How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to them who were with him?
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Under Abiathar. You will say that it is said in Isaiah 21:6 that this was done under Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar. I answer, first, that Abiathar was even then the pontiff together with his father, because when his father was absent, or sick, or otherwise engaged, he discharged the High Priest"s office; and he was shortly to succeed his father, at his death, in the pontificate. Listen to Bede: That the Lord calls Abiathar the High Priest instead of Ahimelech involves no discrepancy, for both were on the spot when David came and asked for and received the loaves. And when Ahimelech was slain by Saul, Abiathar fled to David, and was his companion through the whole of his exile. Afterwards, when David was king, he received the rank of the high-priesthood; and continuing in the pontificate during the whole of David"s reign, he became much more celebrated than his father, and so was more worthy to be called High Priest by the Lord, even during his father"s lifetime.
Second, and bette...
Under Abiathar. The priest from whom David had these loaves, is called Achimelech, 1 Kings xxi. The most probable answer to this difficulty is, that the priest had both these names of Achimelech and of Abiathar, as also his father had before him. For he that (1 Kings xxii.) is called Abiathar, the son of Achimelech, is called 2 Kings viii. 17, Achimelech, the son of Abiathar. See also 1 Paralipomenon xviii. 16. (Witham)
Others say that Abiathar, son of Achimelech, was present, and sanctioned the deed of his father, thus making it his own. (Denis the Carthusian)
