Elhanan, son of Jaare-oregim

Elhanan, son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite (Hebrew: אֶלְחָנָן בֶּן־יַעְרֵי אֹרְגִים בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי‎ ʾElḥānān ben-Yaʿrē ʾŌrəgīm Bēṯ halLaḥmī) is a character in 2 Samuel 21:19, where he is credited with killing Goliath: "There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of who's spear was like a weaver's beam." [1] (The name of Elhanan's father has been garbled: "orgim", meaning "weavers", has been mistakenly copied from the description of Goliath's spear).[2]

The combat with Goliath was re-worked into the story of David in 1 Samuel 17,[3] but crediting Goliath's death to David instead of Elhanan created a problem.[4] The 4th century BC Book of Chronicles resolved it by describing how "Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite" (1 Chronicles 20:5), constructing the name Lahmi from the last portion of the word "Bethlehemite" ("beit-ha’lahmi),[4] the King James Bible by modifying 2 Samuel 21:18–19 to make it read as if Elhanan had slain Goliath's brother ("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"), although the Hebrew makes no mention of the word "brother", and the Targum, a translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Aramaic, identified Elhanan with David as both were from Bethlehem (targum 2 Samuel 21:19), although this creates yet another problem in that Elhanan is listed as one of David's followers and the killings occur in different places.[5]