Ahitub:

a-hi'-tub ('achiTubh, "brother of goodness," i.e. "good brother," or, "my brother is goodness"):

(1) The brother of Ichabod and son of Phinehas the son of Eli (1Sa 14:3; 22:9,11,12,20), According to 1Ch 24 he and his line were descended from Aaron through Ithamar. The record implies that he was born while his father and grandfather were priests at Shiloh, and it says that he was the father and grandfather of priests; but it is silent as to his own exercise of the priestly office. We have no information concerning the office from the time when the Philistines captured the ark till Saul became king. See AHIJAH; AHIMELECH; ABIATHAR.

(2) A descendant of Aaron through Eleazar: by this fact distinguished from Ahitub, the descendant of Ithamar, though nearly contemporaneous with him. Especially known as the father of Zadok who, at Solomon's accession, became sole high priest (2Sa 8:17; 1Ch 6:8; 18:16). His genealogical line, from Levi to the Exile, is given in 1Ch 6:1-15. The three successive names, Ahitub and Zadok and Ahimaaz, appear in 2Sa 8:17; 15:27, etc.. The line is paralleled by selected names in Ezr 7:1-5, and relatively late parts of it are paralleled in 1Ch 9:11 and Ne 11:11. The best explanation of certain phenomena in Chronicles is that the record was copied from originals that were more or less fragmentary. In some cases, also, a writer gives only such parts of a genealogy as are needed for his purpose. It is due to these causes that there are many omissions in the genealogical lists, and that they supplement one another. Allowing for these facts there is no reason why we should not regard the genealogies of Ahitub as having distract historical value.

(3) In the genealogies, in the seventh generation from Ahitub, the descendant of Eleazar, appears another Ahitub, the son of another Amariah and the father (or grandfather) of another Zadok (1Ch 6:11; 9:11, Ne 11:11). The list in Ezr 7 omits a block of names, and the Ahitub there named may be either 2 or 3. He is mentioned in 1 Esdras 8:2 and 2 Esdras 1:1, and the name occurs in Judith 8:1. In these places it appears in the English versions in the various forms: Ahitub, Ahitob, Achitob, Acitho.

Written by Willis J. Beecher