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Bible Dictionaries
Abiathar
Morrish Bible Dictionary
or Son of Ahimelech the high priest. He escaped from the slaughter of the priests executed by Doeg at the command of Saul, 1 Samuel 22:18,20 . He became an adherent of David, and was acknowledged as high priest; but becoming involved in Adonijah's rebellion he was deprived of the priesthood by Solomon and sent to dwell in the city of Anathoth which belonged to the sons of Aaron. 1 Kings 2:26; 1 Chronicles 6:60 . In 1 Kings 4:4 , Abiathar is named with Zadok as priests (not the priests); though deposed, Abiathar was still a priest. There is a difficulty in 2 Samuel 8:17 and 1 Chronicles 18:16 where 'Ahimelech (or Abimelech) the son of Abiathar' is named as priest with Zadok in the time of David. Some suppose that the names should be transposed, and that Abiathar is meant; but this Ahimelech may have been a son of the above-named Abiathar (it not being at all unusual to name a son after his grandfather) and for some reason he is mentioned in these passages as priest instead of his father. He may have been a more worthy man than his father, who was thrust out of the priesthood for his own sin, though it fulfilled the prophecy concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. 1 Samuel 2:31-36; 1 Kings 2:27 . Our Lord in Mark 2:26 speaks of Abiathar as high priest, in connection with David eating the showbread, doubtless because he afterwards attained to that office.
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Morrish, George. Entry for 'Abiathar'. Morrish Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/mbd/a/abiathar.html. 1897.
