Elhanan, son of Jaare-oregim

The biblical Elhanan son of Jair (variant forms "Jaare-Oregim" in 2 Samuel 21:19, "Jesse" in 1 Samuel 17:12) is believed by conservative Bible scholars to be an earlier name of David, who later became the second King of Israel. (See also Elhanan son of Dodo .) In the ancient world it was common for people to be known by one name at one time in their lives and to be known by another name or names at later times (see retroactive nomenclature ). The name Elhanan is used in 2 Samuel 21:19 where he is mentioned as killing the Philistine giant Goliath and in 1 Chronicles 20:5, where in addition to Goliath he is also mentioned as killing Goliath’s brother Lahmi. The King James Version of the Bible adds the phrase “the brother of” before Goliath’s name, in order to avoid contradicting the better-known story that David killed the Philistine champion. The insertion is justified by a reference in Chronicles to Elhanan having killed Goliath’s brother.

Elhanan son of Jair-Oregim the Bethlehemite ( ’Elḥānān ben-Ya‘rê ’Ōrəḡîm Bêṯhallaḥmî ) appears in 2 Samuel 21:19, where he is credited with killing Goliath . As this contradicts the better-known story in 1 Samuel 17 in which it is the famous David who kills Goliath, the 4th century BC Book of Chronicles explains the second Goliath by saying (20:5) that Elhanan "slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath", possibly constructing the name Lahmi from the last portion of the word "Bethlehemite" (" beit-ha’lahmi " ). The King James Bible translators modified 2 Samuel 21:18–19 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 Beth–lehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam", although the Hebrew text at this point makes no mention of the word "brother"; the medieval Jewish authors of the Targum Jonathan solved the problem by explaining Elhanan as an alternative name for David. However, this makes it difficult to explain why David is called Elhanan in verse 19 but consistently David in the verses that surround it (15, 16, 17, 21, 22). The most widely accepted explanation is that the storytellers have displaced the deed from the obscure Elhanan to the more famous character, David, and that the event took place long after David's death. Klein, Narrative Texts: Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah , see section "Representative Changes in Chronicles of Texts Taken from Samuel-Kings" . See also Israel Finkelstein , "The Philistines in the Bible: A Late Monarchic Perspective", Journal for the Study of the Old Testament , 27:131:67.

Biblical character, killer of Goliath according to 2 Samuel 21:19 Elhanan, son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite ( ʾElḥānān 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." 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 ).

Biblical figure, killer of Goliath according to 2 Samuel 21:19 Elhanan, son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite ( Hebrew : אֶלְחָנָן בֶּן־יַעְרֵי אֹרְגִים בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי , romanized : ʾElḥānān ben-Yaʿrē ʾOrəgīm Bēṯ halLaḥmī ) appears 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." 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 ( ʾorəgim ).