Came across this article and felt I should put it before the house. The writer did sound convincing anyway, but then it's an issue of faith because this particular tale in the bible is the precusor to many other tales in the life of David. Happy reading and share your views.

The same “infallible” bible also credits the killing of Goliath 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 David

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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Part 2

Christians are confronted with the following contradictions about David in the bible. David is “a young boy, untrained for war:” David is a “skilled warrior.” David is living at home: David is living with Saul. David enters Saul’s service as a harp player: David enters Saul’s service as a Goliath-fighting warrior. Saul knows David and his father: Saul does not know David and his father.

Nevertheless, these turn out to be minor contradictions. There are more major ones in the bible that effectively lead to the conclusion that the whole story of David killing Goliath is fabricated.

Choice of David

The terms of the combat between the Israelites and the Philistines were ostensibly laid down by Goliath. Instead of having the two armies battle it out, he said: “Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” (1 Samuel 17:8-9).

When David offers to meet this challenge, Saul is said to have told 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). It therefore beggars belief that Saul would then agree to put the fate of the whole nation of Israel on the shoulders of inexperienced young David. While fully acknowledging that there is nothing God cannot do, it is not credible that Saul would agree that Israel should be represented by David’s incompetence, after all no directive about this came from God.

The idea that Saul may have been persuaded by David’s tale of having killed a lion with his bare hands just won’t cut it. Such tall tales are not believed without proof. Even more ludicrous is Saul’s agreement that little David should fight mighty Goliath without armour and with nothing but a catapult. Rather than provoke a revolt by his regular soldiers, Saul would have selected one of his trained and experienced military officers to do the job.

Two different killings

And then there is the problem of the actual killing of Goliath. Did David kill Goliath with a catapult or did he kill him with a sword? The bible is double-minded, recording two contradictory oral traditions side-by-side. As a result, David killed Goliath twice. The first time, he killed him with a catapult: “So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and KILLED HIM. But there was no sword in the hand of David.” (1 Samuel 17:50-51). The second time, David killed him with a sword: “Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and KILLED HIM, and cut off his head with it. (1 Samuel 17:51).

We are then told what David did with Goliath’s head: “David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. (1 Samuel 17:54). This is nothing but pure fiction. David could not have taken Goliath’s head to Jerusalem at this time because the Israelites had not yet captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites.

According to 2 Samuel, Jerusalem was not captured from the Jebusites until after David became King: “The time came when King David and his men set out to attack Jerusalem. The Jebusites, who lived there, thought that David would not be able to conquer the city, and so they said to him, ‘You will never get in here; even the blind and the crippled could keep you out.’ (But David did capture their fortress of Zion, and it became known as ‘David’s City.’)” (2 Samuel 5:6-7).

This suggests then that, in the original story, David was already king when Goliath was killed. Indeed, in the version crediting Elhanan with killing Goliath, David is already king and Elhanan is a member of his elite fighting squad. (2 Samuel 21:19).

More anomalies

The confusion in the bible account is compounded by the fact that while we are told in 1 Samuel 17:54 that after killing Goliath, David carried his head to Jerusalem; three verses later we are told he carried it elsewhere: “Then, as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.” (1 Samuel 17:57).

David was then made a General in the Israeli army, and we are told this promotion of a young upstart over older more-experienced soldiers pleased everyone including Saul’s officials. (1 Samuel 18:5). This is nothing short of political propaganda.

City of refuge

But the clincher is as follows. After ostensibly killing Goliath, David became so popular that Saul soon saw him as a threat to his throne. He was determined to kill him and David had to run for his life. Of all the places that David could find to seek refuge, he ended up in Philistine territory: “That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of GATH.” (1 Samuel 21:10). This is absolutely incredible. How could the arch-enemy of the Philistines seek refuge in Philistine territory? Of all the cities that David could choose for safety, he chose Gath, the very hometown of Goliath: “So David dwelt with Achish at GATH, he and his men, each man with his household.” (1 Samuel 27:3).

This is conclusive proof that David did not kill Goliath. If he did, the last place he would seek refuge would be in Goliath’s hometown. That is a sure way to get him killed. But according to the bible record, David not only lived for years among the Gittites, the people of Gath, he was even prepared to go to war on their side against Israel. However, the Philistine commanders objected on the grounds that he could not be trusted: “He must not go with us into battle, or he will turn against us during the fighting. How better could he regain his master’s favor than by taking the heads of our own men? Isn’t this the David they sang about in their dances: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?” (1 Samuel 29:4-5).

This is another giveaway. It shows that whatever tens of thousands David killed; they could not have been Philistines and certainly could not have included Goliath the Gittite. As a matter of fact, when David became king, his bodyguards were 600 Philistines headed by Ittai the Gittite. (2 Samuel 15:18-22). If after all this you still think David killed Goliath the Gittite, then you are entitled to your gullibility.

Let me try and draw some more plausible conclusions than the classical David killed Goliath fable. David was a soldier in Saul’s army. He performed such great exploits that the people sang about him killing tens of thousands to Saul’s thousands. Saul felt threatened by David and decided to kill him. David sought refuge in Philistine territory. After David became king, Elhanan killed the Philistine champion called Goliath. His head was then brought to Jerusalem. (Continued).
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Carrying incomplete book up and down