Bible Strands
1 Kings 2:26
Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death at this time, since you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and you suffered through all that my father suffered.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — King Solomon addresses Abiathar the priest immediately after ordering Adonijah’s execution. Solomon commands Abiathar to leave Jerusalem and return to his ancestral lands rather than face capital punishment.
The words — לֵ֣ךְ (lekh) is the imperative “go” or “go back,” directing Abiathar’s departure. שָׂדֶ֔י/ךָ (sa.Dei./kha) translates literally to “your fields,” specifying the exact territory of his exile.
The thread — Anathoth is designated as a Levitical inheritance in Joshua 21:18. Abiathar’s earlier flight to David is documented in 1 Samuel 22:20, and the phrase “deserve to die” mirrors the judicial warning in 1 Samuel 26:16.
Why it lands — The passage records a calculated clemency that spares a former priest from execution while permanently removing him from the priesthood. A reader must observe that Solomon’s stated gratitude for past service functions as the legal rationale for a political banishment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, 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.
Cross-references
- Joshua 21:18 Anathoth, and Almon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.
- 1 Samuel 22:20 But one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub escaped. His name was Abiathar, and he fled to David.
- 1 Samuel 26:16 This thing you have done is not good. As surely as the LORD lives, all of you deserve to die, since you did not protect your lord, the LORD’s anointed. Now look around. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were by his head?”
- 2 Samuel 15:24 Zadok was also there, and all the Levites with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had passed out of the city.
- Jeremiah 1:1 These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.
- Matthew 10:42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”
- 1 Samuel 23:6 (Now Abiathar son of Ahimelech had brought the ephod with him when he fled to David at Keilah.)
- 2 Samuel 12:5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
- 1 Kings 1:7 So Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, who supported him.
- 1 Kings 1:25 For today he has gone down and sacrificed an abundance of oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’