Who named the wrong priest in Mark 2:26?

Here's a story Jesus told about David according to Mark 2:23-28 (ESV):

   One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of1 Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

And this is the story he was talking about in 1 Samuel 21:1-6 (ESV):

   Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

Note that the name of the priest according to the Tanakh was Ahimelech and Jesus (according to Mark) calls him Abiathar. Someone made a mistake. Was it Jesus in recalling the story or Mark in recording Jesus' words?

The ESV included the following note at the place marked 1 in the Mark passage:

   2:26 Or in the passage about

Initially that sounds like it might free us from viewing this as a mistake, but since the passage doesn't mention Abiathar at all, it doesn't much help.

This is one of Professor Bart D. Ehrman's favorite examples of problems in the Bible and he cites it in Misquoting Jesus as the passage the convinced him the Bible is not inerrant.

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In literal frameworks, the rule of unity says that apparent contradictions should each be accepted as true, with the confidence that the contradiction will be resolved in a higher unity.

Application of this rule gives us the Trinity in the face of the apparent contradiction that there is only one God, but the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are each God.

A corollary is that if a plausible answer exists that explains the apparent contradiction, it should be accepted as the 'higher unity'.

A higher unity is one where the mistakes which cause the apparent contradiction are resolved:

Reality - a mistaken concept of what is really real can produce contradictions. If eternity is timeless, and creation occurred in eternity, then there is no contradiction in the evidence of apparent long times required for light from distant stars to travel to earth, and the short time required for radiation halos in rock.

Understanding - Words are reusable symbols for a plethora of ideas. Their use produces ambiguity of meaning.

"The time" of Abiathar" is ambiguous. It does not state that Abiathar was high priest. Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech. The bread belonged to the priests and plausibly even belonged to Abiather. Certainly it was not unheard of for the high priest to have assistance in the performance of his duties, as Samuel was known to do for Eli.

Therefore, the solution is that Abiathar was assisting in the tabernacle when David approached Ahimelech. Ahimelech was uncomfortable even with the presence of David, but Abiathar was disposed to help him and since it was his bread, prevailed upon Ahimelech to give it to David. Since we presume that not all conversations are recorded exhaustively, it is not difficult to imagine a brief conversation taking place concerning the disposition of bread belonging to the priest to whom it had been given. Could an adopted son of a priest eat the bread? Abiathar later joined David and was appointed high priest by him.

The compromise was that they had been separate from women for three days. The grave of Christ separated him from the flesh for three days, after which, he was the High Priest. And through his adoption of us makes us a nation of priests. David's and his men were made to be priest's figuratively, by being separate from the flesh for three days.

Intentional 'mistake'

The first case of a mistaken name of a high priest occurs when Uzziah is called Azariah. The king as a type of Christ "did everything according to his father", "offered himself in the tabernacle as the burnt offering/sweet savor of offering/incense", "bore our sin/made leprous", "cast out of the camp", and then "became the high priest/was called by the name of the high priest".

Uzziah and Azariah represent Christ in the flesh and resurrection. Likewise Ahimelech and Abiathar represent Christ in the flesh and in resurrection. Ahimelech was put to death, and Abiathar ruled in his place as appointed by David.

Jesus used the same type of riddle that he found in scripture concerning Uzziah and Azariah (2 Kings 15:5-6). It was an intentional 'mistake' intended to point us to types of Christ buried in the riddles and apparent contradictions.

   Ps 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings [riddles] of old:

   Pr 1:6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings [riddles].