Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Ian Hutchesson" <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

>> > You'll find that the words [the brother of] are missing from 2 Samuel
21:19.
>> > Compare 1 Chronicles 20:5. Elhanan slew *Lahmi*; David slew Goliath.
>> > Ben
>>
>> This is perhaps POSSIBLE, but I think you will find
>> that almost all modern commentators agree that the
>> Chronicles version is an attempt to harmonise the
>> obvious discrepancy.
>
>So what?  Is this truth by consensus?  We have to ask what kinds
>of presuppositions these commentators begin with, what their
>attitude toward the text is, and a host of other questions.  More
>important, we have to look into the text itself, not what somebody
>says about it.

The text is rather transparent, Dave. While one can easily explain why
"Lahmi brother of" crept into Chr, the explanation fo the loss of these
words in 2Sam is much more contorted.

The Chr version is much more synthetic than the 2Sam version (while Josephus
supports some of 2Sam's longer text, though his approach to the Chr writer's
problem was to omit the Elhanan episode), yet it can still have this extra
material. If one were to posit that the editor of 2Sam worked in the extra
material, but omitted the words, "Lahmi brother of". It's highly unlikely,
Dave.


Ian