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1 Chronicles 24 · a question people ask

"Ahimelech the son of Abiathar"? Wasn't Abiathar the son of Ahimelech?

In the text

Both are in the text. This chapter names "Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar" (24:3), and among the witnesses "Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar" (24:6), and again "Zadok, Ahimelech" (24:31). 2 Samuel has the same order: "Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests" (2 Samuel 8:17). 1 Chronicles 18 has "Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were priests" (1 Chronicles 18:16). 1 Samuel told of "One of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar" (1 Samuel 22:20), and later of "Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech" (1 Samuel 30:7). 2 Samuel 8's honest question on 8:17 sets these side by side, and 1 Chronicles 18's question on its list points to it. The Bible doesn't explain how they fit together, and this answer doesn't either.

The verses

“David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their ordering in their service.”
1 Chronicles 24:3 · World English Bible
“Shemaiah the son of Nethanel the scribe, who was of the Levites, wrote them in the presence of the king, the princes, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers’ households of the priests and of the Levites; one fathers’ house being taken for Eleazar, and one taken for Ithamar.”
1 Chronicles 24:6 · World English Bible
“These likewise cast lots even as their brothers the sons of Aaron in the presence of David the king, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers’ households of the priests and of the Levites, the fathers’ households of the chief even as those of his younger brother.”
1 Chronicles 24:31 · World English Bible
“Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, Seraiah was scribe,”
2 Samuel 8:17 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Chronicles 24

1 Chronicles 24: The eighth lot to Abijah

The priest Zacharias, John's father, was "of the priestly division of Abijah" (Luke 1:5), and in 1 Chronicles 24 the lots drawn in David's day give "the eighth to Abijah" (24:10). Luke doesn't name Chronicles, but the name is there.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions