Most of us are well aware of the account of a young David killing the giant Goliath found in I Samuel 17. But II Samuel 21:19 says, " Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam." It is possible to see this as a contradiction, especially since the parallel passage in I Chronicles 20:5 says, " Elhanan the son of Jair struck down Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam." That seems to fit with I Samuel 17, but it doesn't solve the apparent contradiction.
What is the solution to this apparent contradiction? The answer lies in the fact that the Bible was first written by hand and copyists sometimes made copying mistakes. When the two passages in II Samuel and I Chronicles are put side by side, it becomes apparent what the original text in both cases said. First of all, the I Chronicles passage has omitted several letters: "e-oregim, the Beth." This turns the end of Bethlehemite (Hebrew BYTHLHMY) into the name Lahmi (Hebrew LHMY; remember that the Hebrew text does not write vowels). Second, the Hebrew word for "brother of" (אחי) and the Hebrew direct object marker (אתי) look a lot alike. Apparently a copyist of II Samuel misread "brother of" for the direct object marker and thus changed "brother of Goliath" to simply "Goliath."
Thus both the passage in II Samuel and I Chronicles originally read, "Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam." This solves the apparent contradiction.
Bruce Terry