Abinadab(ben abinadab)
“Father of willingness or father of nobility”
Summary
The name of four men in Scripture, most notably the Levite in whose house the ark rested for twenty years after its return from Philistia.
☩Keeper of the Ark
Abinadab was a Levite of Kirjath-jearim in whose house, located on a hill, the ark of the covenant was placed after the Philistines returned it. When the men of Beth-shemesh were struck down for looking into the ark, the men of Kirjath-jearim were summoned to take charge of it. They sanctified Abinadab's son Eleazar to keep the ark. It remained in his house for about twenty years until David finally brought it to Jerusalem, when Abinadab's descendants Uzzah and Ahio drove the new cart carrying it.
☩Other References
Three other men bore this name: Jesse's second son, who followed Saul in the campaign against the Philistines when Goliath challenged Israel; one of King Saul's sons who died with him at the battle of Mount Gilboa; and the father (or the man himself, as 'Ben-Abinadab') of one of Solomon's twelve district governors who married Solomon's daughter Taphath.
Related Verses14 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Abinadab," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. I (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Abinadab," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. I (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).