Sequence of 2Sa 21:15-22 and 1Ch 20:4-8

Version Date: June 24, 2023. (Date of First Version: December 3, 2021.)

(1Ch 20:4) ויהי אחרי כן ותעמד מלחמה בגזר עם פלשתים אז הכה סבכי החשתי את ספי מילידי הרפאים ויכנעו  1

(1Ch 20:4) Now it happened after this that also a war broke out at Gezer with the Philistines. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaim people, and they were subdued.

(2Sa 21:15) Now there was again a war of the Philistines with Israel. So David went down, and his servants with him, and they fought against the Philistines. However, David became weary.

(2Sa 21:15) ותהי עוד מלחמה לפלשתים את ישראל וירד דוד ועבדיו עמו וילחמו את פלשתים ויעף דוד

(2Sa 21:16) Now some of the sons of the Raphah chief had settled in Nob. So he was in battle, the weight of his spear being 300 bronze shekels, and being girded with a new weapon. Then he said that he would kill David.

(2Sa 21:16) וישבו בנב אשר בילידי הרפה ומשקל קינו שלש מאות משקל נחשת והוא חגור חדשה ויאמר להכות את דוד  2

(2Sa 21:17) But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped David, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the lamp of Israel."

(2Sa 21:17) ויעזר לו אבישי בן צרויה ויך את הפלשתי וימיתהו אז נשבעו אנשי דוד לו לאמר לא תצא עוד אתנו למלחמה ולא תכבה את נר ישראל

(2Sa 21:18) Now it happened afterwards that the war with the Philistines was again at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the sons of the Raphah chief.

(2Sa 21:18) ויהי אחרי כן ותהי עוד המלחמה בגוב עם פלשתים אז הכה סבכי החשתי את סף אשר בילדי הרפה  3

(2Sa 21:19) Afterwards, the war with the Philistines was again at Gob. Then Elhanan son of Yaeri of the weavers, a Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

(2Sa 21:19) ותהי עוד המלחמה בגוב עם פלשתים ויך אלחנן בן יערי ארגים בית הלחמי את גלית הגתי ועץ חניתו כמנור ארגים  4

(1Ch 20:5) ותהי עוד מלחמה את פלשתים ויך אלחנן בן יעור את לחמי אחי גלית הגתי ועץ חניתו כמנור ארגים  4

(1Ch 20:5) Now there was again a war with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Yaur struck Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

(2Sa 21:20) Now there was again war in Gath. Then there was ...

(2Sa 21:20) ותהי עוד מלחמה בגת ויהי ...

(1Ch 20:6) ותהי עוד מלחמה בגת ויהי ...

(1Ch 20:6) Now there was again war in Gath. Then there was ...

(2Sa 21:20) ... a contentious man ...

(2Sa 21:20) ... איש מדין ...  5

(1Ch 20:6) ... איש מדה ...  5

(1Ch 20:6) ... a man of great stature ...

(1Ch 20:6) ... ואצבעתיו ...

(1Ch 20:6) ... and his fingers and his toes ...

(2Sa 21:20) ... and the fingers of his hands and the toes of his feet ...

(2Sa 21:20) ... ואצבעת ידיו ואצבעות רגליו ...

(2Sa 21:20) ... were six for each hand and foot, twenty-four ...

(2Sa 21:20) ... שש ושש עשרים וארבע ...

(1Ch 20:6) ... שש ושש עשרים וארבע ...

(1Ch 20:6) ... were six for each hand and foot, twenty-four ...

(2Sa 21:20) ... in total, ...

(2Sa 21:20) ... מספר ...

(1Ch 20:6) ... in total, ...

(2Sa 21:20) ... and he also ...

(2Sa 21:20) ... וגם הוא ...

(1Ch 20:6) ... וגם הוא ...

(1Ch 20:6) ... and he also ...

(2Sa 21:20) ... begat descendants for the Raphah chief,

(2Sa 21:20) ... ילד להרפה  6

(1Ch 20:6) ... נולד להרפא  6

(1Ch 20:6) ... was born to the Rapha chief,

(2Sa 21:21) and he defied Israel. Then Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shimei, killed him.

(2Sa 21:21) ויחרף את ישראל ויכהו יהונתן ...

(1Ch 20:7) ויחרף את ישראל ויכהו יהונתן ...

(1Ch 20:7) and he defied Israel. Then Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shimea, killed him

(2Sa 21:21) ... בן שמעי ...

(1Ch 20:7) ... בן שמעא ...

(2Sa 21:21) ... אחי דוד

(1Ch 20:7) ... אחי דויד

(1Ch 20:8) אל נולדו ...  7

(1Ch 20:8) in front of one begotten by that man ...

(2Sa 21:22) These were four that were born ...

(2Sa 21:22) את ארבעת אלה ילדו ...  8

(2Sa 21:22) ... for the Raphah chief ...

(2Sa 21:22) ... להרפה ...  9

(1Ch 20:8) ... להרפא ...  9

(1Ch 20:8) ... for the Rapha chief ...

(2Sa 21:22) ... in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

(2Sa 21:22) ... בגת ויפלו ביד דוד וביד עבדיו

(1Ch 20:8) ... בגת ויפלו ביד דויד וביד עבדיו

(1Ch 20:8) ... in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.



Endnotes:

(1) The phrase אחרי כן "after this" indicates that this war took place shortly after the time of 1Ch 20:3. It follows that 1Ch 20:4 happened many years before 2Sa 21:15, for 2Sa 21:15 apparently took place towards the end of David's reign. As mentioned in the note (4) below on 2Sa 21:19, it is possible to infer that 1Ch 20:5 happened after 2Sa 21:19. It follows that there are many years between 1Ch 20:4 and 1Ch 20:5. Now Sibbecai was one of the thirty at the time of 1Ch 11:29. Just as he killed ספי "Sippai" in the battle at Gezer, he also killed סף "Saph" in a battle at Gob many years later (2Sa 21:18). [Back]

(2) In the absence of an indication that ישבו בנב in 2Sa 21:16 is a name "Ishbo-Benob," the phrase was translated "had settled in Nob." Moreover, as shown in the comments about Raphah in the article Giants, the following remarks can be made. First, הרפה "the Raphah" is not the name of a person, for singular names do not take the article. Rather, הרפה "the Raphah" is a title denoting a chief of the רפה "Raphah" clan exercising the authority that Raphah, the forefather of the clan, would have exercised over the clan. Second, Raphah must have been a descendant of Rapha. As shown in the note (8) below, הרפה "the Raphah chief" was also הרפא "the Rapha chief." Now the fact that וישבו בנב אשר בילידי הרפה "some of the sons of the Raphah chief had settled in Nob" (2Sa 21:16), explains why the Raphah chief got involved in battle: the outcome of the war between Israel and the Philistines affected his children from Nob. [Back]

(3) The article of המלחמה "the war" shows that the battle of 2Sa 21:18 was part of the same war as the battle of 2Sa 21:15-17. The phrase אחרי כן "after this" is taken as an indication that there was not much time between 2Sa 21:17 and 2Sa 21:18. [Back]

(4) The article of המלחמה "the war" shows that the battle of 2Sa 21:19 was part of the same war as the battles of 2Sa 21:15-17 and 2Sa 21:18. Since 2Sa 21:19 does not introduce Goliath the Gittite as the brother of Lahmi, but rather 1Ch 20:5 introduces Lahmi as the brother of Goliath the Gittite, it would appear that 2Sa 21:19 precedes 1Ch 20:5. Note that Goliath the Gittite should be distinguished from Goliath the Philistine, which is the giant that David killed many years earlier in 1Sa 17. As for אלחנן בן יערי ארגים "Elhanan son of Yaeri of the weavers" in 2Sa 21:19, he appears to be the same person as אלחנן בן יעור "Elhanan son of Yaur" in 1Ch 20:5. This is because both יערי "Yaeri" and יעור "Yaur" could be derived from the hiphil and qal stems of the verb עור "to awake, rouse oneself" with similar meanings: יערי "Yaeri" would mean "he awakens me" and יעור "Yauri" "he awakens." [Back]

(5) Comparing מדין in 2Sa 21:20 and מדה in 2Ch 20:6, the former can be derived from the verb דין "to judge" with the sense of causing people to judge, that is, causing contention. Note the related word מדון meaning "contention." As for מדה in 2Ch 20:6, it indicates that the man was of large stature. [Back]

(6) As shown in the note (8), הרפא "the Rapha" in 1Ch 20:6 denotes the same person as הרפה "the Raphah" in 2Sa 21:16, 18, 20. As mentioned in the note (2), Raphah was a descendant of Rapha, and "the Rapha" and "the Raphah" were titles of a chief of the Raphah clan. Considering also ילד להרפה in 2Sa 21:20 and נולד להרפא in 1Ch 20:6, there must be a reason one phrase has ילד and the other נולד. Since ילד is not spelled יולד, it seems unlikely that it is a passive form like נולד. Thus, taking ילד with active meaning, the meaning of ילד להרפה and נולד להרפא is clearly different, the former stating that "he begat descendants for the Raphah," and the latter that "he was born for the Raphah," that is, he was a son (or descendant) of the Raphah. The latter is implied by the former, for one who begat descendants for the Raphah had to be a son or a descendant of the Raphah. [Back]

(7) The text of 1Ch 20:8, when literally interpreted, indicates that one of the sons of the giant was with him. The giant was a son of the Rapha chief (1Ch 20:6). As shown in the note (8), the Rapha chief was the same as the Raphah chief mentioned in 2Sa 21:20, and a son of the Raphah chief in Gath (2Sa 21:22), who was the same as the Rapha chief in Gath that is mentioned in 1Ch 20:8. The phrase אל נולדו "towards his begotten" was parsed here as consisting of the preposition אל "to, towards" and the masculine singular niphal participle of ילד "to beget" with third-person singular masculine suffix. Commonly, אל in 1Ch 20:8 has been translated "these." However, elsewhere there is no example in which אל means "these." There are examples in which האל means "these," but all of them in Genesis, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Note that האל "these" does not have to be interpreted as אל with the article but could be seen as an abbreviation of the common האלה "these." Even if אל without the article could mean "these," it would seem unlikely that 1Ch 20:8 uses an archaic form found only in Genesis, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. [Back]

(8) As mentioned in 2Sa 21:22, the passage in 2Sa 21 mentions four descendants of the Raphah in Gath. Additionally, the passages in 2Sa 21 and 1Ch 20 mention four generations of giants. First, there was הרפה בגת "the Raphah chief in Gath." In view of 2Sa 21:22, the Raphah chief of 2Sa 21:16-17, 20 was a son (or possibly just descendant) of the Raphah chief in Gath. The man with 24 fingers and toes was a son (or possibly just descendant) of the Raphah chief of 2Sa 21:16-17, 20. This man with 24 fingers and toes had a son who participated with him in battle at the time of 1Ch 20:8. Though the relationship between the aforementioned men could be forefather-descendant, not father-son, since it is unlikely to have more than four generations of mature giants living at the same time, it follows that the relationship between them was father-son. So there were only four generations of mature giants. However, with only four generation of mature giants, the Rapha chief in Gath of 1Ch 20:8 must be the same as the Raphah chief in Gath, for he was the father (or a forefather) of the man with 24 fingers and toes (1Ch 20:8). Moreover, since this man with 24 fingers and toes was a son (or possibly descendant) of the Rapha chief of (1Ch 20:6), and since the text does not state that this chief was from Gath, he must be the same as the Raphah chief of 2Sa 21:20.

Now 2Sa 21:22 does not imply that there were no other descendants of the Raphah chief in Gath that fought against Israel, but state that the men of high stature mentioned in the previous verses were his descendants and that they were killed by David and his men. A total of six descendants of the Raphah chief can be identified in 2Sa 21:15-22 and 1Ch 20:4-8: a man with 12 fingers and 12 toes (2Sa 21:20-21, 1Ch 20:6-7), a Philistine that tried to kill David (2Sa 21:17), Sippai (1Ch 20:4), Saph (2Sa 21:18), Goliath the Gittite (2Sa 21:19), and Lahmi (1Co 20:5). [Back]

(9) As shown in the note (8), the Raphah chief in Gath (2Sa 21:22) and the Rapha chief in Gath (1Ch 20:8) were the same person. This person should not be confused with the other chief mentioned earlier in 2Sa 21:20 and 1Ch 20:6; see the note (8). [Back]


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