Elhanan

Elhanan (meaning grace of God, gift of God, or mercy of God) is the name of two warriors in the service of David. The first is mentioned in 2 Samuel 21:19 as slaying Goliath the Gittite — a statement that appears to contradict the account of David slaying Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 20:5 resolves this by specifying that Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath, suggesting a scribal error or textual corruption in the Samuel text where "Goliath" was substituted for "Lahmi the brother of Goliath."

The second Elhanan, son of Dodo of Bethlehem, is listed among David's thirty mighty men — an elite warrior corps whose exploits are recounted in 2 Samuel 23:24 and 1 Chronicles 11:26. The name's meaning and the warrior context in which both men appear suggest a tradition of valiant service in David's campaigns against the Philistines.