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Ahimelech
AHIMELECH (a-hĭm'-ĕ-lĕk, Heb. ’ăhîmelekh, brother of a king)
A priest serving in the priestly center of Nob in the time of Saul. He assisted David, not knowing that he was a fugitive from the king, by giving him Goliath’s sword and allowing him to eat the consecrated bread. Doeg the Edomite denounced him to Saul and, at Saul’s command, massacred all the priests at Nob except Abiathar, who fled to David (
2. A Hitt. who followed David while he was a fugitive in the wilderness hiding from Saul (
3. A son of Abiathar is also called Ahimelech (
Bibliography
W. F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, (1956), 201, 202.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
(’achimelekh, "brother of a king," or, "my brother is king," or, "king is brother"):
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
(3) A Hittite, a companion and friend of David, when he was hiding from Saul in the wilderness (
Willis J. Beecher