ABINADAB
(ah bin' uh dab) HEBREW: AVINADAV
"my father is noble"
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A prominent resident of Kiriath-jearim, a hill town northwest of Jerusalem, Abinadab provided a sanctuary for the ark of the covenant for many years. The Philistines had captured the ark which had been taken from its sanctuary at Shiloh. But when the Lord afflicted them with a plague, the Philistines put the ark as a cart pulled by two cows and sent it back across the border to a town near Kiriath-jearim. Not knowing how to treat such a holy object, the people turned to Abinadab, who was apparently a priest. He brought the ark to his hilltop house and consecrated his son Eleazar "to have charge of the ark of the Lord" (1 Sam. 7:2). The ark remained there 20 years befor David moved it to Jerusalem.
{E2 Dictionary of Biblical People}