In the "Messianic Perspectives" magazine, Nov-Dec 2015, p. 11, Andrew Wilson of Kings Church in Eastbourne, England gives an answer to the supposed discrepancy of Mark 2:26.
The Pharisees questioned Jesus why His disciples plucked corn on the sabbath day. Jesus replied by citing the story that took place in 1 Samuel 21. In Mark 2:26 Jesus speaks of Abiathar the high priest, but 1Sa 21 speaks of Ahimelech as being the high priest. Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech. That is the discrepancy. Did Jesus get the name wrong? Did Mark get the name wrong? Is this a real mistake by one of them?
There is an acceptable, simple explanation that can be used, and there is a better more complicated answer that can be use. We will not use the skeptics answer that there is a mistake in the Bible. The simple explanation is this: Mark 2:26 (KJV) says "How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest,..." The Greek phrase 'epi Abiathar' was translated by the KJV as "in the days of". It can also be translated "in the passage about". Ahimelech is killed by Doeg in 1Sa 22:18, and we see the first mention of Abiathar in v. 20. So both of them are in the same story, and Jesus could have named either one.
Now Wilson gave a more complex explanation which has to do with the characters in 1Sa being used by Jesus as representatives of the characters in Jesus life that very day. We will see that Jesus was giving the Pharisees a message, by using the name "Abiathar" rather than referring to Abiathar's father, "Ahimelech. Abiathar was the last of the then priestly line
(Wilson says), being the only survivor of the 85 people that Doeg killed, and the Pharisees were the last of the priestly line before Jesus would ascend into heaven and become mankind's High Priest, Hebrews 4:14; 7:11-21. Here is the correlation of the characters in 1Sa to the characters in Mark 2:
David - Jesus
David's men - Jesus' disciples
Saul - Herod
Samuel - John the Baptist
Doeg - Judas
Abiathar (not Ahimelech) - The Pharisees
The Pharisees questioned Jesus why His disciples plucked corn on the sabbath day. Jesus replied by citing the story that took place in 1 Samuel 21. In Mark 2:26 Jesus speaks of Abiathar the high priest, but 1Sa 21 speaks of Ahimelech as being the high priest. Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech. That is the discrepancy. Did Jesus get the name wrong? Did Mark get the name wrong? Is this a real mistake by one of them?
There is an acceptable, simple explanation that can be used, and there is a better more complicated answer that can be use. We will not use the skeptics answer that there is a mistake in the Bible. The simple explanation is this: Mark 2:26 (KJV) says "How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest,..." The Greek phrase 'epi Abiathar' was translated by the KJV as "in the days of". It can also be translated "in the passage about". Ahimelech is killed by Doeg in 1Sa 22:18, and we see the first mention of Abiathar in v. 20. So both of them are in the same story, and Jesus could have named either one.
Now Wilson gave a more complex explanation which has to do with the characters in 1Sa being used by Jesus as representatives of the characters in Jesus life that very day. We will see that Jesus was giving the Pharisees a message, by using the name "Abiathar" rather than referring to Abiathar's father, "Ahimelech. Abiathar was the last of the then priestly line
(Wilson says), being the only survivor of the 85 people that Doeg killed, and the Pharisees were the last of the priestly line before Jesus would ascend into heaven and become mankind's High Priest, Hebrews 4:14; 7:11-21. Here is the correlation of the characters in 1Sa to the characters in Mark 2:
David - Jesus
David's men - Jesus' disciples
Saul - Herod
Samuel - John the Baptist
Doeg - Judas
Abiathar (not Ahimelech) - The Pharisees
