Ahimelech

Portrait of Ahimelech

Ahimelech was the high priest at Nob during the reign of King Saul, serving as a faithful custodian of the tabernacle and its sacred objects. When David fled from Saul's murderous jealousy, he came to Ahimelech at Nob seeking provisions and a weapon. Ahimelech, unaware of the rift between David and Saul, provided David with the consecrated showbread and the sword of Goliath, acting in good faith to assist the king's son-in-law. However, Doeg the Edomite, Saul's chief herdsman, witnessed this encounter and reported it to the king. In a horrific act of vengeance, Saul summoned Ahimelech and the entire priestly community of Nob, accused them of conspiracy, and ordered their execution. When his own soldiers refused to strike the priests of the Lord, Doeg carried out the slaughter, killing eighty-five priests and destroying the entire town of Nob. This tragic episode, recorded in 1 Samuel 21-22, illustrates the depths of Saul's paranoia and moral decline, the cost of faithfulness in corrupt times, and foreshadows the transfer of priestly loyalty to David's cause through Ahimelech's surviving son Abiathar.

0:00

Biography

Died
Killed by Doeg at Saul's command, Nob
Occupation
High Priest
Tribe
Levi
Father
Ahitub
Children
Abiathar
Era
United Kingdom
Nationality
Israelite

Family

Parents
Ahitub
โ†“
Ahimelech
โ†“
Children
Abiathar
Old Testament United Kingdom Priest

Key Passages

Ahimelech Helps David

1 Samuel 21:1-9

Ahimelech provides David with holy bread and Goliath's sword, unknowingly placing himself in danger by aiding the fugitive.

T1hen came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?

2 And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. 3 Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present. 4 And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. 5 And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. 6 So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. 7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul. 8 And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the kingโ€™s business required haste. 9 And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.

Read full chapter: 1 Samuel 21 โ†’

Massacre of the Priests at Nob

1 Samuel 22:11-19

Saul's execution of the priests reveals his complete moral collapse and willingness to destroy God's servants to preserve his power.

T11hen the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his fatherโ€™s house, the priests that were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king.

12 And Saul said, Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord. 13 And Saul said unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast enquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? 14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, which is the kingโ€™s son in law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine house? 15 Did I then begin to enquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king impute any thing unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father: for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more. 16 And the king said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy fatherโ€™s house. 17 And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD: because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD. 18 And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. 19 And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.

Read full chapter: 1 Samuel 22 โ†’

Related

Characters

Themes