The natural heir to the throne, on the death of Absalom, he sought with the help of Joab and Abiathar to seize his birthright, and made arrangements for his coronation (1 Kings i.
It is possible that the writer (or writers) desired to trace the earlier history of the ephod through the line of Eli and Abiathar to the time when the Zadokite priests gained the supremacy (see Levites); but elsewhere Abiathar is said to have borne the ark (1 Kings ii.
That at least the greater offices were hereditary - as in the case of the sons of Zadok, who succeeded to the royal priesthood in Jerusalem after the fall of Abiathar - was almost a matter of course as society was then constituted, but there is not the slightest trace of an hereditary hierarchy officiating by divine right, such as existed after the exile.
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One fragmentary source alludes to a journey to the Midianite or Kenite father-in-law of Moses with the Ark (q.v.); another knows of its movements with David and the priest Abiathar (a name closely related to Jether or Jethro; cf.
An intricate historical problem is involved at the outset in the famous ephod, which the priest Abiathar brought in his hand when he fled to David after the massacre of the priests of Nob.