AHITUB

(A·hiʹtub) [the (divine) brother is good].

1. A descendant of Aaron’s son Ithamar; son of Phinehas and grandson of high priest Eli. (1 Sam. 14:3; 1 Chron. 24:3) Following the death of his father and grandfather on the same day, Ahitub possibly officiated as high priest. (1 Sam. 4:17, 18) His son, high priest Ahimelech, was slain by Saul.—1 Sam. 22:9-20.

2. Son of Amariah, a descendant of Aaron’s son Eleazar. (1 Chron. 6:3-8) There is no indication that he acted as high priest; this office was in the line of Ithamar at the time. Ahitub’s son Zadok served as a secondary priest, not as high priest, during the reign of David, and then was assigned to replace Abiathar as high priest during the reign of Solomon.—2 Sam. 8:17; 1 Chron. 18:16; 1 Ki. 1:8; 2:27.

3. Another priest who descended from Ahitub (2) above. Genealogical listings are interrupted to call him “a leader of the house of the true God.” (1 Chron. 9:11; Neh. 11:11) His father’s name was also Amariah, and from 1 Chronicles 9:11 and Nehemiah 11:11 it appears that his son was Meraioth and his grandson Zadok.—1 Chron. 6:11, 12; 9:11; Ezra 7:2.