Elhanan, son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite () appears in 2 Samuel 21:19, where he is credited with killing

Goliath Goliath ( ) was a Philistines, Philistine giant in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's giant, immense stature vary among biblical sources, with texts describing him as either or tall. According to the text, Goliath issued a challen ...

: "There was another battle with the

Philistines Philistines (; LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philistines origi ...

at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

ite killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam." In 1 Chronicles 20:5, he is called Elhanan, son of Jair ( ''ʾElḥānān ben-Yāʿīr''), indicating that ''Jaare-oregim'' is a garbled corruption of the name

Jair In the Hebrew Bible, Biblical Book of Judges, Jair or Yair ( ''Yā’īr'', "he enlightens") was a man from Gilead. He was of the Tribe of Manasseh and also descended from the Tribe of Judah (Numbers 32:39-41, 1 Chronicles 2:21-23). Jair Hebrew ...

and the word for "beam" used in the verse (''ʾorəgim''). The passage in 2 Samuel 21:19 poses difficulties when compared with the story of David and Goliath in

1 Samuel 17 1 Samuel 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samu ...

, leading scholars to conclude "that the attribution of Goliath's slaying to David may not be original," but rather "an elaboration and reworking of" an earlier Elhanan story, "attributing the victory to the better-known David."

Resolution with the story of David and Goliath

Crediting Goliath's death to David instead of Elhanan results in inconsistency. Some harmonistic solutions have been offered by later writers and translators within both Jewish and Christian traditions: *The 4th century BCE

Books of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( , "words of the days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of the Jewish Ta ...

resolved it by describing how "Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite" ( 1 Chronicles 20:5). The name ''Lahmi'' is thought by biblical source critics to be a construction from the last portion of the word "Bethlehemite". *The

Targum Jonathan The Targum Jonathan () is the Aramaic translation of the Nevi'im section of the Hebrew Bible employed in Lower Mesopotamia ("Babylonia"). It is not to be confused with "Targum Pseudo-Jonathan," an Aramaic translation of the Torah. It is often kn ...

, a translation of the Hebrew scriptures into

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

, identified Elhanan with David as both were from Bethlehem (Targum Jonathan 2 Samuel 21:19), although this creates yet another problem in that Elhanan is listed as one of David's followers and the killings occur in different places. *The

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...

harmonized 2 Samuel 21:19 with 1 Chronicles 20:5 by supplying the words ''the brother of'' (in smaller text, replaced in later printings with italic text) to make it read as if Elhanan had slain Goliath's brother: "And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare–oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew ''the brother of'' Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear ''was'' like a weaver's beam." *Other evangelical translations, such as the

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is a translation of the Bible into contemporary English. Published by Biblica, the complete NIV was released on October 27, 1978, with a minor revision in 1984 and a major revision in 2011. The NIV relies ...

and

New English Translation The New English Translation (NET) is a free, "completely new" English translation of the Bible, "with 60,932 translators' notes" sponsored by the Biblical Studies Foundation and published by Biblical Studies Press. History and textual basis ...

, have followed the King James Version in modifying 2 Samuel 21.19, with the latter offering an apologetic argument that the text had become corrupt in transmission. *Some commentators believe that the Goliath killed by Elhanan was different than the Goliath killed by David. They argue that Goliath was a nickname for Lahmi, similar to how

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

was nicknamed as Elias. Or that Lahmi adopted Goliath as a second name after the real Goliath's death.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * {{The Bible and warfare Goliath People from the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy) People from Bethlehem Books of Chronicles people

Resolution with the story of David and Goliath

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography