1 Chronicles 18:16

Zadok, of the line of Eleazar (1 Chronicles 6:4). (Comp. 1 Chronicles 12:28; 1 Chronicles 16:39; 2 Samuel 8:17; 2 Samuel 15:24; 2 Samuel 19:11; 1 Kings 1:8; 1 Kings 4:4.)

Abimelech the son of Abiathar. — Read Ahimelech the son of Abiathar. Samuel has “Ahimelech the son of Abiathar.” Elsewhere Zadok and Abiathar figure as the priests of David’s reign (comp. 2 Samuel 15:29; 2 Samuel 15:35), and as Abiathar was a son of the Ahimelech who was slain at Nob by Saul’s orders (1 Samuel 22:20), it has been proposed to read here and in the parallel passage,” Abiathar the son of Ahimelech.” The correction, however, is far from certain, inasmuch as an “Ahimelech son of Abiathar,” who was priest in David’s time, is mentioned thrice in 1 Chronicles 24:3; 1 Chronicles 24:6; 1 Chronicles 24:31, and this Ahimelech may have been acting as locum tenens for his father at the time when this brief list was drawn up. In the absence of details, it would be arbitrary to alter the text of four different passages of the Chronicles. In Samuel the Syriac and Arabic read “Abiathar son of Ahimelech,” but here LXX., Vulg., Syriac, Arabic, all have “Ahimelech son of Abiathar.”

Abiathar was of the lineage of Ithamar.

Shavsha. — Besides the variants in the margin, 2 Samuel 20:25 has “Shĕva” (Heb. margin, Shĕya). Seraiah (with which comp. Israel) appears to be the original name. (Comp. Syriac and Arabic, “Sarîyâ.”)