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In 2 Samuel 21, we are told that Goliath was killed by Elhanan:
19 In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod. NIV1984
But previously Goliath was killed by David:
50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. NIV1984
How is this possible - is this a contradiction in the Bible?
See: 1 Chronicles 21:25:
And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver's beam.
Goliath in Samuel 21 is actually Goliath's brother.
It could be that the original audience of the Bible understood that the name Goliath could refer to both siblings or the text in Samuel may be slightly corrupted.
This is most likely a redactional error. As Amichai points out, in Chronicles 21:25 it is clearly Lahmi the brother of Goliath that is slain by Elhanan, not Goliath.
According to this revealing article, originally the verse in Samuel read exactly like the one in Chronicles. But then errors crept in the text and became defective; instead of את לחמי אחי גלית הגתי it read את לחמי את גלית הגתי. Instaed of אחי, "the brother", it became את "the". This of course presented a problem for a subsequent scribe as the verse wasn't readable, "And Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim killed Lahmi, Goliath the Gittite." (The word Oregim was also in the wrong place, as it clearly belongs to the end of the verse כמנור ארגים. This was yet another error in redaction). Whom did he kill, Goliath or Lahmi? Besides, Lahmi never occurs anywhere else in the bible as a proper name (besides for the Lahmi that appears in Chronicles, of course, of which this particular scribe wasn't aware). In order to deal with this problem, the scribe edited the words את לחמי to בית הלחמי, “the Bethlehemite.” Now the verse would read better, “And Elhanan, son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite.”
This is clearly the best solution to resolve the apparent contradiction in the book of Samuel itself, plus it effectively explains the similarities between Samuel and Chronicles and the minor differences that exist between them.
This contradiction is addressed by many of the commentators on the verse in II Samuel.
Solomon Ben Isaac writes that Elhanan is in fact David. Thus both verses are stating that Goliath was killed by David. Though not adduced by Solomon as support for his contention, the Aramaic translation of Jonathan Ben Uziel renders Elhanan as David. (In his commentary to Chronicles, Solomon does quote Jonathan Ben Uziel, but there he adds another explanation that there were two different Goliaths.)
Joseph Kara states that Elhanan cannot be a reference to David, and since David killed Goliath, "Goliath" must be referring to someone other than Goliath who was killed by David. He supports this by noting that in Chronicles the verse states that Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath.
David Kimhi argues that the Hebrew word את, which is often dropped in translation, can also mean "with", so that the verse is actually saying that Elhanan killed someone with Goliath – and as per Chronicles that someone was Goliath's brother. He also notes that Jonathan Ben Uziel translates Elhanan as David, but says that he has no idea what that's about.
David Altshuler echoes Kimhi's translation of את as "with", as well as the reference to Chronicles where the person is described as Goliath's brother.
This is a contradiction obviously. Brother of Goliath was inserted by KJV translators, brother is not present in older texts. KJV editors altered to "square" the discrepancy . How much else of this editing has gone on?
I know of a certainty that the giant mentioned in 2 Samuel 21:19 is not the same giant. The two events in 1 and 2 Samuel are completely different. David killed Goliath while Saul was king and David was king when the second giant was killed. Nobody ever seems to notice that. So it was Lahmi or anyone else for that matter who was killed in 2 Samuel. There were other giants killed as well during that time. So the two events in Samuel are separate events. The first was when Saul was king and the second was when David was king. So the only real question, if there needs to be one, is why was 2 Samuel written the way it was? I believe there is an answer if we search long and hard. In any case, 1 Chronicles clears everything up anyway.
The NIV and all other versions have been used by the devil to corrupt the church. There is nothing in any modern version that can't be found in the King James, but there are doctrines in the King James Bible that can't be found in modern versions.
Try this test and prove me wrong. https://www.bible-truth.org/NIVtest.html
The study of Higher Criticism in Biblical Literature indicates four strands of histort. (J,E,D, and P). The J and E histories contain many double narratives because the early J history stories told by word of mouth are repeated by the Ephraimites and those stories by word of mouth dropped the Judah tribal names and replaced them with the tribal names of the Ephraimites. Think of the children's game of gossip where circled, each child whispers what the preceding child relayed in the ears of the next child. By the time the message has returned to the first child, it is not atall what was originally said. "Word of mouth" bible stories produced doubles narratives like this one: Example: "David killed Goliath, the Hittite, whose shew was like a weaver's beam" changes in 2nd Samuel 21:19 to: Elhanan killed Goliath. 1611, King James, not wanting to "change God's Word, added in italics: "the son of" Goliath. The RSV Bible removed it because it was not in the original Hebrew. My research this morning also indicated not "the son of" but "the brother of.) Scholars later added the D or Deuteronomic Code and P, The Priestly writings,thus making the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy. My biblical professor had a favorite message in all the 40 credit hrs of class time I had with him: "Those who know the Bible, and that's all they know, do not know the Bible." Then he would say: "The Bible is a record of the revelation of God, given to a particular people, as much as they are willing and able to receive." Jesus said (Apocrypha) "Why do you marvel at what I do, seek and find, and all these things will be given to you." Or to summarize both persons: "Research." Tom Edison did this 10,000 times lookingfor the correct filament for the electric lightbulb. He continued with 8001 because he knew the answer was already there! From the wheel to the Space Ship to the 4th dimension is tge revelation of God given to a particular people as much as they are willing to "seek and find" and receive. -Rev, Marvin Purser, 83 now, 6531 Johnson St. Hollywood, Fl.33024-7734. Ordained Disciples of Christ minister. My closet friends have always been Jews. lol!
