Abinadab

Abinadab is the name borne in the UPDV by several Israelite figures across the period from the ark's return out of Philistine territory to Solomon's administrative reorganization. The name surfaces in four distinct settings: a Kiriath-jearim householder whose house lodges the ark of Yahweh for two decades, a son of Jesse who passes before Samuel and later marches with Saul, a son of Saul who falls with his father at Mount Gilboa, and the father of one of Solomon's regional purveyors.

The Kiriath-jearim Householder

After the ark's return from Philistine territory, the men of Kiriath-jearim install it in Abinadab's hill-house and consecrate his son Eleazar as its keeper: "the men of Kiriath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of Yahweh, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of Yahweh" (1 Samuel 7:1). Abinadab is named directly as the householder whose hill-house receives the fetched-up ark and whose son is installed as ark-keeper. The duration of that lodging is then registered as twenty years: "And it came to pass, from the day that the ark remained in Kiriath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after Yahweh" (1 Samuel 7:2).

Long after that interval, when David undertakes to bring the ark up to Jerusalem, Abinadab's house is again the departure-point. In the Samuel account: "brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in the hill: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the cart" (2 Samuel 6:3). The hill-house is named once more as the ark's previous keeper, and the procession out of it is led by two sons of Abinadab — Uzzah and Ahio — who drive the new cart. The next verse continues the procession: "with the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark" (2 Samuel 6:4). The Chronicler's parallel preserves the same household-as-departure-point: "they carried the ark of God on a new cart, [and brought it] out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart" (1 Chronicles 13:7). Across all three reports Abinadab functions as the hill-house head whose domestic custody of the ark ends and whose sons supply the cart's drovers.

The Son of Jesse

When Samuel comes to Bethlehem to anoint a king from among Jesse's sons, Abinadab is the second to pass before him: "Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither has Yahweh chosen this" (1 Samuel 16:8). The same Abinadab is then named again among the three eldest of Jesse's sons who have gone out under Saul to the Philistine campaign: "And the three eldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah" (1 Samuel 17:13). The two notices place this Abinadab between his elder brother Eliab and his younger brother Shammah in Jesse's house and out in Saul's army.

The Son of Saul

Among Saul's sons Abinadab is the figure occupying the position the earlier list calls Ishvi. The first roster reads: "Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishvi, and Malchishua; and the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger Michal:" (1 Samuel 14:49). At the battle of Gilboa the three sons who fall with Saul are named: "And the Philistines stuck [closely] on Saul and on his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul" (1 Samuel 31:2). Between Jonathan above and Malchishua below, the slot held by Ishvi in the earlier list is held by Abinadab in the death-notice.

Ben-Abinadab and Solomon's Administration

A fourth Abinadab surfaces only as the father of a Solomonic district officer in the list of twelve purveyors: "Ben-abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as wife);" (1 Kings 4:11). Here the name appears in the patronymic compound Ben-abinadab, identifying the officer over the Dor-height district who is also Solomon's son-in-law through Taphath.