Ahimelech
Biblical character
title: "Ahimelech" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["people-from-the-kingdom-of-israel-(united-monarchy)", "high-priests-of-israel", "11th-century-bc-deaths", "year-of-birth-unknown", "2nd-millennium-bc-executions", "family-of-eli-(biblical-figure)"] description: "Biblical character" topic_path: "geography/israel" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahimelech" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Biblical character ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Ahimelech |
| image | Ahimelech Giving the Sword of Goliath to David.jpg |
| alt | |
| caption | Ahimelech giving the sword of Goliath to David, by Aert de Gelder |
| birth_name | אֲחִימֶלֶך ʾĂḥīmeleḵ, "my brother is king"/"brother of a king" |
| birth_date | |
| death_date | |
| occupation | grand priest of the town of Nob |
| :: |
| name = Ahimelech | image = Ahimelech Giving the Sword of Goliath to David.jpg
| alt = | caption = Ahimelech giving the sword of Goliath to David, by Aert de Gelder | birth_name = אֲחִימֶלֶך ʾĂḥīmeleḵ, "my brother is king"/"brother of a king" | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = grand priest of the town of Nob | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works =
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Statuary_David_receives_bread_in_Hradisko.jpg" caption="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 ( ʾĂḥīmeleḵ, "my brother is king"/"brother of a king") He descended from Aaron's son Ithamar and the High Priest of Israel Eli. In his name is Abimelech according to the Masoretic Text, and is probably the same as Ahiah ().
Relation to David
He was the twelfth High Priest, and officiated at Nob, where he was visited by David (he gave David and his companions five loaves of the showbread) when David fled from Saul (). 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 (). Possibly Abiathar had a son also called Ahimelech, or the two names, as some think, may have been accidentally transposed in ; , 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:)– 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.
References
References
- was an [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy). Israelite]] [[Kohen. priest]] and served as the grand priest of the town of [[Nob, Israel. Nob]]. In the [[Books of Samuel. Book of Samuel]], he was described as the son of [[Ahitub (High Priest). Ahitub]] and father of [[Abiathar]] ({{bibleverse. 1 Samuel. 22:20-23. KJV), but described as the son of Abiathar in {{bibleverse. 2 Samuel. 8:17. KJV and in four places in [[Books of Chronicles
- [[Sanh.]] 95b.
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