Difference between revisions of "Abiathar"

<p> <b> ABIATHAR. </b> —The son of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli. He is mentioned in &nbsp;Mark 2:25-26 ‘Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread?’ The Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885, however, translates, ‘when Abiathar was high priest.’ The reference is evidently to 1 Samuel 21, where, according to the [[Hebrew]] text, <i> Ahimelech </i> gives David the sacred bread. There is thus a discrepancy between the two passages. The facts are these:—The Authorized Version, cited above, follows the reading of A and C (ἐπὶ Ἀβιαθὰρ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως), Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 follows that of B and א (which omit the article) and the [[Vulgate]] (‘sub Abiathar principe sacerdotum’). The clause is omitted altogether by D [Note: Deuteronomist.] . In the Massoretic Text of 1 Samuel 21, 22 and in &nbsp;Psalms 52:2 (title) the high priest is Ahimelech the son of [[Ahitub]] and the father of David’s friend Abiathar. In the Greek text of all these passages, however, the name is Abimelech. In &nbsp;2 Samuel 8:17 and &nbsp;1 Chronicles 24:6 Ahimelech (in &nbsp;1 Chronicles 18:16 Abimelech) the son of Abiathar is priest along with Zadok, but it is generally supposed that Abiathar the son of Ahimelech is meant. Ahimelech is usually held to be identical also with [[Ahijah]] the son of Ahitub of &nbsp;1 Samuel 14:3; &nbsp;1 Samuel 14:18. </p> <p> The discrepancy between &nbsp;Mark 2:26 and 1 Samuel 21 f. has been sought to be accounted for in several ways. It may readily be due to a mere <i> lapsus memoriae </i> or <i> calami </i> , Abiathar, David’s high priest, being a much more familiar figure than his father, just as in &nbsp;Jeremiah 27:1 ‘Jehoiakim’ is a slip for Zedekiah. It is not impossible that father and son may each have borne both names, according to [[Arab]] usage, Abiathar corresponding to the Arab. [Note: Arabic.] <i> kunyah </i> , and Ahimelech being the <i> ism </i> or <i> lakab </i> , or name proper. It has been suggested that the reference in St. Mark is not to 1 Samuel 21 at all, but to some later unrecorded incident, such as might have occurred during the flight from Absalom. But this is very improbable.* [Note: Swete (St. Mark, ad loc.) suggests that the clause ἐτὶ Ἀβιαθὰρ ἀρχιερέως, which is peculiar to Mark, may be an editorial note.] </p> <p> [[T. H]]  Weir. </p>

<p> (Heb. Ebyathar', '''''אֶבְיָתָר''''' '', Father Of Abundance,'' i.e. ''Liberal;'' Sept. '''''‘Αβιάθαρ''''' or '''''‘Αβιαθάρ''''' , N.T. '''''‘Αβιάθαρ''''' , [[Josephus]] '''''‘Αβιάθαρος''''' ) '','' the thirteenth high-priest of the Jews, being the son of Ahimelech, and the third in descent from Eli; B.C. 1060-1012. When his father was slain with the priests of Nob, for suspected partiality to David, Abiathar escaped; and bearing with him the most essential part of the priestly raiment [ sEE [[Ephod]] ], repaired to the son of Jesse, who was then in the cave of [[Adullam]] (&nbsp;1 Samuel 22:20-23; &nbsp;1 Samuel 23:6). He was well received by David, and became the priest of the party during its exile and wanderings, receiving for David responses from God (&nbsp;1 Samuel 30:7; comp. &nbsp;2 Samuel 2:1; &nbsp;2 Samuel 5:19). The cause of this strong attachment on the part of the monarch was the feeling that he had been unintentionally the cause of the death of Abiathar's kindred. When David became king of Judah he appointed Abiathar high priest (see &nbsp;1 Chronicles 15:11; &nbsp;1 Kings 2:26), and a member of his cabinet (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 27:34). Meanwhile Zadok had been made high-priest by Saul '''''—''''' an appointment not only unexceptionable in itself, but in accordance with the divine sentence of deposition which had been passed, through Samuel, upon the house of Eli (&nbsp;1 Samuel 2:30-36). When, therefore, David acquired the kingdom of Israel, he had no just ground on which Zadok could be removed, and Abiathar set in his place; and the attempt would probably have been offensive to his new subjects, who had been accustomed to the ministration of Zadok, and whose good feeling he was anxious to cultivate. The king appears to have got over this difficulty by allowing both appointments to stand; and until the end of David's reign Zadok and Abiathar were joint high priests (&nbsp;1 Kings 4:4). As a high-priest, Abiathar was the least excusable, in some respects, of all those who were parties in the attempt to raise Adonijah to the throne (&nbsp;1 Kings 1:19); and Solomon, in deposing him from the high-priesthood, plainly told him that only his sacerdotal character, and his former services to David, preserved him from capital punishment (&nbsp;1 Kings 2:26-27). This completed the doom upon the house of Eli, and restored the pontifical succession '''''—''''' Zadok, who remained the high-priest, being of the elder line of Aaron's sons. (See [[Eleazar]]). </p> <p> In &nbsp;Mark 2:26, a circumstance is described as occurring "in the days of Abiathar, the high-priest" ( '''''Ἐπὶ''''' '''''‘Αβιάθαρ''''' '''''Τοῦ''''' '''''Ἀρχιερέως''''' '''''—''''' a phrase that is susceptible of the rendering, ''In [The Time] Of Abiathar, [The Son] Of The High-Priest),'' which appears, from &nbsp;1 Samuel 21:1, to have really occurred when his father Ahimelech was the high-priest. The most probable solution of this difficulty (but see Alford's ''Comment.'' in loc.) is that which interprets the reference thus: "in the days of Abiathar, ''Who Was'' afterward the high-priest" (Middleton, Greek Article, p. 188-190). But this leaves open another difficulty, which arises from the precisely opposite reference (in &nbsp;2 Samuel 8:17; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 18:16; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 24:3; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 24:6) to "Ahimelech [or Abimelech] the son of Abiathar," as the person who was high-priest along with Zadok, and who was deposed by Solomon; whereas the history describes that personage as Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech. Another explanation is, that both father and son bore the two names of Ahimelech and Abiathar, and might be, and were, called by either [[(J. C]]  Leuschner, ''De Achimelecho Binomini,'' Hirschb. 1750). But although it was not unusual for the [[Jews]] to have two names, it was ''Not'' usual for both father and son to have the same two names. Others suppose a second Abiathar, the father of Ahimelech, and some even a son of the same name; but none of these suppositions are warranted by the text, nor allowable in the list of high priests. (See [[High-Priest]]). The names have probably become transposed by copyists, for the [[Syriac]] and Arabic versions have "Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech." The mention of Abiathar in the above passage of Mark, rather than the acting priest Ahimelech, may have arisen from the greater prominence of the former in the history of David's reign, and he appears even at that time to have been with his father, and to have had some part in the pontifical duties. In additional explanation of the other difficulty above referred to, it may be suggested as not unlikely that Ahimelech may have been the name of one of Abiathar's sons likewise associated with him, as well as that of his father, and that copyists have confounded these names together. (See Ahimlech). </p>