ABIATHAR ə bī’ ə thər (אֶבְיָתָ֣ר, father of abundance). Son of Ahimelech, high priest at Nob during the reign of Saul. His descent is traced back to Phinehas, Eli’s son (1 Sam 14:3 where Ahiah is presumably the apocopated form of Ahimelech), and further to Aaron’s son, Ithamar (1 Chron 24:3).

David, while fleeing from Saul, stopped at Nob and requested five loaves of bread from the head priest, Ahimelech, father of Abiathar (1 Sam 21). By making his request, David involved himself in a lie and Ahimelech and his associates in a massacre. An Edomite named Doeg, Saul’s boss of the herdsmen, was being detained at Nob that day and he overheard the conversation between the priest and the fugitive David. When Doeg returned to Saul, he came forward with the information that David had asked for an oracle from the Lord as well as having received provisions and Goliath’s sword (1 Sam 22:10). Of these three items (1 Sam 21), the account has nothing to say concerning any “inquiry made before the Lord” while it does in general support the other two items. Was Doeg falsely adding to the story? Ahimelech denied this charge (1 Sam 22:15). There would seem to be more reason to trust the priest rather than Doeg, not only as a better character reference, but also from the point of view that if David would have received an oracle from God, it is strange that it is not included as a theological interpretation and a blessing upon the legitimacy of David’s claims and actions. This would have served to warn the priests also of the significance of the events in which they found themselves involved. David later acknowledged his share in the guilt connected with their deaths (1 Sam 22:22). Afterward he would return to this topic as an example of the wrong use of the tongue (Ps 52).

Abiathar escaped with the ephod and joined himself to David, becoming his priest and means of discovering the divine will (1 Sam 22:20-23; 23:6, 9; 30:7, 8). Later he was frequently mentioned with Zadok; both being described as high priests under David with the one noticeable fact: Zadok is always mentioned first (cf. 2 Sam 15:35; 19:11; 20:25; etc.).

In the Adonijah rebellion, Abiathar supported Adonijah while Zadok remained loyal to David and Solomon (1 Kings 1:7, 19). Since Adonijah’s rebellion failed, Abiathar was in trouble; however, Solomon spared him because of his association with David and he was exiled to Anathoth (2:26, 27) and Zadok was the sole high priest. (Note Jer 1:1 where Jeremiah was “of the priests who were in Anathoth.”) The predicted word (1 Sam 2:27-36) concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh was now fulfilled (1 Kings 2:27).

On the critical problem of the name of the father of Abiathar, it must be noted that his name was Ahimelech (1 Sam 21:1) which could be shortened to Ahia (1 Chron 5:15). The spelling of Abimelech (18:16 KJV) is a scribal error for Ahimelech as Kittel’s notes on this v. suggest (12 MSS, the Vul. and Syr. read Ahimelech). As for the alleged reversal of the son of Abiathar, Keil (with others like Oehler and Bertheau) see the line in this way: Ahimelech, Abiathar, Ahimelech (a patronymical pattern of names which is no oddity in the Near E).

The further problem of Jesus’ reference in Mark 2:26 to Abiathar being the priest when David asked for the shewbread is answered not by a dispute about how many days after Ahimelech, who actually gave David the bread, did Abiathar become priest, but by allowing the evangelist Mark to speak. He said that it was “in the days of Abiathar the priest” and thereby denotes only the period when he served as priest, including those while his father was living. It may also be a more convenient reference for the people of Jesus’ day, since the priest associated so long with David was more famous than his father.

Bibliography H. G. Judge, “Aaron, Zadok, and Abiathar,” JTS, new series 7 (1956), 70ff.