1 Samuel 14:3

3 And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, [the] brother of Ichabod, the son of Phinehas, that was engendered of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh, bare the ephod, that is, the priest's cloak; but also the people knew not whither Jonathan had gone (and the people did not know that Jonathan had gone).

1 Samuel 14:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:3

And Ahiah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother
Ichabod was the child that Phinehas's wife bore prematurely on hearing the news of the ark being taken and of the death of her husband and father-in-law, which name she gave him on that account, and died; see ( 1 Samuel 4:19-22 ) , he, it seems, had an elder brother, called Ahitub, who died young, and this Ahiah was the son of him; for not he, but Ahitub, was Ichabod's brother:

the son of Phinehas;
so Ichabod was:

the son of Eli;
so Phinehas was:

the Lord's priest in Shiloh;
this refers not to Ahiah for he was not now priest in Shiloh, which was destroyed: and besides, he was now in the camp of Saul; but to Eli, who when living exercised the priest's office in Shiloh:

wearing an ephod;
as Ahiah now did; not such as common priests wore, but the ephod the high priest wore, which had the breastplate of judgment, the Urim and Thummim, in it, by which inquiry was made, ( 1 Samuel 14:37 ) . The meaning of all this is, that the high priest is now with Saul, and the ark also, which and the high priest might be sent for on this occasion, ( 1 Samuel 14:18 )

and the people knew not that Jonathan was gone;
or they would have gone with him, namely, the military men that were particularly with him; he and Saul were in two different parts of Gibeah, with distinct bodies of men; whether the thousand that Jonathan first had with him all continued is not certain; it seems probable they did not; it can hardly be thought he should have more with him than were with Saul; see ( 1 Samuel 14:2 ) , though from ( 1 Samuel 14:17 ) they seem now to have been together.

1 Samuel 14:3 In-Context

1 And it befelled in a day, that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to his squire, a young man, Come thou, and pass we (over) to the station of the Philistines, which is beyond that place; soothly he showed not this same thing to his father. (And it befell one day, that Saul's son Jonathan, said to the young man who was his squire, Come thou, and go we over to the Philistines? station, or post, which is beyond that place over there; but he did not tell this to his father.)

2 And Saul dwelled in the last part of Gibeah, under a pomegranate tree, that was in the field of Gibeah; and the people as of six hundred men was with him. (And Saul remained in the last part of Gibeah, under a pomegranate tree, that was in Migron; and the people who were with him were about six hundred men.)

3 And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, [the] brother of Ichabod, the son of Phinehas, that was engendered of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh, bare the ephod, that is, the priest's cloak; but also the people knew not whither Jonathan had gone (and the people did not know that Jonathan had gone).

4 And betwixt the goings up, by which Jonathan endeavoured to pass to the station of (the) Philistines, were stones standing forth on ever either side, and scars broken before, by the manner of teeth, on each side (and broken scarps on each side, like teeth); (the) name to the one was Bozez, and (the) name to the tother was Seneh;

5 one scar was standing forth to the north (over) against Michmash, and the tother scar to the south (over) against Gibeah. (one scarp was to the north, facing Michmash, and the other scarp was to the south, facing Gibeah.)