genitor of the Rephn.im, but more probn,bly Pf?bRbly ~me unii:iiportAnt spot, except na it i• simply the singulo.r of" RephBim,'' n.nd bemg the e1 to of tins bn ttle, and the sari hcR "children of the Rn.phah" a more poetio knowing nothing about it, mBde correction~ WRY of deecribing the race. Three hlllldred 11,t their fancy. Blbbeohal the X111hathite, 11hekels. It weighed, therefore, about eight The nBme is spelt in the same way in pounds; the spen.r-heBd of Golinth wo.s just 1 Chron. xi. 29 and n. 4, but in the list of twice as ben.vy (1 Sn.m. xvii. 7). Girded with the mighties he is called lllebunnai (oh. xxiii a new. The Yulgate supplies "sword," 27). In l Chron. xxvii. 11 we find thnt which the Authorized Version hns adopted. he had the oommand of the eighth division 'l'he Septuagint reads a "mRce" instead of of the nrmy, consisting of twenty-four "new;" others think that he hn.d a new thousand men. He is co.lied "the Hu- 1mit of armour. If the narrator had thought shatbite," as being a descendant of Hushah it of suffioient import.a.nee to Jet us know of the family of Judah, in 1 Ch1·on. iv. 4: that the article was new, he would scarcely Saph, whioh was of the sons of the giant; have left the thing itself unspecified. It is ~ebrew, of the Rapltah. He is called Sippai evident, however, that the SCJptuagint did lD 1 Cbron. xx. 4. not read /,ada,sha, "new," but the name Ver. 19.-Elhanan the son of J'aare- of some strange warlike instrument, which oregim, a lleth-lehemite, slew Goliath the being unln1ov.n to the scribes, they substi- Gittite. The words "the brother of" are tuted for it a word whioh they did J..-now, inserted by the Authorized Version in order but which makes no sense. We cannot, to bring this place into verbal agreemeut however, depend upon the translation of the with 1 Cbron. xx. 5, where we read that Septuagint, "mace." The want of special "Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi knowledge on the pn.rt of the tranelntors of the brother of Goliath the Gittite." The the ~eptu&gint, though partly accounted for Jewish Tsrgum had the same rending ns by the long absence from Palestine of its that still found in the text, but regards authors, and their I.laving to depend entirely Elhanan, "God is gracious," as another upon such knowledge of their language as name for DAvid, and, instead of Jniror Jaare, survived at .Alexandria, is more than we reads Jesse. Its translation is as follows: should have expected or can quite under- "And David the sou of Jesse, the weaver stnnd. Here, however, there is nothing re- of veils for the sanctuary, who was of Beth- 11'.l&rkn.ble in their not knowing the ei.nct lehem, slew Golie.th the Gittite." Possibly menning of this curious weapon of the Re- the Authorized Version is right in con- phaite ; but plainly it could not be a mace, cluding the.t the present text is a corruption but must have been something that could be of thnt in 1 Cbron. xx. 5. For, first, the girt upon him. The Authorized Version, repetition of oregim, "weavers," is sus- moreover, gives a look of probability to the picious, the Hebrew being, not "wco.ver's insertion of "sword," which is wanting in beam," but the plural "weavers' beo.m," the Hebrew; for it does not connect his menor Megim. Next, Jaare is a trauspo- purpose of killing David with the badasha. sition of the letters of Je.ir (in the Hebrew) The Hebrew is, "And Ishbo-benob, who made probably in order that the compound was a Rephnite, and whose spear weighed Jaare-oregim may obey the ruled of Hebrew three hundred shekels, and who was girt with grammar. More important is it to notice an hadasha; and be thought to smite David." that Lahmi is po.rt of the worJ "Bethle- Yer. 17.-The men of David &ware unto hemite" (Hebrew, Beth-hallahmi), and might him. David's men were specifically the thus easily suggest to the eye of a scribe the mighties, who had so long beeu his friends completion of so well-known a word. We and companions. They now bound him by must ndd that among the thirty Gibborim an onth never again to fight in person, lest is "Elbe.nan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem." he should be singled out for combat by Whoever slew Goliath's brother would cer- some warrior among the enemy and slain. tainly attain to high rank nmong the heroes, The light of Iara.el The lo.mp in the but if the name Jair is right, the Elhanan dwelling- was the proof that there was life there spoken of is not the per~on who slew there, and so it becamo the symbol of Lahmi. prosperity. In Job xviii. 5, 6 the extinction Ver. 21.-J'one.than. Be wne brother to of the lamp signifies the destruction of the the subtle Jonnd1th who helped Amnon oµ family. David was evideutly now king, his way to ruin. The spelling of the father's and under him Israel wns advancing to name shows how little importance WI" ca.n frt:edom an<l empire. His death would pla.ce on the Hebrew text in the matter of b.avE: plunged the natiou back into weak- names. He is called here in the Hebrew ness o.nd probable ruin. Shimei, which the Mnssoritcs have changed Ver. lo.-Gob. In the parallel passage into Shimen.h. In eh. xiii. 3 we he.vo Bhimeah, (1 Chron. x.x. 4) this pla.ce is called Gezer, in l Sam. xvi. 9 Shammah, and in ; Chron. und the tie}ltlltl.i:,'lllt ha8 GatJ,,. It wae ii. 13 Bhimma, CH, XXI. 1-22,) THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 515
Ver. 22.-TheH four were bom to the pereono.1 conflict, though the Hebrew in 8'iant i Hebrew, were born to the Raphah; ver. 17 would admit of the tra.nelation that, tho.t le, belonged to the ro.ce of the Rephaim, with the aid of AbiAho.i, David himeelf alew who eoom to lune settled in Gath in large Iehbi-benob. But the glory of all tliat the numbere, ond to ho.ve been a. fine race of Gibborim did belonged o.lao to David their mon. (For thoir antiquity, see Oen. xiv. 5.) king. JJ7 the hand of Da.vid. Not necoseorily in