Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelek son of Abiathar were priests; Shavsha was secretary … - 1 Chronicles 18:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 25, 2019): 1 Chronicles 18

It is the cry of the Three Musketeers in Alexandre Dumas’s classic story: “All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall.” In almost every aspect of life, unity makes us stronger. That does not mean that we act in the same way nor that we operate with the same purpose, or that we never have a disagreement. Working in unity does make us stronger; but it is unity, not unison.

The author of Chronicles once again reminds that at this time the priesthood of Israel was divided. The Tabernacle was still at Gibeon, and Zadok was the High Priest at the Tabernacle. Ahimelek was the High Priest in Jerusalem, where the Ark of the Covenant now resided. And it would be easy to assume that there was competition between these the two priests. And there might have been competition between the two men, but it is just as likely that this was just the way David needed the Priesthood to work.

Zadok, the High Priest at Gibeon, seems to have been the ranking priest, he was the head of the Tabernacle and the religious head of worship for the nation. But David needed someone with religious authority at his side in Jerusalem, the political center of the country. And that person in Jerusalem was Ahimelek, and it is very likely that Ahimelek was the second in charge under the leadership of Zadok, and that it was David who set it up that way.

But it is also true that, as time passed, the star of Zadok rose even further, and the star of Ahimelek and his father Abiathar seemed to disappear. Poor decision making on the part of Ahimelek and Abiathar meant that David had to lean on Zadok increasingly, and the author of Chronicles wants to remind us that, too, was just as it was supposed to be. Zadok may have been the son of Ahitub, but if we follow the lineage back further, we find out that Zadok was the descendant of Eleazar, the third son of Aaron. That made Eleazar the nephew of Moses. Ahimelek, the son of Abiathar, was a descendant of Eli. And all of this was considered to be a fulfillment of the prophecy of Elkanah, the father of Samuel, when he condemned Eli. “I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always” (2 Samuel 2:35).

Zadok may have been a partial fulfillment of Elkanah’s prophecy. But the full realization of the prophecy would have to wait until the ministry of Jesus, the one the author of Hebrews describes as a priest in the order of Melchizedek, and the one who would minister before God forever. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 9