Abinadab

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ABINADAB

ABINADAB (Heb. אֲבִינָדָב; "my [or "the"] Divine Father is generous"; the root נדב is a common element in West Semitic names), the father of Eleazar, Aḥio, and Uzzah, who resided in Kiriath-Jearim. The ark was brought to Abinadab's home after its wanderings in the Philistine cities and remained there for a period of 20 years. When David undertook to move the Ark by oxcart to Jerusalem (ii Sam. 6:3–4; i Chron. 13:7), Abinadab's son Eleazar was appointed to guard the ark (i Sam. 7:1). Abinadab's two sons, Uzzah (perhaps identical with Eleazar) and Aḥio, marched the one beside or behind and the other in front of it. Josephus relates that Abinadab and his sons were Levites (Ant., 6:18; 7:79), a datum unsupported by other sources.