1 Chronicles 20 is the twentieth chapter of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Chronicles in the Old Testament of the ChristianBible.[1][2] The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE.[3] This chapter records the account of David's wars against the neighboring nations, especially the Ammonites and the Philistines.[4] The whole chapter belongs to the section focusing on the kingship of David (1 Chronicles 9:35 to 29:30).[1]
And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David's head: and he brought also exceeding much spoil out of the city.[13]
This passage contains the accounts of three battles against the Philistines involving David's mighty warriors out of the four reported in 2 Samuel 21:15–22.[4] The episode where Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, saved David from being killed by Ishbi-benob is not included in the Chronicles, probably to avoid the unpleasant impression of a Philistine endangering David, so the number "four" appearing in 2 Samuel 21:22 is also removed in the corresponding verse 8.[4] The Chronicles also harmonizes the confusing claims in the books of Samuel (1 Samuel 17:4, 50 and 2 Samuel 21:19) into a clearer statement in verse 5.[12]
And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver's beam.[17]
There was another battle with the Philistines in which Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear had a shaft as big as the crossbeam of a weaver’s loom.[18]
The Hebrew text comparison with the corresponding verse 2 Samuel 21:19 demonstrates that the Chronicles (composed after the Babylonian exile) provides clarification to the older text written before the exile, as can be seen here (Hebrew text is read from right to left):[19]
2 Samuel 21:19: ויך אלחנן בן־יערי ארגים בית הלחמי את גלית
English: "and killed Elhanan ben Jair Lahmi, brother of Goliath"
The relation of Lahmi to Goliath in the older text (Samuel) is only given using the word『’êṯ』which can be rendered as "together with; related to", whereas in the newer version (Chronicles), it is given using the word『’ă·ḥî』meaning "brother".[19] Therefore it is clear in the Chronicles that David killed Goliath (as recorded in 1 Samuel 17), then Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath.[4][20][21][22]
It is also noted that the word『’ōregîm』(meaning "weaver") is written only once in this verse, but it is found twice in 2 Samuel, the first of which is attached to the proper name "Jaare" to be "Jaare-oregim", which may create confusion with the second use of the word to describe the weapon of the Philistine.[19]
These were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.[23]
"The giant": from Hebrew: הרפא hā-rā-p̄ā, "Rapha"[24] (NET Bible), whereas in 2 Samuel 21:22 it is written as הרפה hā-rā-p̄āh, "Raphah."[25] By slightly changing a consonant, the Chronicler presents "Rapha's descendants" as "Rephaites", who are legendary "giants" mentioned in Deuteronomy 2:11, 20-21; 3:11-13. This elevates the significance of the mentioned battles, although it does not appear as such in the English translation.[4]
^Slick, Matt. "Who killed Goliath, David or Elhanan?". Bible Difficulties, Joshua - Esther, The Bible. Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry. November 28, 2008.
^Note [a] on 1 Chronicles 20:5 in NET Bible. Quote: "...it is likely that the accusative marker in front of לַחְמִי (lakhmi, "Lachmi") was originally בֵּית (bet), and that אֶת־לַחְמִי (ʾet lakhmi) should be emended to בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי (bet hallakhmi, "the Bethlehemite")."
Ackroyd, Peter R (1993). "Chronicles, Books of". In Metzger, Bruce M; Coogan, Michael D (eds.). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford University Press. pp. 113–116. ISBN978-0195046458.
Mabie, Frederick (2017). "I. The Chronicler's Genealogical Survey of All Israel". In Longman III, Tremper; Garland, David E (eds.). 1 and 2 Chronicles. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Zondervan. pp. 267–308. ISBN978-0310531814. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Codex Sinaiticus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
