)
Matson Collection — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
ArchaeologyA clay bulla reading "belonging to Gemaryahu son of Shaphan" was excavated in the City of David (Yigal Shiloh's Area G, the burnt "House of the Bullae," from the 586 BC destruction). It attests Ahikam's brother Gemariah (Jeremiah 36:10) and the historicity of the Shaphan scribal family to which Ahikam belonged.
Where in scripture
2 Kings2 ChroniclesJeremiahThe king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying,
2 Kings 22:12
So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they talked with her.
2 Kings 22:14
As for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor.
2 Kings 25:22
The king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying,
2 Chronicles 34:20
But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they didn’t give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
Jeremiah 26:24 — Protects Jeremiah
they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home. So he lived among the people.
Jeremiah 39:14
Now while he had not yet gone back, “Go back then,” he said, “to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go wherever it seems right to you to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him food and a present, and let him go.
Jeremiah 40:5
Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.
Jeremiah 40:6
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
Family
Places in their life
Photo: Godot13 — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)