to Elhanan, one of David's mighty men.
One of the myths of Christianity is the infallibility of the
bible. Quoting Paul, some Christians insist every word in the
bible is "God-breathed." (2 Timothy 3:16). When you identify
contradictions in the bible, they either refuse to acknowledge
them or try to rationalise them away with highfalutin
apologetics. However, these apologetics have not made the
contradictions disappear. All they do is establish that these
bible-fanatics are not committed to the truth.
Christians generally believe little David killed mighty Goliath,
according to the "infallible" account of 1 Samuel 17:50-51.
This feat is drummed into us from childhood. We act in plays
celebrating David's victory. We listen to sermons extolling his
achievement. However, the same "infallible" bible also credits
the killing of Goliath to Elhanan, one of David's mighty men.
This contradiction leads to the inevitable conclusion that while
the bible might indeed be a highly inspired book, it is
nevertheless not infallible.
Bible discrepancies
2 Samuel says: "There was another battle with the Philistines
at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair from Bethlehem killed
Goliath from Gath." (2 Samuel 21:19). This record of Elhanan
(as opposed to David) killing Goliath can be found in the
following bible translations among many others: New
International Version (NIV); American Standard Version
(ASV); New American Standard Bible (NASB); New
American Standard Bible, Updated Edition (NASU); The
Amplified Bible (AMP); Revised Standard Version (RSV);
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV); and Today's English
Version (TEV).
Other bible translations of the same 2 Samuel 21:19 say
Elhanan killed "the brother of Goliath." These translations
include the King James Version (KJV); New King James
Version (NKJV); The Living Bible (TLB); and New Living
Translation (NLT).
Of the latter, the New King James Version is remarkably
unreliable. As a matter of policy, King James sometimes adds
its own words to bible verses, effectively doctoring their
meaning. In its own defence, it warns its readers in its
introductory pages that: "words or phrases in italics indicate
expressions in the original language which require
clarification by additional English words." The need for such
dubious "clarification" led the New King James Version to
alter 2 Samuel 21:19 as follows: "Again there was war at Gob
with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim
the Bethlehemite killed THE BROTHER OF Goliath the
Gittite."
Although the translation says Elhanan slew "the brother of
Goliath;" the words "the brother of" are written in italics,
indicating that they do not appear in the original Hebrew text
but were added at the discretion of NKJV translators. This
leads to the following conclusion: either the original Hebrew
of 2 Samuel 21:9 was not infallible, or the doctored 2 Samuel
21:9 of NKJV is not infallible. Whichever is the case, it
means the bible is not infallible. The bible is a book written
and compiled by men; and men are not infallible.
Who killed Goliath?
However, my purpose here is not just to demonstrate the
fallibility of the bible. Bible-worshipping Christians will
always reject that fact no matter what. My purpose is to
determine if David killed Goliath. Faced with the dilemma of
contradictions between 1 and 2 Samuel, the author of 1
Chronicles, written centuries after 2 Samuel; says: "There was
another battle with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jair
killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath from Gath." (1
Chronicles 20:5).
The question then arises as to which version we are going to
believe? Should we believe the classical position that David
killed Goliath, or should we believe the equally biblical
position that Elhanan killed Goliath?
For a number of reasons, the account stating that David killed
Goliath is the less believable. It is in the tradition of kings and
rulers to take credit for other people's achievements under
their kingdom. David was no exception to this. For example,
when Joab captured Rabbah, he tactfully gave the credit to
David. David himself went along with this charade and
pretended that he was the one who took the city. (2 Samuel
12:26-31).
It would appear that originally the killing of Goliath was part
and parcel of a collection of tales extolling the exploits of
David's mighty men of war known as "The Thirty." Elhanan
was one of them. He distinguished himself by killing a mighty
Philistine called Goliath. But in the process of magnifying the
great King David, his substitution as the killer of Goliath was
not long in coming.
Saul and wDavid
The account of David killing Goliath is so full of
contradictions that it is clear it is the fabricated version. One
of the problems with the account has to do with the inability
of bible-writers to determine precisely when David first met
Saul.
We are told that when Saul transgressed against the Lord, God
sent an evil spirit to trouble him. (1 Samuel 16:14). Someone
then recommended to Saul that he should hire David to play
the harp, offering the dubious thesis that soothing music is a
demon-repellent. But then the man recommending David said
something strange: he extolled David, a young teenager who
was not even old enough to be in the army, as a man of war:
"I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in
playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war." (1 Samuel
16:18).
This description is a giveaway. It is obviously written after the
fact. There is no basis for describing David, a youth keeping
sheep, as "a mighty man of valour" and "a man of war." By
all accounts, David was not even a man yet.
On this recommendation, Saul sent word to Jesse, David's
father, that his son should be seconded to him. However,
David entered Saul's service not as a harp-playing musician,
but as his armour-bearer, even though we are told later that
Saul's armour was too heavy for David. (1 Samuel 17:38-39).
Nevertheless, whenever Saul came under attack by the evil
spirit, David would play a harp and the evil spirit would
depart. Saul quickly took a liking to David, and he sent to his
father a second time that David's secondment to him should
become permanent. (1 Samuel 16:22).
However, when we get to the incident where David is alleged
to have killed Goliath, we discover to our surprise that this
same David, who was supposed to be Saul's armour-bearer/
musician, had never met Saul before. In that contradictory
account, David was just a young boy tending sheep. His
father sent him to deliver lunch to his two brothers at the war-
front. On arriving there, he found Goliath terrorizing
everybody and offered to fight against him.
He was then brought to Saul who, on meeting him for the
very first time, said to him: "You are not able to go against
this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a
man of war from his youth." (1 Samuel 17:33). However, in
the earlier version, David was specifically introduced to Saul
as "a man of war." Contrary to the earlier account where Saul
sent emissaries to David's father twice, he now did not know
who David's father was. He asked Abner, his military
commander: "Whose son is this young man?" (1 Samuel
17:55). (Continued).
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