SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:26
cmo entr en la casa de Dios, siendo Abiatar sumo sacerdote, y comi los panes de la proposicin, de los cuales no es lícito comer sino a los sacerdotes, y aun dio a los que con l estaban?
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Mark 2:26
Verse 26. The days of Abiathar the high priest] It appears from 1 Sam. xxi. 1, which is the place referred to here, that Ahimelech was then high priest at Nob: and from 1 Sam. xxii. 20; xxiii. 6, and 1 Chron. xviii. 16, it appears that Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech. The Persic reads Abimelech instead of Abiathar. Theophylact supposes that Abiathar was the priest, and Ahimelech or Abimelech the high priest, and thus endeavours to reconcile both the sacred historians. Others reconcile the accounts thus: Ahimelech was called Ahimelech Abiathar, ba ab, father, understood; and Abiathar was called Abiathar Ahimelech, b ben, son, understood. Probably they both officiated in the high priesthood; and the name of the office was indifferently applied to either. Shew-bread] See Matt. xii. 4.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 26. How he went into the house of God , etc..] The tabernacle; for the temple was not yet built: thither David went to get bread for himself and his men, being hungry: so in a spiritual sense, where should such go, who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, but into the house of God?
Here is bread enough, and to spare; here is a table furnished with excellent provisions; here the Gospel is dispensed, which is milk for babes, and meat for strong men; here Christ, the bread of life, is set forth, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed; here the ordinances are administered, which are breasts of consolation to the children of God; here is a feast of fat things, all things are ready, and souls are welcome, and therefore it must be right to attend here. And this was on the sabbath day that David went into the house of God: when the showbread loaves were removed, and divided, among the priests, and new ones were placed in their room: and so under the Gospel dispensation, on the Lord's day, the day set apart for public worship, it becomes the saints to go up to the house of the Lord, and feed upon the provisions of it: they are a royal priesthood, they are priests, as well as kings to God; and their business is in the house of the Lord, to offer up spiritual sacrifices to him; and as the goodness and fulness of his house appertains to them, they do well to attend and partake thereof. In the days or Abiathar the high priest : and yet from the history it is clear, that it was in the days of Ahimelech the high priest, the father of Abiathar; wherefore the Jew charges Mark with an error, and Matthew and Luke too: whereas the two last make no mention of the name of any high priest; and it might be observed, that in the Persic version of Mark it is rendered, under Abimelech the high priest; and in an ancient copy of Beza's, the whole clause is omitted; though it must be owned, that so it is read in other Greek copies, and in the ancient versions, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and others: wherefore let it be further observed, that the fact referred to was done in the days of Abiathar, though it was before he was an high priest; and the particle epi may be so rendered, about, or before Abiathar was high priest, as it is in ( Matthew 1:11). Besides, Abiathar was the son of an high priest, and succeeded his father in the office: and might be at this time his deputy, who acted for him, or he by has advice; and according to a rule the Jews themselves give, the son of an high priest, who is deputed by his father in his stead, rwma lwdg hk yrh , lo! he is called an high priest.
So that Abiathar might at this time be called the high priest; and is the rather mentioned, because he was the more eminent and famous man; and whom the Jews call Urim and Thummim, because there was much inquiry made by them; in his and his father's days, and very little after: to which may be added, that the names of the father and the son are sometimes changed; Ahimelech is called Abiathar, and this Abiathar is called Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, ( 2 Samuel 8:17), and Abimelech the son of Abiathar, ( 1 Chronicles 18:16). And it seems as if both father and son had two names, and were sometimes called by the one, and sometimes by the other: for as the father is sometimes called Abiathar, the son is called Ahimelech, or Abimelech, as in the places mentioned; and which refer to the times when David was king of Israel, and long after the death of Saul, and consequently long after Ahimelech, and the rest of the priests at Nob, were killed by the order of Saul: wherefore Ahimelech, or Abimelech, in the said places, must be the son of Abiathar; and who afterwards was thrust out of the priesthood by Solomon, for joining with Adonijah in his usurpation, ( 1 Kings 1:25 2:26). And from whence it appears, that his father was called Abiathar also, and which some take to be their family name; and if so, then there is no difficulty, and the evangelist rightly says, that this affair was in the days of Abiathar: but be it that he intends the son, what has been before observed is a sufficient solution of this difficulty; for the evangelist does not say that Abiathar was high priest, when David came and eat the showbread; he only says, it was in the days of Abiathar the high priest: for certain it is, that this happened in his days; and as certain, that he was an high priest; and Mark might with great propriety call him so, though he was not strictly one, till after this business was over: besides, he was not only the son of an high priest, and it may be his deputy, and some have thought officiated at this time, his father being sick or infirm through old age; but inasmuch as his father was directly killed by the order of Saul, he narrowly escaping, immediately succeeded him in the office of the high priesthood; and therefore his being an high priest so very near the time of this action, without any impropriety and impertinence, and especially without incurring the charge of falsehood, the evangelist might express himself as he does. And did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him ? Who not only ate the showbread, which was set before the Lord, and was sacred, and which none but the priests might eat of, after it was removed from the table; but he did this on the sabbath day; and he not only eat of it himself, but the soldiers that were with him: and all this with the knowledge and leave of the high priest: for the Jews have no reason to charge this evangelist and the others with an error, that others besides David ate of the showbread, urging that he came alone to Ahimelech; since it is evident from ( Samuel 21:2,4,5), that David had servants in company with him when he fled, though they did not attend him when he went to the high priest; and that he asked bread, and it was given him, not only for himself, but for the young men that he had appointed to be at such a place: and therefore, if this was allowed to David and his men, when hungry, it ought not to be charged as an evil upon the disciples, for plucking and rubbing a few ears of corn to satisfy their hunger, though on a sabbath day; and especially when he, who was Lord of the sabbath, was present, and admitted of it; (see Gill on Matthew 12:4).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 23-28 - The sabbath is a sacred and Divine institution; a privilege an benefit, not a task and drudgery. God never designed it to be a burde to us, therefore we must not make it so to ourselves. The sabbath wa instituted for the good of mankind, as living in society, having man wants and troubles, preparing for a state of happiness or misery. Ma was not made for the sabbath, as if his keeping it could be of servic to God, nor was he commanded to keep it outward observances to his rea hurt. Every observance respecting it, is to be interpreted by the rul of mercy __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
πως 4459 ADV εισηλθεν 1525 5627 V-2AAI-3S εις 1519 PREP τον 3588 T-ASM οικον 3624 N-ASM του 3588 T-GSM θεου 2316 N-GSM επι 1909 PREP αβιαθαρ 8 N-PRI του 3588 T-GSM αρχιερεως 749 N-GSM και 2532 CONJ τους 3588 T-APM αρτους 740 N-APM της 3588 T-GSF προθεσεως 4286 N-GSF εφαγεν 5315 5627 V-2AAI-3S ους 3739 R-APM ουκ 3756 PRT-N εξεστιν 1832 5904 V-PQI-3S φαγειν 5315 5629 V-2AAN ει 1487 COND μη 3361 PRT-N τοις 3588 T-DPM ιερευσιν 2409 N-DPM και 2532 CONJ εδωκεν 1325 5656 V-AAI-3S και 2532 CONJ τοις 3588 T-DPM συν 4862 PREP αυτω 846 P-DSM ουσιν 5607 5752 V-PXP-DPM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
26. The shewbread (touv artouv thv proqesewv). Lit., the loaves of proposition, i.e., the loaves which were set forth before the Lord. The Jews called them the loaves of the face, i.e., of the presence of God. The bread was made of the finest wheaten flour that had been passed through eleven sieves. There were twelve loaves, or cakes, according to the number of tribes, ranged in two piles of six each. Each cake was made of about five pints of wheat. They were anointed in the middle with oil, in the form of a cross. According to tradition, each cake was five hand-breadths broad and ten long, but turned up at either end, two hand-breadths on each side, to resemble in outline the ark of the covenant. The shewbread was prepared on Friday, unless that day happened to be a feast-day that required sabbatical rest; in which case it was prepared on Thursday afternoon. The renewal of the shewbread was the first of the priestly functions on the commencement of the Sabbath. The bread which was taken off was deposited on the golden table in the porch of the sanctuary, and distributed among the outgoing and incoming courses of priests (compare save for the priests). It was eaten during the Sabbath, and in the temple itself, but only by such priests as were Levitically pure. This old bread, removed on the Sabbath morning, was that which David ate.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:26 {The house of God} (ton oikon tou qeou). The tent or tabernacle at Nob, not the temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon. {When Abiathar was high priest} (epi abiaqar arcierews). Neat Greek idiom, in the time of Abiathar as high priest. There was confusion in the Massoretic text and in the LXX about the difference between Ahimelech (Abimelech) and Abiathar (#2Sa 8:17), Ahimelech's son and successor (#1Sa 21:2; 22:20). Apparently Ahimelech, not Abiathar was high priest at this time. It is possible that both father and son bore both names (#1Sa 22:20; 2Sa 8:17; 1Ch 18:16), Abiathar mentioned though both involved. epi may so mean in the passage about Abiathar. Or we may leave it unexplained. They had the most elaborate rules for the preparation of the shewbread (tous artous tes proqesews), the loaves of presentation, the loaves of the face or presence of God. It was renewed on the commencement of the sabbath and the old bread deposited on the golden table in the porch of the Sanctuary. this old bread was eaten by the priests as they came and went. this is what David ate.
