Biblical character, killer of Goliath according to 2 Samuel 21:19
Elhanan, son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite (Hebrew: אֶלְחָנָן בֶּן־יַעְרֵי אֹרְגִים בֵּית הַלַּחְמִיʾElḥānān ben-Yaʿrē ʾŌrəgīm Bēṯ halLaḥmī) is a character in 2 Samuel 21:19, where he is credited with killing Goliath:
"There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam."[1]
In 1 Chronicles 20:5, he is called Elhanan son of Jair (אֶלְחָנָן בֶּן־יָעִיר ʾElḥānān ben-Yāʿīr), indicating that Jaare-oregim is a garbled corruption of the name Jair and the word for "beam" used in the verse (ʾōrəgīm).[2] The passage in 2 Samuel 21:19 poses difficulties when compared with the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, leading scholars to conclude "that the attribution of Goliath's slaying to David may not be original," [3] but rather "an elaboration and reworking of" an earlier Elhanan story, "attributing the victory to the better-known David." [4]
Resolution with the story of David and Goliath
Crediting Goliath's death to David instead of Elhanan results in inconsistency.[5] A number of harmonistic solutions have been offered by later writers and translators within both Jewish and Christian traditions:
The 4th century BC Book of Chronicles resolved it by describing how "Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite" (1 Chronicles 20:5), constructing the name Lahmi from the last portion of the word "Bethlehemite" (beit ha-lahmi).[5]
The Targum, a translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Aramaic, identified Elhanan with David as both were from Bethlehem (targum 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.[6]
The King James Version 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."[7]
Other evangelical translations, such as the New International Version and New English Translation, 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.[8]
Some commentators believe that the Goliath killed by Elhanan was different than the Goliath killed by David. [9]They argue that Goliath was a nickname for Lahmi, similar to how John the Baptist was nicknamed as Elias. Or that Lahmi adopted Goliath as a second name after the real Goliath's death. [10]
Avalos, Hector I. (1993). "Goliath". In Metzger, Bruce M.; Coogan, Michael D. (eds.). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780195046458.
McKenzie, Steven L. (2007). "1 Samuel". In Coogan, Michael D.; Brettler, Marc Z.; Newsom, Carol A.; Perkins, Pheme (eds.). The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN9781598560329.
