Elhanan, son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite appears 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 whose spear was like a weaver's beam." In 1 Chronicles 20:5, he is called Elhanan, son of Jair ( ʾElḥānān ben-Yāʿīr), indicating that Jaare-oregim is a garbled corruption of the name Jair and the word for "beam" used in the verse (ʾorəgim). The passage in 2 Samuel 21:19 poses difficulties when compared with the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, leading scholars to conclude "that the attribution of Goliath's slaying to David may not be original," but rather "an elaboration and reworking of" an earlier Elhanan story, "attributing the victory to the better-known David."

Resolution with the story of David and Goliath

Crediting Goliath's death to David instead of Elhanan results in inconsistency. Some harmonistic solutions have been offered by later writers and translators within both Jewish and Christian traditions:

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