Ahimelech

Ahimelech (meaning brother of the king or my brother is king) was the son of Ahitub and the high priest at Nob, a city of priests near Jerusalem. When David fled from Saul, Ahimelech gave him the consecrated showbread to eat and provided him with the sword of Goliath, which was kept at the sanctuary. This act of hospitality was reported to Saul by Doeg the Edomite, and Saul summoned Ahimelech and the entire priestly community of Nob before him. When Ahimelech defended his action as taken in innocent good faith, Saul ordered the massacre of the priests — eighty-five men in all — carried out by Doeg when Saul's own guards refused the command. Ahimelech's son Abiathar alone escaped.

The episode marks a moral low point of Saul's reign and explains Abiathar's loyalty to David, with whom he fled and served as priest throughout David's fugitive years and early reign. Jesus cites Ahimelech's gift of the showbread in defense of his disciples' plucking grain on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:3–4), appealing to the principle that human need may take precedence over ceremonial restriction.