Useful Bible Studies > 1 Kings Commentary > chapter 2
During the rule of David, Abiathar had been Israel’s chief priest. Solomon ordered him not to continue as a priest because Abiathar had supported Adonijah’s revolution.
The result of that judgment was that Zadok became Israel’s only chief priest. Previously, Abiathar and Zadok had both been the chief priests. They came from different families. Abiathar belonged to the family of Ithamar, a son of Aaron. Zadok belonged to the family of Eleazar, another son of Aaron (1 Chronicles 24:1-6).
So until that judgment, the chief priests until Abiathar came from Ithamar’s family. After that judgment, the chief priests came from Eleazar’s family. Zadok was the first chief priest from that family; his son and then his grandson would be chief priests after him and so on.
So in fact, Solomon was making an important change that affected the history of Israel’s chief priests for many centuries. We do not know whether he was aware of the prophecy in 1 Samuel 2:30-36. That prophecy was a message from God that a prophet (holy man) spoke to Eli, the chief priest about 100 years before. God gave a similar message to Samuel the prophet when he was still a boy, in 1 Samuel 3:11-14. It declared that God would bring about a change in Israel’s priests. He would not allow the present family of chief priests to continue. Instead, he would choose a new chief priest who was loyal to him. God would establish that man’s family as the new chief priests for Israel (1 Samuel 2:35).
Next part: Joab tries to escape punishment (1 Kings 2:28-29)
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