Eli recently completed his MA at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, focusing on the Bible .Nowadays, he teaches Bible, Jewish Philosophy and Mathematics in ”The Beit Hinuch high school” in Jerusa
October 20th, 2009 01:55 PM ET

Who really killed Goliath?

We all know the story of the battle between David and Goliath. But if we look dipper into The Scriptures we can find two different answers to the question of who killed Goliath?

Version 1- David killed Goliath

According to 1 Samuel 17:49-50 David killed Goliath:

" וַיִּשְׁלַח דָּוִד אֶת-יָדוֹ אֶל-הַכֶּלִי, וַיִּקַּח מִשָּׁם אֶבֶן וַיְקַלַּע, וַיַּךְ אֶת-הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי, אֶל-מִצְחוֹ; וַתִּטְבַּע הָאֶבֶן בְּמִצְחוֹ, וַיִּפֹּל עַל-פָּנָיו אָרְצָה. וַיֶּחֱזַק דָּוִד מִן-הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי בַּקֶּלַע וּבָאֶבֶן, וַיַּךְ אֶת-הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי וַיְמִתֵהוּ; וְחֶרֶב, אֵין בְּיַד-דָּוִד."

"And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slung it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David."

Version 2-Elhanan killed Goliath

However, in 2 Samuel 21:19 we can see that Elhanan killed Goliath:

" וַתְּהִי-עוֹד הַמִּלְחָמָה בְּגוֹב, עִם-פְּלִשְׁתִּים; וַיַּךְ אֶלְחָנָן בֶּן-יַעְרֵי אֹרְגִים בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי, אֵת גָּלְיָת הַגִּתִּי, וְעֵץ חֲנִיתוֹ, כִּמְנוֹר אֹרְגִים. "

" And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Beth-lehemite slew Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam."

How could it be possible that two different men killed the same person?

Since there is no unequivocal answer we can only assume that one reason for this contradiction lies in the hands of the biblical author. Perhaps the author wanted to present David, who will later become the king of Israel, as a great warrior and to glorify the monarchy dynasty.

Another reason is that David and Elhanan simply was the same guy. When David was born is name was Elhanan and when he became a king his name was changed to David.
The bible tries to give us a simple expiation for this contradiction:
Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath and David killed Goliath as mentioned in 1 Chronicles 20:5-

"וַתְּהִי-עוֹד מִלְחָמָה, אֶת-פְּלִשְׁתִּים; וַיַּךְ אֶלְחָנָן בֶּן-יעור (יָעִיר), אֶת-לַחְמִי אֲחִי גָּלְיָת הַגִּתִּי--וְעֵץ חֲנִיתוֹ, כִּמְנוֹר אֹרְגִים."

"And there was again war with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam."

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Hebrew      Transcription    Translation
גָּלְיָת            golyāt            Goliath
דָּוִד             dāwid             David
אֶלְחָנָן          'elhānān         Elhanan
קְרָב             qerāb            Battle
אֶבֶן               'eben           Stone
אוֹתוֹ דָּבָר      'ôtô dābār      Same thing

Eli@eteachergroup.com

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About this blog
A blog for people who wants to know the Bible through the window of the original Hebrew to gain a deeper understanding of the text.