Sailor in the Famous WWII "Kissing" Photograph Dies at 95

Sailor in the Famous WWII "Kissing" Photograph Dies at 95

Context of scripture

The record of Goliath’s defeat at the hand of David is found in 1 Samuel 17. However, a verse in 2 Samuel seems to name Elhanan, instead of David, as the one who toppled Goliath.

Here’s what’s clear: 1 Samuel 17:50 says that David killed Goliath: “So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.” The “Philistine” in this verse is identified as Goliath in verse 4.

Here’s what’s not so clear: in some translations, 2 Samuel 21:19 seems to indicate that it was Elhanan, not David, who killed the giant: “And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam” (ESV). The size of Goliath’s spear shaft is a detail shared by both passages. The obvious difference is who killed Goliath—was it David or Elhanan?

Unless David and Elhanan are different names for the same person—or there were two giants named Goliath—these verses seem to contradict each other. Bringing clarity to the issue is 1 Chronicles 20:5, which says, “In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.” This verse repeats the detail of the size of the spear shaft, and it clearly says that Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother, rather than Goliath himself.

Why the discrepancy? Why does 2 Samuel 21:19 say that Elhanan killed Goliath? One viable theory is that, somewhere in the chain of copying the text, a scribe made a mistake. The Hebrew word for “the brother of” was miswritten, which changed the grammar of the sentence and led to a problematic sentence structure for the next scribe. The second scribe’s attempt to solve the syntactical puzzle produced a reading that omitted the important detail of Goliath’s brother.

Fortunately, we have 1 Chronicle 20:5, which contains the correct Hebrew wording and informs us, through implication, that 2 Samuel 21:19 is missing the words the brother of. We can be confident that David killed Goliath. Elhanan later killed Goliath’s brother.

Further, the context of 2 Samuel 21:19 makes it clear that it is describing an entirely separate event from David’s slaying of Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:50. Second Samuel 21:11–14 puts the passage after the death of Saul, who was alive when David killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17:31–39, 55–58). Second Samuel 21:15–17 indicates that Elhanan killed “Goliath” when David was the king of Israel, not when he was a servant of King Saul.

Issachar

Issachar was Jacob’s ninth son and ancestor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. In Hebrew, Issachar means either “man of reward” or “hired man.” His name is associated with the circumstances of his birth.

Issachar’s mother was Leah. After she gave birth to her fourth son, Judah, Leah stopped having children and was presumed to be barren (Genesis 29:35). One day her oldest son, Reuben, came across mandrakes in the field. In folk medicine, these flowering herbs were thought to enhance a woman’s fertility. Reuben picked the mandrakes and brought them to his mother. Leah and her younger sister, Rachel, argued over the mandrakes, but finally came to an agreement. Leah would give Rachel some of the mandrakes as a reward or payment for allowing Leah to sleep with their husband, Jacob. That night, Leah became pregnant and later gave Jacob her fifth (and his ninth) son, Issachar (Genesis 30:14–18).

As a Bible character, Issachar plays almost no role in the family story. We know he fathered four sons: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron (Genesis 46:13). To escape the famine, Issachar joined Jacob in relocating his family to Egypt, where Issachar eventually died and was buried. Later his body was moved to Shechem with the rest of the patriarchs (Acts 7:16).

Like his brothers, Issachar received a blessing from his father before Jacob’s death: “Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down among the sheep pens. When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor” (Genesis 49:14–15). The blessing seems more like a curse, possibly indicating that the tribe of Issachar was forced to work for a Canaanite king at some point.

The territory of the tribe of Issachar, described in Joshua 19:17–23, incorporated the fertile eastern section of the valley of the Jezreel River, a western tributary of the Jordan, with Mount Tabor to the north and the Jordan River to the east.

Issachar shared a border and close connection with the tribe of Zebulon. This link is evident in the common blessing given by Moses before this death: “About Zebulun he said: ‘Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and you, Issachar, in your tents. They will summon peoples to the mountain and there offer the sacrifices of the righteous; they will feast on the abundance of the seas, on the treasures hidden in the sand’” (Deuteronomy 33:18–19).

Issachar was a large tribe. Its battle-ready men numbered 54,400 in the first census (Numbers 1:29). By the time of the second census, it had increased to 64,400 (Numbers 26:25). During the reign of King David, Issachar’s mighty men numbered 87,000 (1 Chronicles 7:5).

In the time of the judges, Issachar’s tribe joined with Deborah and Barak to defeat Jabin, the king of Hazor (Judges 5:15). From Issachar’s tribe came a later judge, Tola (Judges 10:1–2), as well as two kings of Israel, Baasha and his son Elah (1 Kings 15:27 – 16:14). As one of the northern tribes in the divided kingdom, Issachar was taken into captivity when the northern kingdom fell.

There is a brief mention in the Bible of another man named Issachar: a Levite and descendant of Korah. This Issachar was one of the door-keepers of the temple. He is listed as the seventh son of Obed-edom and was one of the “capable men with the strength to do the work” (1 Chronicles 26:8).