Ahimelech

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

He was the son of Ahitub, and brother of Ahia, whom he succeeded in the high priesthood. He is called Abiathar,  Mark 2:26 . During his priesthood the tabernacle was at Nob, where Ahimelech, with other priests, had their habitation. David, being reformed by his friend Jonathan that Saul was determined to destroy him, thought it prudent to retire. He therefore went to Nob, to the high priest Ahimelech, who gave him the shew bread, and the sword of Goliath. One day, when Saul was complaining of his officers, that no one was affected with his misfortunes, or gave him any intelligence of what was carrying on against him,  1 Samuel 22:9 , &c, Doeg related to him what had occurred when David came to Ahimelech the high priest. On this information, Saul convened the priests, and having charged them with the crime of treason, ordered his guards to slay them, which they refusing to do, Doeg, who had been their accuser, at the king's command became their executioner, and with his sacrilegious hand massacred no less than eighty-five of them; the Septuagint and Syriac versions make the number of priests slain by Doeg three hundred and five. Nor did Saul stop here; but, sending a party to Nob, he commanded them to slay men, women, and children, and even cattle, with the edge of the sword. Only one son of Ahimelech, named Abiathar, escaped the carnage and fled to David.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

1. Son of Ahitub, and brother of Ahiah, whom he succeeded in the high priesthood. Some think, however, that both names belong to the same person. During his priesthood the tabernacle was at Nob, where Ahimelech dwelt, with many priests. Here he received David when fleeing from Saul, and gave him the showbread and Goliath's sword. This act, as reported by Doeg the Edomite, Saul viewed as treasonous; and by the hand of this idolatrous and malignant foreigner, he put Ahimelech and eighty-five other priests of Jehovah to death,  1 Samuel 22:1-23 a crime sufficient of itself to forfeit the throne and the favor of God.

2. Also called Abimelech,  1 Chronicles 18:16 , probably the same as Abiathar, which see,  1 Chronicles 24:3,6,31 .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. Priest at the time the ark was at Nob. He received David when fleeing from Saul, gave him the showbread and the sword of Goliath. This being reported to Saul by Doeg the Edomite, Ahimelech and the other priests were put to death, Abiathar alone escaping.  1 Samuel 21:1-8;  1 Samuel 22:9-20;  Psalm 52 . title .

2. Son of Abiathar,  2 Samuel 8:17; called Abimelech in  1 Chronicles 18:16 . See ABIATHAR

3. A Hittite, companion of David when persecuted by Saul.  1 Samuel 26:6 .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

AHIMELECH . 1 . Son of Ahitub, and grandson of Phinehas. He either succeeded his brother Ahijah in the priesthood, or more probably was the same person under another name (  1 Samuel 14:3;   1 Samuel 14:18 ). For his fate see Doeo. In   2 Samuel 8:17 and   1 Chronicles 18:16;   1 Chronicles 24:6 the names of Abiathar and Ahimelech have been transposed. 2 . A Hittite, who joined David when a fugitive (  1 Samuel 26:6 ).

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Ahimelech ( A-Hĭm'El-Ĕk ), Brother Of The King. The ninth high priest of the Hebrews. He dwelt at Nob, and was the intimate friend of David; on this account he was put to death by Saul, together with all the priests that were with him, except his son Abiathar, who fled to David. By an error of the scribes he is called "Abimelech,"  1 Chronicles 18:16; also "Ahiah,"  1 Samuel 14:3; and he is sometimes confounded with Abiathar.  1 Samuel 21:1-2;  1 Samuel 22:9.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ahim'elech. (Brother Of The King).

1. Son of Ahitub,  1 Samuel 22:11-12, and high priest of Nob, in the days of Saul. He gave David the shew bread to eat, and the sword of Goliath; and for so doing was put to death, with his whole house, by Saul's order. Abiathar alone escaped. See Abiathar . (B.C. 1085-1060).

2. A Hittite.  1 Samuel 26:6.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 1 Samuel 21:1-15 Exodus 25:30 Exodus 35:13 Leviticus 24:5-9 Matthew 12:1-8 1 Samuel 22:1 1 Samuel 26:6 3 2 Samuel 8:17

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 1 Samuel 22:20-23 1 Chronicles 18:16  1 Samuel 14:3,18 1 Samuel 21:1-9 1 Samuel 22:9-23 2 Samuel 8:17 1 Chronicles 18:16

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

1. (See Abiathar , (See Ahijah .)

2. The Hittite who, with Abishai, was asked by David: "Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?" He lost a precious opportunity of serving the king ( Isaiah 6:8); Abishai alone volunteered ( 1 Samuel 26:6).

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

AHIMELECH. —See Abiathar.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

a - him´e - lek ( אחימלך , 'ăḥı̄melekh , "brother of a king," or, "my brother is king," or, "king is brother"):

(1) The father of David's high priest Abiathar: son of Ahitub, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli ( 1 Samuel 21:1 ,  1 Samuel 21:2 ,  1 Samuel 21:8;  1 Samuel 22:9-20;  1 Samuel 23:6;  1 Samuel 30:7 ). Ahijah the son of Ahitub ( 1 Samuel 14:3 ,  1 Samuel 14:18 ) was either the same person under another name, or was Ahimelech's father or brother. See Ahijah , 3. Ahimelech is an interesting person, especially because he stands for whatever information we have concerning the priestly office in Israel during the period between Eli and David. Whether the Deuteronomic law for a central sanctuary originated with Moses or not, its provisions were very imperfectly carried out during the times of the Judges. This was particularly the case after the capture of the ark by the Philistines, and the deaths of Eli and his sons. From that time to the middle of the reign of David the ark was in the custody of the men of Kiriath-jearim "in the hill," or "in Gibeah" ( 1 Samuel 7:1;  2 Samuel 6:2 ,  2 Samuel 6:3 ). As a general proposition Israel "sought not unto it" ( 1 Chronicles 13:3 ), though there is nothing to forbid the idea that it may, on occasion, have been brought out from its seclusion ( 1 Samuel 14:18 ). Before and after the accession of Saul some of the functions of the national sanctuary were transacted, of course very incompletely, at Gilgal ( 1 Samuel 10:8;  1 Samuel 11:14 ,  1 Samuel 11:15;  1 Samuel 13:7;  1 Samuel 15:12 ,  1 Samuel 15:21 ,  1 Samuel 15:33 ). Whether there was a priesthood, with Ahitub the grandson of Eli as high priest, is a matter on which we have no information; but we may remind ourselves that the common assumption that such men as Samuel and Saul performed priestly offices is nothing but an assumption.

After Saul has been king for a good many years we find Ahijah in his retinue, acting as priest and wearing priestly vestments. A few years later Ahimelech is at the head of the very considerable priestly establishment at Nob. The scale on which it existed is indicated by the fact that 85 robed priests perished in the massacre ( 1 Samuel 22:18 ). They had families residing at Nob ( 1 Samuel 22:19 ). They were thought of as priests of Yahweh, and were held in reverence ( 1 Samuel 22:17 ). It was a hereditary priesthood ( 1 Samuel 22:11 ,  1 Samuel 22:15 ). Men deposited votive offerings there, the sword of Goliath, for example ( 1 Samuel 21:9 ). There seems to have been some kind of police authority, whereby a person might be "detained" ( 1 Samuel 21:7 ). It was customary to inquire of Yahweh there ( 1 Samuel 22:10 ,  1 Samuel 22:15 ). A distraction was made between the common and the holy ( 1 Samuel 21:4-6 ). The custom of the shewbread was maintained ( 1 Samuel 21:6 ). In fine, Jesus is critically correct in calling the place "the house of God" ( Mark 2:26 ). The account does not say that the ark was there, or that the burnt-offering of the morning and evening was offered, or that the great festivals were held. The priestly head of the establishment at Nob is represented to have been the man who had the right to the office through his descent from Aaron. It is gratuitous to assume that there were other similar sanctuaries in Israel, though the proposition that there were none might be, like other negative propositions, hard to establish by positive proof.

(2) A son of Abiathar ( 2 Samuel 8:17;  1 Chronicles 18:16;  1 Chronicles 24:6 ), and grandson of the above. In a list of the heads of departments under David, a list belonging later than the middle of David's 40 years, and in which David's sons appear, this Ahimelech, the son of David's friend, is mentioned as sharing with Zadok a high position in the priesthood. In this capacity, later, he shared with David and Zadok in the apportionment of the priests into 24 ancestral classes, 16 of the house of Eleazar, and 8 of the house of Ithamar (1 Ch 24). In this account Ahimelech is mentioned three times, and with some detail. It is alleged as a difficulty that Abiathar was then living, and was high priest along with Zadok ( 1 Chronicles 15:11;  2 Samuel 15:29;  2 Samuel 19:11;  2 Samuel 20:25;  1 Kings 2:27 ,  1 Kings 2:35;  1 Kings 4:4 , etc.). But surely there is no improbability in the affirmation that Abiathar had a son named Ahimelech, or that this son performed prominent priestly functions in his father's lifetime.

Many regard "Ahimelech the son of Abiathar" (Mt gives Ahimelech) as an inadvertent transposition for "Abiathar the son of Ahimelech." This is rather plausible in the passage in 2 Sam 8 and the duplicate of it in  1 Chronicles 18:16 , but it has no application in the detailed account in 1 Ch 24. One must accept Ahimelech the son of Abiathar as historical unless, indeed, one regards the testimony of Ch to a fact as evidence in disproof of that fact. See Abiathar .

(3) A H ittite, a companion and friend of David, when he was hiding from Saul in the wilderness ( 1 Samuel 26:6 ).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrew Achime'lek, אֲחַימֶלֶךְ , Brother [i.e. Friend ] Of the King; Sept. Ἀχιμέλεχ , but Ἀβιμέλεχ in Psalms 52, title; Josephus Ἀχιμέλεχος ), the name of two men.

1. The twelfth high-priest of the Jews, B.C. cir. 1085-1060, son of AHITUB (See Ahitub) (q.v.), and father of ABIATHAR (See Abiathar) (q.v.); apparently called also AHIAH (See Ahiah) (q.v.). (See High-Priest). (On the difficulties involved in these names see Kuinol, Comment. Ad Marc. 2, 26; Korb, in the Krit. Journ. D. Theol. 4, 295 sq.; Fritzsche, Comment. In Marc. p. 72 sq.; Hitzig, Begriff' D. Krit. p. 146; Ewald, Tsr. Gesch. 2, 596; Engstrom, De Ahimeleche Et Ahjathare, Lund. 1741; Wolf, Car. 1, 439 sq.) He was a descendant of the line of Ithamar through Eli ( 1 Chronicles 24:26; comp. Josephus, Ant. 5, 11, 5; 8:1, 3). When David fled from Saul (B.C. 1062), he went to Nob, a city of the priests in Benjamin, where the tabernacle then was, and, by representing himself as on pressing business from the king, he obtained from Ahimelech, who had no other, some of the sacred bread which had been removed from the presence-table (see Osiander, De Davide Panes Propositionis Accipiente, Tub. 1751). He was also furnished with the sword which he had himself taken from Goliath, and which had been laid up as a trophy in the tabernacle ( 1 Samuel 21:1-9).

These circumstances were witnessed by Doeg, an Edomite in the service of Saul, and were so reported by him to the jealous king as to appear acts of connivance at, and support to, David's imagined disloyal designs. Saul immediately sent for Ahimelech and the other priests then at Nob, and laid this treasonable offense to their charge; but they declared their ignorance of any hostile designs on the part of David toward Saul or his kingdom. This, however, availed them not, for the king commanded his guard to slay them. Their refusal to fall upon persons invested with so sacred a character might have brought even Saul to reason; but he repeated the order to Doeg himself, and was too readily obeyed by that malignant person, who, with the men under his orders, not only slew the priests then present, eighty-six in number, but marched to Nob, and put to the sword every living creature it contained (1 Samuel 22; Psalms 52, title). The only priest that escaped was Abiathar. Ahimelech's son, who fled to David, and afterward became high-priest ( 1 Samuel 23:6;  1 Samuel 30:7). (See Abiathar).

Some have supposed from  Mark 2:26, that there was another Ahimelech, a son of Abiathar, and grandson of the preceding, and that he officiated as one of the two high-priests in the time of David ( 2 Samuel 8:17;  1 Chronicles 24:3;  1 Chronicles 24:6;  1 Chronicles 24:31); but the two may be identified by reading in these passages, "Abiathar the son of Ahimelech," instead of the reverse. In  1 Chronicles 18:16, he is called ABIMELECH (See Abimelech) (q.v.). He is probably the same as the Ahiah who officiated for Saul ( 1 Samuel 14:3;  1 Samuel 14:18). (See Ahijah).

2. A Hittite, one of David's followers whom he invited to accompany him at night into the camp of Saul in the wilderness of Ziph, but Abishai alone appears to have had sufficient courage for the enterprise ( 1 Samuel 26:6), B.C. 1055.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ahim´elech (brother of the king, i.e. the king's friend); he was son of Ahitub, and brother of Ahiah, who was most probably his predecessor in the high-priesthood [AHIAH]. When David fled from Saul, he went to Nob, a city of the priests in Benjamin, where the tabernacle then was; and by representing himself as on pressing business from the king, he obtained from Ahimelech, who had no other, some of the sacred bread which had been removed from the presence-table. He was also furnished with the sword which he had himself taken from Goliah, and which had been laid up as a trophy in the tabernacle ( 1 Samuel 21:1-9). These circumstances were witnessed by Doeg, an Edomite in the service of Saul, and were so reported by him to the jealous king as to appear acts of connivance at, and support to, David's imagined disloyal designs. Saul immediately sent for Ahimelech and the other priests then at Nob, and laid this crime to their charge, which they repelled by declaring their ignorance of any hostile designs on the part of David towards Saul or his kingdom. This, however, availed them not; for the king commanded his guard to slay them. Their refusal to fall upon persons invested with so sacred a character might have brought even Saul to reason; but he repeated the order to Doeg himself, and was too readily obeyed by that malignant person, who, with the men under his orders, not only slew the priests then present, eighty-six in number, but marched to Nob, and put to the sword every living creature it contained. The only one of the priests that escaped was Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, who fled to David, and afterwards became high priest (1 Samuel 22) [ABIATHAR].