ABIATHAR, son of Ahimelech, and high-pries of the Jews. When Saul sent his emissaries to Nob to destroy all the priests there, Abiathar, who wa young, fled to David in the wilderness, (1 Sam. xxii 11, seq.) with whom he continued in the charade of high-priest. Saul, it would appear, transferred the dignity of the high-priesthood from Ithamar' family to that of Eleazar, by conferring the office upon Zadok. Thus there were, at the same time, two high-priests iu Israel ; Abiathar with David, an Zadok with Saul. This double priesthood continue from the death of Ahimelech till the reign of Solomon; when Abiathar, attaching himself to Adonijal was deprived by Solomon of his priesthood, 1 King ii. 27. The race of Zadok alone exercised this ministry during and after the reign of Solomon, excluding the family of Ithamar, according to the predictive made to Eli the high-priest, 1 Sam. iii. 11, etc.

A difficulty arises from the circumstance, that 1 Kings ii. 27, Abiathar is said to be deprived of the priest's office by Solomon ; while in 2 Sam. viii. 1 1 Chron. xviii. 16, xxiv. 3, 0, 31, Ahimelech the si of Abiathar is said to be high-priest along with Zadok. The most probable solution is, that both father and son each bore the two names Ahimelech and Abiathar; as was not at all unusual among t Jews. (See one example under Abigail.) In the way also we may remove the difficulty arising fix Mark ii. 26, where Abiathar is said to have give David the shew bread, in allusion to 1 Sam. xxi. seq. where it is Ahimelech.   Others suppose the passage in Mark to be merely a Jewish mode quotation, as if from the "History of Abiathar".  This, however, does not remove the other ditficutly mentioned above ; and there are also other objection to it, arising from the Greek idiom.