2 Samuel 21:19

21:15-22 These events seem to have taken place towards the end of David's reign. David fainted, but he did not flee, and God sent help in the time of need. In spiritual conflicts, even strong saints sometimes wax faint; then Satan attacks them furiously; but those who stand their ground and resist him, shall be relieved and made more than conquerors. Death is a Christian's last enemy, and a son of Anak; but through Him that triumphed for us, believers shall be more than conquerors at last, even over that enemy.

(19) Jaare-oregim. —The parallel place, 1Chronicles 20:5 , reads simply “Jair.” It is generally supposed that “oregim(= weavers ) has accidentally crept into the text from the line below, and “Jai” and “Jaare” are the same with a slight transposition of the letters. Another name for the same person must have been “Dodo,” if this Elhanan, as seems altogether probable, is the same with “Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,” one of the thirty-seven heroes, in 2Samuel 23:24 . The brother of.—These words, not found in the Hebrew here, are taken from Chronicles, where also the name of the giant, “Lahmi,” is given. It is quite possible, however, that the word “Beth-lemite,” which is wanting in Chronicles, is a corruption of “Lahmi the brother of.” There is a curious Jewish tradition that this Elhanan was David himself, and this has been preserved in the paraphrase of the Chaldee, “and David the son of Jesse, the weaver of veils for the sanctuary, who was of Bethlehem, slew Goliath the Gittite.”

2 Samuel 21:19 . Elhanan, a Beth-lehemite — Another of David’s worthy and valiant commanders. Slew the brother of Goliath — The relative word, brother, is not in the Hebrew text, but is properly supplied out of the parallel place. 1 Chronicles 20:5 , where it is expressed. The staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam — For thickness; that is, like the large roller on which the cloth is fastened in weaving.

19 . in Gob ] The Sept. reads Rom (B) or Gob (A), and Chron. omits the name of the place altogether. where Elhanan , &c.] Lit. and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, slew Goliath the Gittite . The words the brother of are conjecturally inserted in the E. V. from 1 Chron. They are not found here in the Hebrew text, or in any of the ancient versions. The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 20:5 reads and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite . Now (1) the reading Jair is certainly preferable to Jaare-oregim . Oregim , the word for weavers in the line below, was inserted by a careless scribe, and the Hebrew letters of Jair ( יעיר ) transposed so as to read Jaare ( יערי ). (2) The letters of the words Beth-lehemite, Goliath , which stand together in the Heb. text, so closely resemble those of Lahmi the brother of Goliath , that it is almost certain that one reading is an accidental corruption of the other. But which is the original it is not easy to decide. There is no difficulty in supposing that another giant, beside the one slain by David, bore the name of Goliath. Another Elhanan of Beth-lehem is mentioned in ch. 2 Samuel 23:24 . There is a curious Jewish tradition, preserved in the Targum and by Jerome ( Quaest. Hebr. in libros Regum ), identifying Elhanan with David.

The Targum here paraphrases thus: “And David, the son of Jesse the weaver of veils for the sanctuary, who was of Beth-lehem, slew Goliath the Gittite.” But there is no evidence whatever in support of this idea. the staff of whose spear , &c.] Cp. 1 Samuel 17:7 ; 1 Chronicles 11:23 . The shaft of his spear, short, but extraordinarily stout and heavy, was popularly compared to the “beam” to which the web is fastened in a loom.

Verse 19. - Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Beth-lehemite, slew Goliath the Gittite. The words "the brother of" are inserted by the Authorized Version in order to bring this place into verbal agreement with 1 Chronicles 20:5 , where we read that "Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite." The Jewish Targum had the same reading as that still found in the text, but regards Elhanan, "God is gracious," as another name for David, and, instead of Jair or Jaare, reads Jesse. Its translation is as follows: "And David the son of Jesse, the weaver of veils for the sanctuary, who was of Bethlehem, slew Goliath the Gittite." Possibly the Authorized Version is right in concluding that the present text is a corruption of that in 1 Chronicles 20:5 . For, first, the repetition of oregim , "weavers," is suspicious, the Hebrew being, not "weaver's beam," but the plural "weavers' beam," menor oregim. Next, Jaare is a transposition of the letters of Jair (in the Hebrew) made probably in order that the compound Jaare-oregim may obey the rules of Hebrew grammar. More important is it to notice that Lahmi is part of the word "Bethlehemite" (Hebrew, Beth-hallahmi ), and might thus easily suggest to the eye of a scribe the completion of so well known a word.

The Hebrew text is manifestly very corrupt. First, for "Jaare-oregim," 1 Chronicles 20:5 gives us the reading Jair. "Oregim" has evidently got in by a transcriber's error from the line below, where "oregim" is the Hebrew for "weavers." Again, the word the "Bethlehemite" is very doubtful. It is supported by 2 Samuel 23:24 , but it is not found in the far purer text of 1 Chronicles 20:5 , but instead of it we find the name of the Philistine slain by Elhanan, "Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite." It is probable, therefore, that either the words "the Bethlehemite," are a corruption of "Lahmi," or that the recurrence of "Lahmi," and the termination of "Beth-lehemite" has confused the transcriber, and led to the omission of one of the words in each text.

Elhanan. The brother of Goliath the Gittite: the relative word brother is not in the Hebrew text, but is fitly supplied out of the parallel place, 1 Chronicles 20:5 , where it is expressed. And such defects of relatives are not unusual in Scripture. Thus the word wife is understood, Matthew 1:6 John 19:25 ; and father or mother , Mark 15:40,47 , compared with Mark 16:1 Luke 24:10 ; and son , Matthew 4:21 Mark 2:14 John 21:15 ; and brother , Luke 6:16 , compared with Judges 1:1 . And such ellipses do also frequently occur in profane authors. Although the place may be and is otherwise rendered, Elhanan, the son of Jaare-oregiro, slew Beth-halachmi , or Lahmi , (as he is called by way of abbreviation, 1 Chronicles 20:5 , which is very frequent in the Hebrew tongue,) who was (which words are frequently understood in the Hebrew text) with (so eth is oft rendered, as hath been noted before) Goliath the Gittite , i.e. in his company, bred up with him to the war, and related to him as his brother. Or, he slew Beth-halachmi , a Goliath (or another Goliath) of Gath, or the Gittite. So the name of the giant was Beth-halachmi , who may be here called Goliath , not only for his near relation to him, being his brother, but for his exact resemblance of him in feature, or in stature and strength, or in courage and military skill; as John the Baptist was called Elias for the like reason.

15-22. Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel—Although the Philistines had completely succumbed to the army of David, yet the appearance of any gigantic champions among them revived their courage and stirred them up to renewed inroads on the Hebrew territory. Four successive contests they provoked during the latter period of David's reign, in the first of which the king ran so imminent a risk of his life that he was no longer allowed to encounter the perils of the battlefield.