ELHANAN ("God is gracious"):
- 1. According to II Sam. xxi. 19, R. V., the son of Jaareoregim, the Bethlehemite, who in a battle with the Philistines at Gob killed Goliath, the Gittite. According to I Chron. xx. 5, he was the son of Jair, and killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath. The original traditions had it that the death of Goliath was brought about by Elhanan; but when David became the central figure of heroic adventures it was attributed to him instead, and to Elhanan was credited the death of Lahmi, Goliath's brother. The discrepancy is arbitrarily harmonized by the Targum, which identifies Elhanan with David, and takes "oregim" literally as "who wove the curtains for the Temple."
- 2. Another Bethlehemite, son of Dodo, and one of the "thirty" of David (II Sam. xxiii. 24 = I Chron. xi. 26).
E. G. H. G. B. L.
