Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 21:19
And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew [the brother of] Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear [was] like a weaver’s beam.
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 ( ) transposed so as to read Jaare ( ). (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.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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 transcribers 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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
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 oregim, which signifies weavers, has slipped out of one line into the other; and that beith hallachmi, the Beth-lehemite, is corrupted from 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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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 weavers beam, in thickness. See 1Sa 17:7.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines,…. Another battle with them in the same place:
where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew [the brother of] Goliath the Gittite; the word “brother” is rightly supplied from
1Ch 20:5; where his name is said to be Lahmi, for not Goliath himself was slain, though some so interpret it, and take Elhanan to be David; so Jarchi, and with which agrees the Targum; but he was slain not at Gob, but in the valley of Elah, nor had David any such name as Elhanan; he was one of David’s worthies, 2Sa 23:24; where he is called the son of Dodo, and in 1Ch 20:5, the son of Jair; and Lahmi there may not be the name of Goliath’s brother, but, as here, the country name of Elhanan; for the words z there may be rendered,
“and Elhanan the son of Jair, the Lehemite (i.e. the Bethlehemite), slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite,”
and so perfectly agrees, with this:
the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam; not of Goliath’s brother, but of Goliath himself, 1Sa 17:7.
z Vid. Buxtorf. Anticritic. par. 2. c. 2. p. 421.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(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.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
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, , menor oregim, beam of weavers, , beth hallachmi, the Beth-lehemite, is a corruption of , 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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Sa 21:19. A battle in Gob with the Philistines Houbigant, with whom Calmet agrees, observes, that both here and in the next verse, the reading of the parallel place, 1Ch 20:4-5 is to be preferred. It is there read, in Gezur, a city on the borders of Israel, near the Philistines; and as David slew Goliath, our translators, 2Sa 21:19 have inserted the words, the brother of. There can be no question, we think, that the text must be corrected from the parallel place in Chronicles. Houbigant reads it, where Elhanam, the son of Jair, a Beth-lehemite, slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath, a Gittite, &c. Commentators have collected various instances of men, who, like the giant mentioned in 2Sa 21:20 have had six fingers on their hands, and six toes on their feet. Tavernier, in his relation of the Grand Seignior’s Seraglio, p. 95 tells us, that the eldest son of the emperor of Java, who reigned in the year 1648, when he was in that island, had six fingers on each hand, and as many toes on each foot, all of equal length: and, not to be tediously prolix in recounting such instances, M. Maupertuis, in his 17th Letter tells us, that he met with two families at Berlin, where six-digitism, as he calls it, was equally transmitted both on the side of father and mother.
REFLECTIONS.The Philistines, though subdued for a season, yet now, towards the latter end of David’s reign, attempt to shake off their yoke and recover their liberty, emboldened in the attempt by those giants whose fall is here recorded.
1. David, though old, would himself lead his troops to battle. Being singled out by Ishbi-benob the giant, and not now, as in the days of youth and vigour, able to wield the shield and spear, he is in imminent danger of being slain, when Abishai bravely succours him, and enables him to slay the giant, or smites him himself (for the text will bear either sense). Struck with the danger that their king had escaped, the great officers and people about David resolve that he shall no more expose a life so valuable, lest, by any accident, this light of Israel should be extinguished. Note; (1.) Age creeps upon us so silently that we do not perceive it, till experience proves us unequal to our former undertakings. (2.) The enemies of God’s people, confident of their power, think nothing can resist them; but they learn, to their cost, that it is in vain to fight against God. (3.) When we are ready to faint in our spiritual conflicts, Jesus, our captain, is near to succour us; and through his help we shall come off conquerors.
2. Three other battles soon followed, the Philistines making a desperate push to recover their losses: but in each they are defeated, and the mighty warriors who led them slain. And thus the race of the sons of Anak was rooted out by David and his servants. Note; (1.) While we are in this world, we must expect continual conflicts, with the enemies of our souls. (2.) The giant-like corruptions of our heart will fall before the victorious grace of Jesus.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the brother of Goliath. Omit the italics, and understand another giant of the same name as the Goliath of 1Samuel 17.
staff. Hebrew “wood”, put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause) for what was made from it. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Elhanan: etc. Instead of , of the text, we should certainly read, as in the parallel text, “and Elhanan the son of Jair, slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath.” 1Ch 11:26
Jaareoregim: or, Jair, 1Ch 20:5
Goliath: 1Sa 17:4-11
Reciprocal: 1Sa 17:7 – the staff
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Sa 21:19. Elhanan, a Beth-lehemite Another of Davids 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 weavers beam For thickness; that is, like the large roller on which the cloth is fastened in weaving.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
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] {p} Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear [was] like a weaver’s beam.
(p) That is, Lahmi the brother of Goliath, whom David slew, 1Ch 20:5.