Hebrew Bible Study
Hebrew Bible Study

Kabbalah for I Kings 2:26

וּלְאֶבְיָתָ֨ר הַכֹּהֵ֜ן אָמַ֣ר הַמֶּ֗לֶךְ עֲנָתֹת֙ לֵ֣ךְ עַל־שָׂדֶ֔יךָ כִּ֛י אִ֥ישׁ מָ֖וֶת אָ֑תָּה וּבַיּ֨וֹם הַזֶּ֜ה לֹ֣א אֲמִיתֶ֗ךָ כִּֽי־נָשָׂ֜אתָ אֶת־אֲר֨וֹן אֲדֹנָ֤י יְהֹוִה֙ לִפְנֵי֙ דָּוִ֣ד אָבִ֔י וְכִ֣י הִתְעַנִּ֔יתָ בְּכֹ֥ל אֲשֶֽׁר־הִתְעַנָּ֖ה אָבִֽי׃

And unto Abiathar the priest said the king: ‘Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art deserving of death; but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou didst bear the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because thou wast afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.’

Zohar

And when the verse mentions "Laishah" or "poor Anatot" (the poorest of the poor), the meaning is the same as in, "of the priests that were in Anatot" (Jer. 1:1), and "Anatot, to your own fields" (I Kings 2:26). (These indicate poverty) What does (King Solomon) want to teach us? As long as King David was alive, Evyatar became wealthy and prosperous. But after that, (when King David died, he became poor). Solomon told him, "Anatot, to your own fields."
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Zohar

What is the true reason that Solomon called him (Anatot)? He wanted to tell him, during your days, my father lived in poverty, but now " go to your own fields." We should now explain why Evyatar was called Anatot. Should one assume that it was because he was from Anatot? We have already learned from the verse: "And one of the sons of Achimelech, the son of Achituv, named Evyatar, escaped" (I Sam. 22:20). And he came from Nov, the city of the priests. We have learned that Nov is also called Anatot and why is it called Anatot - because of the poverty and destitution to which it had been reduced by King Saul through the slaughter of all its priestly inhabitants. Nevertheless, Anatot was the name of a village and is not Nov. Rather, King Solomon called Evyatar Anatot, "because you were afflicted (Heb. hit'anita) in all that my father was afflicted" (I Kings 2:26) - and because he also came from the city of Nov. So the true reason is that, because King David lived in poverty in his days, he called him thus.
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