Ahimelech

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For other people named Ahimelech, see Achimelech.
Statuary David receives sacral bread from the priest Ahimelech in Ceremonial Hall in Hradisko Monastery in Olomouc (Czech Republic) created by Josef Winterhalder the Elder in 1734.
Ahimelech giving the sword of Goliath to David, by Aert de Gelder.

Ahimelech (

Eli. In 1 Chronicles 18:16 his name is Abimelech according to the Masoretic Text,[1] and is probably the same as Ahiah (1 Samuel 14:3, 18
).

Relation to David

He was the twelfth High Priest[

Saul (1 Samuel 21:1–9). He was summoned into Saul's presence, and accused of disloyalty for assisting David, on the information of Doeg the Edomite. Then the king commanded that he, with the other priests who stood beside him, 86 in all, should be slain with his family. This sentence was carried into execution by Doeg in a cruel manner (1 Samuel 22:9–23). Possibly Abiathar had a son also called Ahimelech, or the two names, as some think, may have been accidentally transposed in 2 Samuel 8:17; 1 Chronicles 18:16
, marg.; 24:3, 6, 31.

Interpretation

Ahimelech's death was seen as a partial fulfilment of the curse on the House of Eli – that none of Eli's male descendants would live to old age; the other part of the curse on the House of Eli – that the priesthood would pass out of his descendants (1 Samuel 2:27–36)– was fulfilled when Abiathar was deposed from the office of High Priest. Rabbinical literature linked the extermination of the male descendants of David with the extermination of the priests of Nob by Saul - deeming it divine retribution because David's action had provoked Saul's outburst - and also linked the survival of David's descendant Joash with that of Ahimelech's son Abiathar.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^
    Encyclopedia Biblica
  2. Sanh.
    95b.

Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). "Ahimelech". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.

External links

Media related to Achimelech at Wikimedia Commons

Israelite religious titles
Preceded by High Priest of Israel Succeeded by
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