Elhanan

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The biblical Elhanan was the son of Jaareoregim. He was a member of King David's elite fighters known as The Thirty.

In (II Samuel 21:19) he is credited as the killer of Goliath, though the King James Version of the Bible adds the phrase "the brother of" before Goliath's name, in order to avoid contradicting the better-known story that David killed the Philistine champion. The insertion is justified by a reference in Chronicles to Elhanan having killed Goliath's brother.

Some modern scholars argue that the text in Samuel represents the original form of the story, and that the victory over Goliath was later credited to David in order to enhance his reputation.^{[citation needed]} They argue that other aspects of the text point to this alteration, since Saul is supposed to have asked who the killer was, despite being already acquianted with David.^{[citation needed]}

Others assert that the omission of "brother of" in Samuel is likely to be a transcription error.[1]