Person Old Testament
Abinadab
Abinadab was one of the sons of Jesse and an older brother of King David, but he was not chosen to be anointed as king by Samuel. Mentioned in 3 verses across 2 books, first at 1 Samuel 16:8.
Why it matters. Son of Jesse, brother of David
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Abinadab
Abinadab was the second son of Jesse, a Bethlehemite, and an older brother of King David (1Sa.16.8; 1Ch.2.13). When the prophet Samuel came to Jesse's house to anoint one of his sons as the next king of Israel, Abinadab was presented to him. However, the Lord had not chosen Abinadab, and Samuel continued to inquire until David, the youngest son, was brought before him and anointed (1Sa.16.6-13).
Abinadab, along with his brothers Eliab and Shammah, served in Saul's army during the war against the Philistines (1Sa.17.13). They were present when David, their youngest brother, arrived at the battlefront and challenged the Philistine champion Goliath (1Sa.17.17-28).
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 3 verses across 2 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.