Faith First Media

The following is an excerpt from the book Does the Bible Have Contradictions? by Matthew Elton, copyright 2009 Matthew Elton.

Question:

Was the high priest Abiathar (Mark 2:26), or Ahimelech (1 Samuel 21:1; 22:20) when David went into the house of God and ate the consecrated bread?

Answer:

Jesus states that the event happened “in the days of Abiathar the high priest” and yet we know from 1 Samuel that Abiathar was not actually the high priest at that time; it was his father, Ahimelech. So is this a contradiction? Not at all. Would a statement like, “When President Bush was a boy…” be incorrect because he wasn’t a president when he was a boy? No, because he became the president later in life so we call him “President” even if we’re referring to a time when he was not president. Likewise, “in the days of Abiathar the high priest,” does not mean, “in the days that Abiather was the high priest,” but rather it means, “in the days the high priest Abiather was alive.” If I said, “In the days that President Bush was alive,” you would think of his entire life span, not just his term in office. The same applies here.