Ahijah / Ahimelech (High Priest)

1 Samuel names two priests "son of Ahitub": Ahijah, who wore the ephod with Saul's army at the battle of Michmash (14:3, 18), and Ahimelech, chief priest of Nob, the city of priests near Jerusalem; they may be one man under two names or brothers. When David fled from Saul, he came to Nob, and Ahimelech gave him the sacred showbread, since no ordinary bread was on hand, and the sword of Goliath, kept wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod (1 Samuel 21). Doeg the Edomite, Saul's chief herdsman, saw it and reported it. Saul summoned Ahimelech and his family and accused them of conspiracy; Ahimelech defended David as Saul's most loyal servant. Saul's guards refused to strike the priests, so Doeg killed 85 men who wore the linen ephod and then put Nob to the sword, men, women, children and livestock (1 Samuel 22).

Only Ahimelech's son Abiathar escaped, fulfilling the warning against Eli's house. Psalm 52 is headed as David's response to Doeg's betrayal.