David Did Not Kill Goliath, The Bible Is Not Infallible! – by Femi Aribisala

One of the myths of Christianity is the
infallibility of the bible.
Quoting Paul, some Christians insist every
word in the bible is “God-breathed.” (2
Timothy 3:16).
When you identify contradictions in the
bible, they either refuse to acknowledge
them or try to rationalise them away with
highfalutin apologetics.
However, these apologetics have not
made the contradictions disappear. All
they do is establish that these bible-
fanatics are not committed to the truth.
Christians generally believe little David
killed mighty Goliath, according to the
“infallible” account of 1 Samuel 17:50-51.
This feat is drummed into us from
childhood.
However, the same “infallible” bible also
credits the killing of Goliath to Elhanan,
one of David’s mighty men.
2 Samuel says:
There was another battle with the
Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of
Jair from Bethlehem killed Goliath from
Gath.” (2 Samuel 21:19
This record of Elhanan (as opposed to
David) killing Goliath can be found in
many bible translations but other bible
translations of the same 2 Samuel 21:19
say Elhanan killed “the brother of
Goliath.”
These translations include the King James
Version (KJV); New King James Version
(NKJV); The Living Bible (TLB); and New
Living Translation (NLT).
Of the latter, the New King James Version
is remarkably unreliable.
As a matter of policy, King James
sometimes adds its own words to bible
verses, effectively doctoring their
meaning.
Although the translation says Elhanan
slew “the brother of Goliath;” the words
“the brother of” are written in italics,
indicating that they do not appear in the
original Hebrew text but were added at
the discretion of NKJV translators.
However, my purpose here is not just to
demonstrate the fallibility of the bible.
Bible-worshipping Christians will always
reject that fact no matter what.
My purpose is to determine if David killed
Goliath.
The question then arises as to which
version are we going to believe? Should
we believe the classical position that
David killed Goliath, or should we believe
the equally biblical position that Elhanan
killed Goliath?
For a number of reasons, the account
stating that David killed Goliath is the less
believable.
It is in the tradition of kings and rulers to
take credit for other people’s
achievements under their kingdom. David
was no exception to this.
Saul and David
The account of David killing Goliath is so
full of contradictions that it is clear it is
the fabricated version.
One of the problems with the account has
to do with the inability of bible-writers to
determine precisely when David first met
Saul.
We are told that when Saul transgressed
against the Lord, God sent an evil spirit to
trouble him. (1 Samuel 16:14).
Someone then recommended to Saul that
he should hire David to play the harp,
offering the dubious thesis that soothing
music is a demon-repellent.
But then the man recommending David
said something strange: he extolled
David, a young teenager who was not
even old enough to be in the army, as a
man of war:
I have seen a son of Jesse the
Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a
mighty man of valor, a man of war.” (1
Samuel 16:18
This description is a giveaway. It is
obviously written after the fact. There is
no basis for describing David, a youth
keeping sheep, as “a mighty man of
valour” and “a man of war.”
By all accounts, David was not even a
man yet. On this recommendation, Saul
sent word to Jesse, David’s father, that
his son should be seconded to him.
However, David entered Saul’s service not
as a harp-playing musician, but as his
armour-bearer, even though we are told
later that Saul’s armour was too heavy for
David. (1 Samuel 17:38-39).
Nevertheless, whenever Saul came under
attack by the evil spirit, David would play
a harp and the evil spirit would depart.
Saul quickly took a liking to David, and he
sent to his father a second time that
David’s secondment to him should
become permanent. (1 Samuel 16:22).
However, when we get to the incident
where David is alleged to have killed
Goliath, we discover to our surprise that
this same David, who was supposed to be
Saul’s armour-bearer/musician, had
never met Saul before.
In that contradictory account, David was
just a young boy tending sheep. His father
sent him to deliver lunch to his two
brothers at the war-front.
On arriving there, he found Goliath
terrorizing everybody and offered to fight
against him.
He was then brought to Saul who, on
meeting him for the very first time, said to
him:
“You are not able to go against this
Philistine to fight with him; for you are a
youth, and he a man of war from his
youth.” (1 Samuel 17:33).
However, in the earlier version, David was
specifically introduced to Saul as “a man
of war.”
Contrary to the earlier account where Saul
sent emissaries to David’s father twice, he
now did not know who David’s father
was.
Conclusion - The bible is a book written
and compiled by men; and men are not
infallible.