Bart D. Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus: The Story behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (New York: Harper, 2005), p.9.
Jesus didn’t specifically affirm that Abiathar was the high priest. Instead, Jesus said, “He entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest” (Mk. 2:26). In the very next chapter of 1 Samuel, Saul had Ahimelech killed, so Abiathar took over as high priest (1 Sam. 22). Therefore, he was alive and involved turning this period that Jesus mentioned. Jesus identified him as the high priest to identify him as a historical figure. This would be similar to referring to referring to President Bill Clinton meeting President John F. Kennedy as a teenager. While Clinton wasn’t the President yet, it would still be perfectly appropriate to refer to him as the President to easily identify him.
John Wenham may have the best solution (as usual!). He noted that Mark used the same construction (epi Abaithar archiereōs) to refer to Moses “in the account of the bush” (epi tou batou, Mk. 12:26). Thus, this could be rendered “in the account of Abiathar the high priest.” Lane concurs, “Mark may have inserted the reference to Abiathar to indicate the section of the Samuel scroll in which the incident could be located.” This makes a considerable amount of sense—especially “since Abiathar was the only survivor of the slaughter of the priests of Nob (22:20) and in fact became much more noteworthy than his father.”
Bart D. Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus: The Story behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (New York: Harper, 2005), p.9.
That is, both use the genitive to describe this era of history. J. W. Wenham, “Mark 2, 26,” JThS n.s. 1 (1950), p. 156.
Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (p. 116). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Youngblood, R. F. (1992). 1, 2 Samuel. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel (Vol. 3, p. 728). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
James earned a Master’s degree in Theological Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, graduating magna cum laude. He is the founder of Evidence Unseen and the author of several books. James enjoys serving as a pastor at Dwell Community Church in Columbus, Ohio, where he lives with his wife and their two sons.