1 Samuel 14:3

Ahiah, the son of Ahitub. (See on 1 Samuel 13:9 .) It is interesting to find the house of Eli recovering at last from its disaster, and one of its members duly ministering in his office before the king. It has been debated whether he was the same person as Ahimelech, mentioned in 1 Samuel 21:1 , etc; the supposition being grounded on the fact that Ahiah is never spoken of again. But he may have died; and with regard to the argument drawn from the similarity of the names, we must notice that names compounded with Ah (or Ach), brother, were common in Eli's family, while compounds with Ab , father, were most in use among Saul's relatives. Ahiah or Ahijah means Jah is brother ; his father is Ahitub, the brother is good ; why should he not call another son Ahimelech, the brother is king? Jehovah's priest in Shiloh. This refers to Eli, the regular rule in Hebrew being that all such statements belong, not to the son, but to the father. Wearing an ephod. Literally, ephod bearing. The ephod, as we have seen on 1 Samuel 2:18 , was the usual ministerial garment; but what is meant here is not an ordinary ephod of linen, but that described in Le 1 Samuel 8:7 , 1 Samuel 8:8 , wherein was the breastplate, by which Jehovah's will was made known to his people, until prophecy took its place. All this, the former part of the verse, must be regarded as a parenthesis.