Please Support the Bible Translation Work of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

$5.00

2 Samuel 21:19 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

¹⁹ And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath[1] the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

1 Chronicles 20:5 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

⁵ And there was again war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jair struck down Lahmi the brother of Goliath of Gath,[2] the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

Norman L. Geisler writes,

PROBLEM: First Samuel 17 records the dramatic story of how David the son of Jesse killed the giant Goliath. However, 2 Samuel 21:19 says clearly: “Elhanan … killed Goliath the Gittite.” But both texts cannot be right.

SOLUTION: The 2 Samuel text is probably a scribal error in copying the manuscript and should read “Elhanan … slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite.” This conclusion is supported by a parallel report of the story in 1 Chronicles 20:5 which has the missing highlighted phrase “Lahmi the brother of,” thus showing it was the brother of Goliath that Elhanan killed and not Goliath, whom David slew just as 1 Samuel 17 reports.[3]

We have the one text that refers to “Jaare-oregim,” while the other reads “Jair,” and this is the only place in Second Samuel where we find the term “Bethlehemite” [בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי Beth Hallachmi], while Chronicles is the only place that contains the name “Lahmi” [אֵת לַחְמִי eth-Lachmi], so we have the majority of commentators suggesting a copyist’s error.

Elhanan was the son of Jair who struck down Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite. (1Ch 20:5) In 2 Samuel 21:19 Elhanan is identified as “the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite,” and as we are discussing, it is said that he struck down Goliath. However, many scholars believe that the original reading of 2 Samuel 21:19 resembled 1 Chronicles 20:5. The difficulty came about through a scribal error. Hence, the original reading of 2 Samuel 21:19 probably read, “got to strike down Lahmi,” bringing it into harmony with the parallel text at 1 Chronicles 20:5. Therefore, Lahmi was apparently the brother of the Goliath that David killed. Then, again, it is possible, that there were two Goliaths.

A. Cohen remarked that there is no problem in the belief that there were two Goliaths, stating also that Goliath may have been a descriptive title like “Pharaoh,” “Rabshakeh,” “Sultan. (London, 1951, 1952)

[1] MT “the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath” 1 Chron. 20:5 “the son of Jair struck down Lahmi the brother of Goliath”

[2] Or Goliath the Gittite

[3] Thomas Howe; Norman L. Geisler. Big Book of Bible Difficulties, The: Clear and Concise Answers from Genesis to Revelation (Kindle Locations 2223-2226). Kindle Edition.