Over at the TCI, we’ve just published a new article by Kaspars Ozoliņš on the question of who killed Goliath. The issue, if you’re unfamiliar (like I was), is that 2 Sam 21.19 is clearly in conflict with 1 Samuel 17:
And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
It also doesn’t match the parallel text in 1 Chron. 20.5:
And there was again war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jair struck down Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
Kaspars argues that a series of scribal mistakes explains the differences between the two verses and that, once sorted, 2 Sam 21.19 offers no conflict with 1 Sam 17. I should note that the version Kaspars has published at TCI is a summarized version of his more detailed argument published recently in Vetus Testamentum.
I should also mention that, after reading his article, I checked the NET Bible notes and they offer basically the same solution (in much condensed form).
In any case, since we don’t have comments over at the TCI, I thought folks may want to discuss the argument here.
Disciple Dojo has also dealt with this on YouTube, under "A mistake in the Bible!".
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DeleteAdmin., ....Thank you!
DeleteOzolins' solution seems probable to me, but I'm not an expert on OT textual criticism.
ReplyDeleteOne might wonder, though, is it as large a problem as it is made out to be sometimes? There is a little evidence that Goliath was a family name: a Peya the son of Gulatu appears in the El-Amarna letters (292 and 294) in the same area (he apparently attacked Gaza and Joppa). If Goliath was a family name, there's a possibility that Lahmi was also called Goliath by many people. (2 Chronicles 21:2 is an example of two brothers having nearly identical names.)
ReplyDeleteSo, if Lahmi was also known as Goliath (like Solomon was also known as Jedidiah, 2 Sam. 12:25), there is no clear contradiction between those two verses of the Bible.
One can understand why scholars believe the two verses came from the same account originally--they're very similar. But not all differences are corruptions of the text: the writers of the books could leave out some information that was available to them, such as saying that the battle was at Gob.
Because there are no significant variants in 2 Sam. 21:19 and in 1 Chron. 20:5, it seems like the translators of many versions in the past were wise to "broadly agree with each respective verse in the Hebrew Masoretic tradition."
But it isn't just that these two verses in Samuel and Chronicles are very similar. The whole section of 2 Sam 21:18-22 and 1 Chron 20:4-8 is very similar, and often word-for-word the same for stretches of multiple words. And these parallel sections occur within a long series of such parallels between Samuel-Kings and Chronicles that must be the result of the author of Chronicles using Samuel and Kings as sources.
DeleteYes, it's pretty clear that the author of Chronicles was using Samuel. And he used other sources too. If he had learned from another source that the giant's name was Lahmi, he could add it when he wrote 1 Chronicles 20:5 even if it did not appear in 2 Samuel 21:19. But I'll grant that that idea involves speculation that cannot be proven, like many proposals to resolve apparent discrepancies require possibilities that cannot be proven. (The writer of Chronicles may have decided to omit " בְּג֖וֹב , at Gob" and " אֹרְגִ֜ים בֵּ֣ית הַלַּחְמִ֗י , -oregim, a Bethlehemite", but seeing "lhmi" remined him that the giant was named Lahmi, so he added it. Of course, this is not very convincing to most scholars, given the other similarities to Samuel.)
DeleteAs I said earlier : "Disciple Dojo has also dealt with this on YouTube, under "A mistake in the Bible!"." Have you considered his contribution?
DeleteI haven't, mostly because I prefer thoughtful articles over videos, which too often sacrifice content for more views. Also, in the time that it takes to watch a video, much more information can be read in an article and processed better to boot.
DeleteA reply that is a bit on the haughty side? Why not both read articles and also watch the video?
DeleteElhanan ben Jaare-oregim killed the brother of Goliath, Lahmi. That's all.
ReplyDeleteElhanan ben Jaare-Oregim = Elhanan ben Jair (Oregim)
2 Samuel 21.19: Goliath = Lahmi
1 Chronicles 20.5: Lahmi = Lahmi
2 Samuel 21.22... These four were the descendants of Rapha who lived in Gath; they were killed by David ...
Four, and five with Goliath, symbol of the five stones... 1 Samuel 17.40
The three instances in which a Goliath of Gath is mentioned (1 Sam 17:4, 2 Sam 21:19, 1 Chron 20:5) do not provide in my view sufficient starting points in the critical apparatus to justify a text-critical explanation of the texts.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, a simple explanation is very obvious. Koehler/Baumgartner, 1953 s.v. gives the meaning of the name Goliath: Champion of the Philistines. Benjamin Davidson in his Ananlytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon derived the name from גלה, to open, uncover. Something like: The Shining One.
It is striking that the name Goliath is regularly and only linked to the city of Gath. What is more obvious than that we are dealing here with the Champion Fighter of Gath of that year. Or someone who had behaved very bravely on the battlefield earlier, and who deserved the honor of bearing that name.
It needs little imagination then, that only the most dangerous fighters from Gath could bear this champion's title. It was David who was able to beat a Goliath of Gath (1 Sam 17:4). And later also Elhanan the Son of Jaare-Oregim could beat a Goliath of Gath (2 Sam 21:19). And last but not least Elhanan the son of Jair did beat Lahmi, who was a brother of a Goliath of Gath. This Lami was also a dangerous fighter as the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam.
In my view a natural explanation should always be satisfying.