MORE ON DAVIE AND GOLIATH

1. Here is where the original conflict arises:

.....David did (1 Samuel 17:50) - "Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David's hand."
.

.....Elhanan did (2 Sam. 21:19)- "And there was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam." [Although it is not clear that Ephrata was called Bethlehem at that time].

The answer may lie in two areas.

1

.....1 Chronicles 20:5 says, "And there was war with the Philistines again, and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam."

2

.....The seeming conflicts that arise in the four Books of the Kings (including Samuel in the sectarian versions) begin with the faulty chronologies which appeared earlier. When the Imperial scriptorium (the chancellery of Pharaoh Akenaten) of Amarna was found it contained correspondence from the Pharaoh's vassal states in Canaan and Lebanon. It became clear from these official document, which reported events, troubles and wars in the Levantine region, that the Kingdom of Israel was established during this reign. Both Saul and David reigned during and just after the reign of Akhenaten at Amarna in Egypt, although in the exchanges between the Pharaoh and his officials in Canaan/Philistia, the are referred to as Labada and Elhanan. This is because Saul and David are almost certainly "throne names," and not birth names. The documents testify to the reign of both monarchs in Israel, and also verify much of the information about battles, personalities and towns or cities mentioned in the Books of the Kings.
.....We will return to that era later, but we must note that these facts move the dates of the exodus from Egypt back quite a distance. It had been assumed that the Israelite Hebrews departed from Egypt in the time of Rameses II, son of Seti during the 19th dynasty. However, Akhenaten was still part of the 18th dynasty. He ruled from 1279-1213, after death the of Akhenaten, and of Saul of Israel. In fact, the decree for the killing of the firstborn of the "Asiatics" was issued during the reign of Kaneferre-Khoteppe IV while the "Asiatics," settlers, including Hebrews and Israelite Hebrews (Habiru — vagabonds) were in the area that the Hebrew Scripture calls Goshen, in the area of the city of Avaris, where Joseph had lived (both his empty tomb and memorial statue have been unearthed in Avaris). This decree was issued during the 13th dynasty, while Hammurabi was ruling in Babylon (c.1565-1523 B.C.). The exodus would have taken place during the reign of Zheneferre-Tutimoses, who was crowned in Karnak in 1450 BC. This pharaoh had a summer palace at Avaris, and it was there that Moses came to him when he returned from to Egypt to lead the people of YHWH out of bondage and back to Canaan.
.....This indicates that the old chronology is 237 (+-) years too late. Nevertheless, the reign of David, which some had considered mythological, and the details of the reign of Saul and David are confirmed in the documents that have forced the re-calculation of the chronology. We should also bear in mind that the name Habiru (Hebrew) applied not only to the wanderers from the line of Abraham, but to many of the "Asiatics" who had settled in Northern Egypt, including Canaanites. This will explain some of the other apparent contradictions or confusion that appears to occur in the Books of the Kings. (More on all this later).