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David and Elhanan
Dear Colleagues, friends, and list lurkers,
Before we throw out the baby with the bathwater concerning the
traditional view that David, rather than Elhanan, killed Goliath, and
before we posit differing traditions which led to separate accounts,
perhaps we should examine the text at 2 Sam. 21:19 with its parallel
in 1 Chronicles 20:5. (Please pardon my transliteration; its the best
I can offer currently)
2 Sam. 21:19: watehiy-(Od hammilHamah . . . wayak
'elHanan ben- ya(rey 'oregiym beyt hallaHmiy 'et golyat haggitti
we(ets HaniytO KimnOr 'oregiym
1 Chr. 20:5: watehiy-(Od hammilHamah . . . wayak
'elHanan ben- ya(iwr 'et-laHmiy 'aHiy golyat haggitti
we(ets HaniytO KimnOr 'oregiym
It appears to me that, rather than having differing traditions, we
have here a tremendous corruption of the text in 2 Samuel. I doubt
that anyone would be surprised that the texts of Samuel in BHS are
notoriously corrupt. One cannot help but note the many possibilities
of haplography or
dittography due to parablepsis. One notes especially the lHm root in
hammilHamah, hallaHmiy, and laHmiy, as well as the presence of
'oregiym twice in 2 Sam., but only once in Chronicles.
Perhaps someone on the Orion list could offer a reading from Qumran.
Cheers.
Dave Fouts, having returned recently from Israel
Bryan College