2 Samuel 8 · a question people ask
"Ahimelech the son of Abiathar"? Wasn't Abiathar the son of Ahimelech?
Both are in the text. 8:17 says, "Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests" (8:17). 1 Samuel told of the priest who escaped when the priests at Nob were killed at Saul's command (1 Samuel 22:18-19): "One of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David" (1 Samuel 22:20), and later David calls for "Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech" (1 Samuel 30:7). Chronicles has the order of 8:17 once, "Ahimelech the son of Abiathar" (1 Chronicles 24:6), and in its own list of David's officials it reads, "Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were priests" (1 Chronicles 18:16). Later in 2 Samuel, the priests are simply "Zadok and Abiathar" (15:35, 20:25). The Bible doesn't explain how 8:17 and 1 Samuel 22:20 fit together, and this answer doesn't either.
The verses
“Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, Seraiah was scribe,”
“The king said to Doeg, “Turn and attack the priests!” Doeg the Edomite turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod. He struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword—both men and women, children and nursing babies, and cattle, donkeys, and sheep, with the edge of the sword. One of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.”
“David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” Abiathar brought the ephod to David.”
“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.”