Zadok (or Zadok HaKohen, also spelled Ṣadok, Ṣadoc, Zadoq, Tzadok, or Tsadoq; , meaning "Righteous, Justified") was a Kohen (priest), biblically recorded to be a descendant from Eleazar the son of Aaron (). He was the High Priest of Israel during the reigns of David and Solomon (). He aided King David during the revolt of his son Absalom, was subsequently instrumental in bringing Solomon to the throne and officiated at Solomon's coronation. After Solomon's building of the First Temple in Jerusalem, Zadok was the first High Priest to serve there (). The prophet Ezekiel extols in the book attributed to him the sons of Zadok as staunch opponents of paganism during the era of pagan worship and indicates their birthright to unique duties and privileges in the future temple (). Hebrew Bible The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) states that Zadok was a patrilineal descendant of Eleazar the son of Aaron the high priest. (2 Samuel 8:17; 1 Chronicles 24:3) The lineage of Zadok is presented in the genealogy of Ezra (his descendant) as being of ninth generation of direct patrilineal descent from Phineas the son of Eleazar; Ezra 7:1, see 1 Chronicles 6:4–8 where he is placed eighth in descent from Phineas. In the biblical narrative, Zadok is first mentioned as coming to support David at Hebron. During the rebellion of Absalom, Zadok is mentioned, as he and the Levites wished to accompany the fleeing David and bring along the Ark of the Covenant, but the king instructed Zadok to remain at Jerusalem, where he and Abiathar could do him better service, so that it actually happened that Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, along with Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, brought the fleeing king a life saving message. In all these passages Zadok is mentioned in precedence to Abiathar. Zadok was also chief officer over the Aaronites. The term high priest is not used in the Hebrew scriptures from the time of Joshua until the reign of Joash. Both Zadok and Ahimelech were functioning in tandem as priests at the time of David's hasty exit from Jerusalem. When David first set up his cabinet, Zadok and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, were named as priests. After the Absalom rebellion, David rearranged his cabinet and replaced Ahimelech with his father Abiathar as the second priest to Zadok. This was probably due to Abiathar's support during the Absalom rebellion. Why Ahimelech was