Abiathar Exiled to Anathoth

Overview

• Testament: Old
• Book: 1 Kings
• Chapters: 2:26–27
• Summary: Solomon thrusts the priest Abiathar out to his fields at Anathoth for supporting Adonijah, fulfilling the LORD’s word against the house of Eli.

Details

When Solomon secured his throne, he dealt with those who had backed Adonijah’s bid for the kingdom. To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.” Solomon spared Abiathar’s life on account of his long faithful service to David, but he removed him from the priesthood and banished him to his hometown of Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. By this act Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the LORD, and the high-priestly line passed to Zadok. The narrator explicitly notes that this fulfilled the word the LORD had spoken at Shiloh concerning the house of Eli, whose descendants were warned that the priesthood would be taken from them.

Key People Involved

• Abiathar — Deposed priest banished to his fields
• Solomon — King who carried out the sentence
• Zadok — Priest who replaced Abiathar

Key Places

• Anathoth — Abiathar’s hometown, the place of his exile

Important Verses

• 1 Kings 2:27 — “that he might fulfil the word of the LORD, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.”

Cross-References

• Related events: Conspiracy Against Jeremiah
• Foreshadowed in: God’s judgment on Eli’s house (1 Samuel 2:31–35)

Notes

Anathoth, the place of this fallen priestly line, later became the hometown of the prophet Jeremiah, himself of the priests.