II Samuel 8:17

Zadok the son of Ahitub, of the line of Eleazar (Ch1 6:8; Ch1 6:11-12), and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were cohanim, i.e., officiating high priests; the former at the tabernacle at Gibeon (Ch1 16:39), the latter probably at the ark of the covenant upon Mount Zion. Instead of Ahimelech, the Chronicles have Abimelech, evidently through a copyist's error, as the name is written Ahimelech in Ch1 24:3, Ch1 24:6. But the expression "Ahimelech the son of Abiathar" is apparently a very strange one, as Abiathar was a son of Ahimelech according to Sa1 22:20, and in other passages Zadok and Abiathar are mentioned as the two high priests in the time of David (Sa2 15:24, Sa2 15:35; Sa2 17:15; Sa2 19:12; Sa2 20:25). This difference cannot be set aside, as Movers, Thenius, Ewald, and other suppose, by transposing the names, so as to read Abiathar the son of Ahimelech; for such a solution is precluded by the fact that, in Ch1 24:3, Ch1 24:6, Ch1 24:31, Ahimelech is mentioned along with Zadok as head of the priests of the line of Ithamar, and according to Ch1 24:6 he was the son of Abiathar. It would therefore be necessary to change the name Ahimelech into Abiathar in this instance also, both in Ch1 24:3 and Ch1 24:6, and in the latter to transpose the two names. But there is not the slightest probability in the supposition that the names have been changed in so many passaGes. We are therefore disposed to adopt the view held by Bertheau and Oehler, viz., that Abiathar the high priest, the son of Ahimelech, had also a son named Ahimelech, as it is by no means a rare occurrence for grandfather and grandson to have the same names (vid., Ch1 6:4-15), and also that this (the younger) Ahimelech performed the duties of high priest in connection with his father, who was still living at the…

David having sought first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, settling the ark as soon as he was himself well settled, we are here told how all other things were added to him. Here is an account, I. Of his conquests. He triumphed, 1. Over the Philistines (Sa2 8:1). 2. Over the Moabites (Sa2 8:2). 3. Over the king of Zobah (Sa2 8:3, Sa2 8:4). 4. Over the Syrians (Sa2 8:5-8, Sa2 8:13). 5. Over the Edomites (Sa2 8:14). II. Of the presents that were brought him and the wealth he got from the nations he subdued, which he dedicated to God (Sa2 8:9-12). III. Of his court, the administration of his government (Sa2 8:15), and his chief officers (Sa2 8:16-18). This gives us a general idea of the prosperity of David's reign.