WHO KILLED GOLIATH?
The Bible story of David killing the giant Goliath with a stone
and a sling is a familiar one but is clearly a fairy tale.
First Samuel 17 says that David killed Goliath but Second Samuel 21 says it was
Elhanan. Archer says that the original in Second Samuel has been altered by
errors and that it should say that Elhanan killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath.
Archer says that the copyist put two words in the wrong place and misread the
word brother thus corrupting the text forever. But this cannot be proved and is
only speculation. Archer admits as much when he says that the “corrupted”
passage makes sense and when he says it has two or three mistakes so he is not
sure how many or if any. It is just an attempt to deny a contradiction where one
exists. He says that 1 Chronicles 20:5 gives the true reading saying Elhanan
slew Goliath’s brother but that does not prove that there were textual errors in
Second Samuel. Also, he claims that the present text of the latter says that
Elhanan was called the son of the forests of weavers which he says is a
ridiculous name showing that copyists have made transcription errors. The name
is not ridiculous – it could be poetic. A man could be called forests of weavers
just like the meaning of Jesus is really Yahweh our Salvation. In Defence of the
Faith says the same thing as Archer and applauds some translators for changing
the text to make it say that Lahmi was the brother of Goliath because Goliath
made no sense (page 138). When the translators had to change the text it shows
there is no proof that the original said brother of. Evangelicals alter the
Bible and then tell us so confidently that the Bible cannot err!
Archer’s claim that the original has been ruined contradicts his Jesus who said
that not a dot could pass away from the Bible and Archer’s claim that the Jews
would not have canonised books which contained errors (275). The earliest
scholars did not agree with his theory when they did not feel like amending the
text. Their word comes first for they were closer to the originals. They
believed the original was wrong and not corrupted.
If the Bible God let the numbers be lost from the originals then maybe that
happened with the accounts of the feeding of the five thousand by Jesus and the number of
apostles who seen the resurrection as well making them exaggerations.
FURTHER READING
A Summary of Christian Doctrine, Louis Berkhof, The Banner of Truth Trust,
London, 1971
A Test of Time, David Rohl, Century, London, 1995
Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, John W Haley, Whitaker House, Pennsylvania,
Undated
An Act of God, Graham Philips, Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1998
Answers to Tough Questions, Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, Scripture Press
Bucks, 1988
Attack on the Bible, John R Rice, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, 1965
Belief and Make-Believe, GA Wells, Open Court, La Salle, Illinois, 1991
Biblical Exegesis and Church Doctrine, Raymond E Brown, Paulist Press, New York,
1985
But the Bible Does Not Say So, Rev Roberto Nisbet, Church Book Room Press,
London, 1966
Catholicism and Christianity, Cecil John Cadoux, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1928
Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Karl Keating, Ignatius Press, San Francisco,
1988
Creation and Evolution, Dr Alan Hayward, Triangle, London, 1994
Does the Bible Contradict Itself? Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan,
1986
Encyclopaedia of Bible Difficulties, Gleason W Archer, Zondervan, Grand Rapids,
Michigan, 1982
Essentials, David L Edwards and John Stott, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1990
Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Vol 1, Josh McDowell, Alpha, Scripture Press
Foundation, Bucks, 1995
Free Inquiry, Fall 1998, Vol 18, No 4, Council for Secular Humanism, Amherst,
New York
God and the Human Condition, F J Sheed, Sheed & Ward, London, 1967
God Cannot Lie, David Alsobrook, Diasozo Trust, Kent, 1989
God, Science and Evolution, Prof E H Andrews, Evangelical Press, Herts, 1985
God’s Word, Final Infallible and Forever, Floyd C McElveen, Gospel Truth
Ministries, Grand Rapids, 1985
Hard Sayings, Derek Kidner, InterVarsity Press, London, 1972
How and Why Catholic and Protestant Bibles Differ, Carolyn Osiek, RSCJ and
Donald Senior, CP, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1983
How to Interpret the Bible, Fergus Cleary SJ, Ligouri Publications, Missouri,
1981
In Defence of the Faith, Dave Hunt, Harvest House, Eugene Oregon, 1996
Inspiration in the Bible, Fr Karl Rahner, Herder and Herder, New York, 1966
It Ain’t Necessarily So, Investigating the Truth of the Biblical Past, Matthew
Sturgis, Headline Books, London, 2001
Jehovah of the Watch-tower, Walter Martin and Norman Klann, Bethany House
Publishers, Minnesota, 1974
Let’s Weigh the Evidence, Which Bible is the Real Word of God? Barry Burton,
Chick Publications, Chino, California, 1983
Know What You Believe, Paul E Little, Scripture Union, London, 1973
Know Why You Believe, Paul E Little, Scripture Union, London, 1971
New Age Bible Versions, GA Riplinger, Bible & Literature Foundation, Tennessee,
1993
New Evangelicalism An Enemy of Fundamentalism, Curtis Hutson, Sword of the Lord,
Murfreesboro, 1984
None of These Diseases, SI McMillen MD, Lakeland, London 1966
Our Perfect Book the Bible, John R Rice, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, 1958
Proof the Bible is True, Rev JMA Willans BD, Dip.Theol. Vermont Press, Larne,
1982
Radio Replies Vol 3, Radio Replies Press, Minnesota, 1942
Reason and Belief, Bland Blanschard, London, George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1974
Remarks on the New King James Version and Revised Authorised Version, DK Madden,
35 Regent Street, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, 7005, 1991
Return to Sodom and Gomorrah, Charles Pellegrino, The Softback Preview, New
York, 1995
Science and the Bible, Henry Morris, Moody Press, Bucks, 1988
Science Held Hostage What’s Wrong With Creation Science and Evolutionism, Howard
J Van Till/Davis A.Young/Clarence Menninga, IVP, Downer’s Grove, Illinois, 1988
Science Speaks, Peter W Stoner and Robert C Newman, Moody Press, Chicago, 1976
Set My Exiles Free, John Power, Logos Books, MH Gill & Son Ltd, Dublin, 1967
Testament, The Bible and History, John Romer, Henry Holt and Company, New York,
1988
The Authority of the Bible, Ambassador College, Pasadena, California, 1980
The Bible Fact or Fantasy, John Drane, Lion, Oxford, 1989
The Bible is the Word of God, Jimmy Thomas, Guardian of Truth, Kentucky
The Bible or Evolution? William Jennings Bryan, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro,
Tennessee
The Bible, The Biography, Karen Armstrong, Atlantic Books, London, 2007
The Bible, Questions People Ask, A Redemptorist Pastoral Publication, Liguori
Publications, Missouri, 1980
The Bible Unearthed, Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, Touchstone
Books, New York, 2002
The Canon of Scripture, FF Bruce, Chapter House, Glasgow, 1988
The Church of Rome and the Word of God, Rev Eric C Last, Protestant Truth
Society, London, Undated
The Early Church, Henry Chadwick, Pelican, Middlesex, 1987
The Enigma of Evil, John Wenham, Eagle, Guilford, Surrey, 1994
The History of Christianity, Lion, Herts, 1982
The King James Version Defended, Edward F Hills, The Christian Research Press,
Iowa, 1973
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Edited by Raymond E Brown, Joseph A Fitzmyer,
Roland E Murphy, Geoffrey Chapman, New York 1990
The Theology of Inspiration, John Scullion SJ, Mercier, Cork, 1970
The Unauthorised Version, Robin Lane Fox, Penguin, Middlesex, 1992
Verbal Inspiration of the Bible, John R Rice Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro,
1943
What is the Bible? Henri Daniel-Rops, Angelus Books, Guild Press, New York, 1958
When Critics Ask, Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe, Victor Books, Illinois ,1992
Which Version Now? Bob Sheehan, Carey Publications, 5 Fairford Close, Haywards
Heath, Sussex RH16 3EF
Who is a Fundamentalist? Dr Curtis Hutson, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, 1982
Why Does God..? Domenico Grasso SJ, St Pauls , Bucks, 1970
Why People Believe Weird Things, Michael Shermer, Freeman, New York, 1997
BIBLE QUOTATIONS FROM:
The Amplified Bible
WEB
Final Response by Steven Carr to Dr Wilkinson
www.bowness.demon.co.uk/wilkin6.htm
Science in the Bible? Dr M Magee
www.askwhy.co.uk/truth/440BibleScience.html
Why It’s a Load of Old Cobblers, Adrian Barnett
www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/noahs_ark.html
Exposes the utter absurdity of the Noah’s Ark story in the Bible
Steven Carr, Critique of Josh McDowells Non_Messianic Prophecies This Site
cannot be overly recommended. It is superb.
www.infidels.org/library/modern/steven_carr/non-messianic.html
New Testament Contradictions, Paul Carlson
www.infidels.org/library/modern/paul_carlson/nt_contradictions.html
Rabbits do not chew their cud, Alleged Bible Contradictions
http://unhindered.com/apolo/contradictions/index.html
The Bible as History Flunks New Archaeological Tests
www.10.nytimes.com/library/arts/072900david-bible.html
Biblical Errancy by Dennis McKinsey
http://members.aol.com/ckbloomfld/bepart31.html
This is one of McKinsey’s online magazines. The magazine is excellent for it
gives the fundies the chance to respond and carefully exposes their twisted
reasoning.
This particular issue says that Herod was not a king though the New Testament
says he was for the Roman tetrarchs were the rulers. It says Matthew’s story
that Herod massacred the boys of Bethlehem to get rid of the baby Jesus is false
for Josephus liked to bring up the terrible things that Herod did and never
mentioned this one. It also says that the story of Jesus being nailed between
two thieves is fiction because theft was not a capital crime. It argues that
when Luke said about Augustus decreeing that the whole world must engage in a
census it was a lie for Augustus never had the results which he would have done.
Genesis 11:26 says that when Teran was 70 he sired Abram and Nahor and Haran.
The trouble is it says Abram was 75 when his father died and yet his father died
at 205. The Christians argue that Genesis 11:26 does not say Abram’s dad was 70
when he was born though the passage cannot mean anything else. They fudge the
problem by saying that just because Abram was mentioned first that does not mean
he was born first. It does in the way the verse is written for why say Terah
became a father at 70 and list the sons if you don’t mean one of them was born
that year and it would naturally have to be the first one mentioned Abram. Pity
he didn’t point out that when the fundies cannot agree among themselves how to
reconcile Bible contradictions that it shows that their solutions are just
contrived and fraudulent.
