2 Samuel 21:19

2Sa 21:19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew [the brother of] Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear [was] like a weaver’s beam.

Ver. 19. Slew the brother of Goliath.] The name of this monster was Lahmi, {1Ch 20:5} but it may be, that after his brother’s death, he took and bore his name, or that he was called Goliath, as we say of a very huge or strong man, that he is another Hercules, a second Samson. Albert, Marquis of Brandenburg was called Achilles Teutonicus.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Sa 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. 1Ch 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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21:19 Some traditions identify Elhanan as David, principally because Elhanan was also from Bethlehem and because David killed Goliath (1 Sam 17:48-51). But it is more likely that the words brother of were omitted from the Masoretic Text by scribal error.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, Lahmi the brother of Goliath, whom David slew, 1 Chron. 20:5.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 19. Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim - slew - Goliath the Gittite] Here is a most manifest corruption of the text, or gross mistake of the transcriber; David, not Elhanan, slew Goliath. In 1Ch 20:5, the parallel place, it stands thus: "Elhanan, the son of Jair, slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear-staff was like a weaver's beam." This is plain; and our translators have borrowed some words from Chronicles to make both texts agree. The corruption may be easily accounted for by considering that ארגים oregim, which signifies weavers, has slipped out of one line into the other; and that בית הלחמי beith hallachmi, the Beth-lehemite, is corrupted from את לחמי eth Lachmi; then the reading will be the same as in Chronicles. Dr. Kennicott has made this appear very plain in his First Dissertation on the Hebrew Text, p. 78, &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) Jaare-oregim.—The parallel place, 1Ch_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 2Sa_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.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 1Ch_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. 2Sa_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. 1Sa_17:7; 1Ch_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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And there was yet a battle in Gath,.... Besides the battles in the above place or places; for this does not necessarily suppose that one of the said battles had been there, only that this, which was another battle, had been there:

where was a man of great stature; for so the sense of the word appears to be from Ch1 20:6; though here it signifies a man of strife and contention, a man of war, and both were true of him:

that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; twelve fingers on his two hands, and twelve toes on his two feet. Pliny (a) speaks of one M. Curiatius, a patrician, who had two daughters that had six fingers on an hand, and were called "Sedigitae", six-fingered; and of Volcatius, a famous poet, called "Sedigitus", or six-fingered, for the same reason; and elsewhere, from other writers (b) he makes mention of a people that had eight toes each foot; so Ctesias (c) speaks of a people in the mountains of India, which have eight fingers on each hand, and eight toes on each foot, both men and women:

and he also was born to the giant; a son of a giant.

(a) Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 43. (b) Megasthenes apud ib. l. 7. c. 2. (c) In Indicis, c. 31.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Hebrew text is manifestly very corrupt. First, for “Jaare-oregim,” 1Ch 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 2Sa 23:24, but it is not found in the far purer text of 1Ch 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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Adeodatus, the son of Forrest. So it is rendered in the Latin Vulgate, by giving the interpretation of the Hebrew names, which are Elhanan, the son of Jaare. (Challoner) --- We should translate all the proper names, or none; as the present mode is extremely perplexing. Adeodatus might therefore be rendered, "God given;" (Dieudonne, as the French have it, though they will not translate Saltus, but leave Jaare) or, if Adeodatus must remain, as it is sometimes a proper name, why may not Saltus? A mere English reader might suppose that Forrest was a Hebrew name, and , with Swift in jest, maintain the high antiquity of our language. (Haydock) --- Regularly proper names should be retained. (Calmet) --- But the learned have often chosen to give the import of foreign names, in the language in which they have been writing. See Du Thou’s History. Thus Dubois is styled Sylvius; Newman, Neander; &c. --- An embroiderer. Protestants make this a part of the man’s name, "Jaare-oregim." Septuagint, "the son of Ariorgeim." In 1 Paralipomenon xx, no notice is taken of his profession. (Haydock) --- That passage will evince that Elhanan is not the same with David, as some would infer from the mention of Goliath’s death, but the son of Jair, uncle of Joab, (chap. xxxiii. 24.) who was born at Bethlehem, though the verse in Paralipomenon would insinuate less correctly, that the giant’s name was Lechem, thus, "Elehanan....slew Lechem, the brother," &c., as the copyist had written ath instead of bith. (Calmet) --- Our version has not this mistake: "Adeodatus, the son of Saltus, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath, the Gethite," &c., 1 Paralipomenon xx. 5. (Haydock) --- "It would be difficult to find a passage more disfigured than the present; and, without the help of the Paralipomenon, it would be impossible to make it out." (Calmet) --- Kennicott makes a similar remark. (Diss. i. and ii.) But he believes that the Book of Chronicles, though the latest, and usually the most corrupt, of the Old Testament, is here perfectly correct; and that the passage before us is strangely corrupted, "Jaare Oregim, a Bethlehemite," being placed instead of , ..."Jaor slew Lahmi," as he thinks that oregim, "weavers," has been inserted from the line below, p. 79. Josephus ([Antiquities?] vii. 10.) relates this transaction as follows, "When the king had sent a fresh army against them, Nephan, his relation, displayed the greatest valour. for engaging in a single combat with the bravest man of the Philistines, and killing his antagonist, he caused the rest to turn their backs, and many of the enemy fell in that battle." Thus he evades all the difficulty, adding much out of his own head; and by Nephan, designating Elehanan, the son of his (Joab’s) uncle, (chap. xxiii. 24.) or Dodo, a word which the Vulgate renders patrui ejus, "his paternal uncle," though it hat a wider signification, and denotes other relations. Hence, as Joab was the nephew of David, this brave man might be in the same degree, and born of one of the children of Isai; or, perhaps, Josephus infers that he was a kinsman of David, because he was of the same city. (Haydock) --- Goliath. He might have the same name as his brother, who had been slain by David forty-three years before; (Salien) or the title of brother may only signify, that this giant resembled the former in size and strength, Proverbs xviii. 9. --- Beam. See 1 Kings xvii. 7. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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, 1Ch 20:5, where it is expressed. And such defects of relatives are not unusual in Scripture. Thus the word wife is understood, Mat 1:6; Joh 19:25; and father or mother, Mar 15:40,47, compared with Mar 16:1; Luk 24:10; and son, Mat 4:21; Mar 2:14; Joh 21:15; and brother, Luk 6:16, compared with Jud 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, 1Ch 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. Peradventure also, after the death of the first and famous Goliath the Gittite, 1Sa 17, that name was either given to him by others, or taken by himself.

Like a weaver’s beam, in thickness. See 1Sa 17:7.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim — This text, in the Hebrew, is certainly corrupt. Our translators have partially emended it by inserting the brother of, from 1Ch_20:5. The word oregim is transferred from the end of the verse, מנור ארגים, menor oregim, beam of weavers, בית הלחמי, beth hallachmi, the Beth-lehemite, is a corruption of את לחמי, eth lachmi, the name of Goliath’s brother, called Lahmi in Chronicles. We consider the text in Chronicles as the correct one, and this passage as corrupted by some early transcribers.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 1Ch_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 1Ch_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. We must add that among the thirty Gibborim is "Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem." Whoever slew Goliath"s brother would certainly attain to high rank among the heroes, but if the name Jair is right, the Elhanan there spoken of is not the person who slew Lahmi.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Elchonon. Dovid.

The son of Yari [whose family] were weavers. His family weaved the partition curtain of the Beis Hamikdosh that is [also] called a forest.

Like that of the weaver's rod. [Yonoson translates:] "Like the weaver's rod," that is called "ensouple" in O.F. Let a weaver come and stand up against a weaver['s instrument].

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.