David's son(s) Eliphelet

Question

I came across 1 Chronicles 3:6 and 1 Chronicles 3:8 today, which discusses some of David's children. The translation I was reading has 2 instances of the name Eliphelet. I noticed that some translations, such as the NLT, have it as Elipelet in 3:6, but the majority seen to agree with the same spelling.

Anyway, it got me wondering whether or not David had 2 children with the same name, Eliphelet. If so, is there a story behind that? If there is only one child with that name, why is it duplicated?

Here is the quote from the NCV version I was reading:

David’s other nine children were Ibhar, Elishua, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

Answer 1

The first of the two names, which occurs in 1 Chr. 3:6, is אֱלִיפָלֶט with a ָ  (kamatz) under the פ, thus Elifalet (Eliphalet). The second of the two names, which occurs in 1 Chr. 3:8, is אֱלִיפֶלֶט with a ֶ  (seggol) under the פ, thus Elifelet (Eliphelet). The LXX (ed. Rahlfs) has Ελιφαλετ for both.

Note: I am not sure if אֱלִיפָלֶט has a ָ  rather than ֶ  because it is in pause.

Answer 2

This same observation has been made before about Elishama/Elishua in these same verses (see KJV).

If there's a story here, we can't really know what it is from the text. Options may include:

• it's possible that the later children were given this name because the previous child of the same name died.
• perhaps these children were named by their mothers. Verses 6-8 are curious in that they no longer list the mothers of the children, which could be because they were from women not otherwise mentioned or else because nobody remembered which of them they came from.
• it could be that one of these children were named purely on the meaning of the name: Eliphalet is "God is release", and Elishama is "God hears". If some sort of precipitous event surrounded the events of these children being born, perhaps these names were just too appropriate for the situation regardless of what previous children had already been named.