Comparative Theology · Internal Contradictions

Who Killed Goliath?

Handle with care. The Qur'an affirms that David killed Goliath, so the point here is the internal disagreement in the Hebrew text, not the identity of the victor.

In short

• 1.1 Samuel 17: David kills Goliath of Gath
• 2.2 Samuel 21:19: Elhanan kills Goliath the Gittite
• 3.Chronicles resolves it by making the victim Goliath's brother

The claim being examined

The defeat of Goliath is the defining story of David. A later verse in the same book credits the kill to someone else entirely.

The Islamic position

This card is a transmission point, not a theological one: it shows how a received text can carry two answers to one factual question.

Analysis

The Hebrew of 2 Samuel 21:19 states plainly that Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim killed Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam — the same description used of the giant David faces. The Chronicler, writing later, alters the sentence so that Elhanan kills Lahmi the brother of Goliath, and most English Bibles import that solution into Samuel without marking it. This is a textbook case of a later editor smoothing an inherited difficulty, and it is visible because both versions survive.

Side by side

From the Qur'an

From the Bible

Sources

Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible · P. Kyle McCarter, II Samuel (Anchor Bible)

More in Internal Contradictions

• Galilee or Jerusalem? The First Appearance
• How Many Women Came to the Tomb?
• Numbers That Do Not Match: Samuel and Chronicles
• The Census of Quirinius
• The Day and Hour of the Crucifixion
• The Death of Judas