We all know the story: young David, armed with nothing but a sling, takes down the Philistine giant Goliath in a dramatic one on one showdown. Everyone’s celebrating now! Stories spreading, songs being sung, a legend is born.
End of story… right?
Well, not quite.
Because buried later in the Old Testament is this head scratching verse:
“…Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite…” — 2 Samuel 21:19 (Masoretic Text)
So.. wait.. what? Elhanan killed Goliath?
To make things even more puzzling, another biblical account says:
“..Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite..”
— 1 Chronicles 20:5
Now we’ve got a problem: David killed Goliath, except… maybe Elhanan killed him, unless… it was actually Goliath’s brother?
In 2 Samuel 21:19 your bible might read something like this:
“Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.” — 2 Samuel 21:19 NET
Today most modern bibles add the phrase “brother of” in 2 Samuel 21:19. However, the phrase “brother of” (as in “the brother of Goliath”) does not appear in the original Hebrew text. It was inserted by later translators (for example, in the KJV) to harmonize this passage with 1 Chronicles 20:5, which states that Elhanan killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath.
Now, let’s look at the four main ways scholars and interpreters have tried to solve the mystery.
The Scribal Slip (In My Opinion, Most Likely)
This is the view you’ll likely find in most modern study Bibles.
The short version: the Samuel passage probably originally said “Elhanan… killed the brother of Goliath,” but somewhere along the way, a scribe accidentally dropped the words “brother of” (Hebrew: אַח, Pronounced ʾakh) and made a mix-up with the following name, Lahmi.
Plus, the Hebrew words that follow can look very similar and be easy to confuse:
How Hebrew Could Turn “Brother of Goliath” into “Goliath”
The Hebrew word for “brother of” (אַח, akh) is just two letters.
The Hebrew marker used to show the direct object (אֵת, et) looks very similar.
The word for “Bethlehemite” (הַבֵּית הַלַּחְמִי) can be misread as “Lahmi,” which sounds like a name.
So, in one simple mistake, the phrase “Elhanan the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath” could have become “Elhanan killed Lahmi”; or even just “Elhanan killed Goliath.”
The version in 1 Chronicles 20:5 appears to keep the original meaning intact: Elhanan killed Lahmi, who was Goliath’s brother.
Emanuel Tov, a leading scholar in Hebrew textual criticism, points out that the books of Samuel are among the most prone to copying errors in the Hebrew Bible. So, in my opinion, a small mistake like this is quite believable.
Two Different “Goliaths”
Some think that “Goliath” might have been a title, like “Pharaoh,” rather than a unique name. According to this idea:
David fought the famous Goliath of Gath.
Elhanan fought a different warrior with the same name or title.
This keeps both verses as they are but has no solid historical or archaeological support, making it more of a creative guess than a likely fact.
The Older Tradition Gave Credit to Elhanan
Some critical scholars think that the note in Samuel (“Elhanan killed Goliath”) might reflect an older tradition. Over time, the more detailed David and Goliath story in 1 Samuel 17 could have developed, assigning the famous victory to Israel’s national hero, David.
This kind of story growth isn’t unusual. But because 1 Chronicles 20:5 explicitly says “brother of Goliath,” it’s more likely that the Samuel text contains the copying error not the other way around.
Elhanan = David
Some ancient Jewish interpreters identified Elhanan as another name for David to resolve the contradiction. If that’s true, both “killed Goliath” because they are the same person.
This view appears in the Targum (an ancient Aramaic paraphrase) and Louis Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews.
But here’s the catch: Elhanan is also listed separately among David’s warriors (2 Sam. 23:24). So unless David was fighting himself, this explanation is more theological harmonization than historical fact.
Why, In My Opinion, the Scribal Error Wins
When you compare:
The Samuel and Chronicles wording side by side,
The tiny Hebrew words that are easy to mix up,
The known tendency for Samuel to contain small copying mistakes,
…the simplest explanation, following Occam’s Razor, stands out:
David killed Goliath.
Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother Lahmi.
Somewhere in transmission, “brother of” got dropped and the name got jumbled.
This solution preserves both heroes’ victories and fits the linguistic evidence. In fact, Kaspars Ozoliņš published a detailed reconstruction in Vetus Testamentum showing exactly how this letter by letter mistake could have happened.
Conclusion
Rather than undermining the Bible’s credibility, this puzzle shows us the reality of the very human process behind how Scripture was copied and preserved.
However, comparing manuscripts side by side lets us see where small scribal mistakes may have crept in over time.
In the end, David still gets credit for defeating the famous giant, Elhanan gets credit for taking down another warrior, and we gain a deeper appreciation for the Bible’s history.
What do you think?
Bible stories can be full of surprises, and sometimes little mix-ups that make us want to dig a bit deeper.
Have you ever stumbled on a verse that made you stop and wonder?
Feel free to leave your thoughts or questions in the comments. I’d love to hear from you and explore these stories together!
Works Cited
Bible Translations:
New English Translation (NET) Bible. Biblical Studies Press, 2005.
King James Version (KJV). Cambridge Edition, 1611.
Books and Articles:
Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. Fortress Press, 2012.
P. Kyle McCarter, II Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes and Commentary (Anchor Bible). Doubleday, 1984.
Ozoliņš, Kaspars. “Killing Goliath? Elhanan the Bethlehemite and the Text of 2 Samuel 21:19.” Vetus Testamentum 72, no. 4–5 (2021): 716–733.
K.A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Eerdmans, 2003.
Bruce K. Waltke and Michael O’Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Eisenbrauns, 1990.
Additional Resources:
Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews. Jewish Publication Society, early 20th century.
Targum Jonathan (Aramaic Paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible).
Disclaimer: This article was polished with the help of AI tools to improve clarity and flow.
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Thank you for this breakdown! Why do you (or “they”) think 1 Samuel is more prone to copying errors?