2 Samuel 21:22

21:22 These four were the descendants of Rapha who lived in Gath; they were killed ¹  by David and his soldiers. ² 

2 Samuel 1:20

1:20 Don’t report it in Gath,

don’t spread the news in the streets of Ashkelon, ³ 

or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice,

the daughters of the uncircumcised will celebrate!

2 Samuel 15:18

15:18 All his servants were leaving with him, ⁴  along with all the Kerethites, all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites – some six hundred men who had come on foot from Gath. They were leaving with ⁵  the king.

2 Samuel 21:20

21:20 Yet another battle occurred in Gath. On that occasion there was a large man ⁶  who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all! He too was a descendant of Rapha.

2 Samuel 8:1

David Subjugates Nearby Nations

8:1 Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. David took Metheg Ammah ⁷  from the Philistines. ⁸ 

2 Samuel 6:10

6:10 So David was no longer willing to bring the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. David left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

2 Samuel 21:19

21:19 Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair ⁹  the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, ¹⁰  the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

¹ tn Heb “they fell.”

² tn Heb “his servants.”

³ sn The cities of Gath and Ashkelon are mentioned here by synecdoche of part for the whole. As major Philistine cities they in fact represent all of Philistia. The point is that when the sad news of fallen Israelite leadership reaches the Philistines, it will be for these enemies of Israel the occasion of great joy rather than grief.

⁵ tn Heb “crossing over near his hand.”

⁶ tn Heb “crossing over near the face of.”

⁷ tn Heb “a man of stature.”

⁹ tn Heb “the bridle of one cubit.” Many English versions treat this as a place name because the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:1 reads “Gath” (which is used by NLT here). It is possible that “the bridle of one cubit” is to be understood as “the token of surrender,” referring to the Philistine’s defeat rather than a specific place (cf. TEV, CEV).

¹⁰ tn Heb “from the hand [i.e., control] of the Philistines.”

¹¹ tn Heb “Jaare-Oregim,” but the second word, which means “weavers,” is probably accidentally included. It appears at the end of the verse. The term is omitted in the parallel account in 1 Chr 20:5, which has simply “Jair.”

¹² sn The Hebrew text as it stands reads, “Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite.” Who killed Goliath the Gittite? According to 1 Sam 17:4-58 it was David who killed Goliath, but according to the MT of 2 Sam 21:19 it was Elhanan who killed him. Many scholars believe that the two passages are hopelessly at variance with one another. Others have proposed various solutions to the difficulty, such as identifying David with Elhanan or positing the existence of two Goliaths. But in all likelihood the problem is the result of difficulties in the textual transmission of the Samuel passage; in fact, from a text-critical point of view the books of Samuel are the most poorly preserved of all the books of the Hebrew Bible. The parallel passage in 1 Chr 20:5 reads, “Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath.” Both versions are textually corrupt. The Chronicles text has misread “Bethlehemite” (בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי, bet hallakhmi) as the accusative sign followed by a proper name אֶת לַחְמִי (’et lakhmi). (See the note at 1 Chr 20:5.) The Samuel text misread the word for “brother” (אַח, ’akh) as the accusative sign (אֵת, ’et), thereby giving the impression that Elhanan, not David, killed Goliath. Thus in all probability the original text read, “Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath.”