Thank you for the interpretative question on David and Goliath’s sibling, “Did Goliath the Giant in the Bible have a brother that also try to fight David? What did that mean that David took out two giants and not one?”
There are three passages that relates to Goliath: I Samuel 17, II Samuel 21, and I Chronicle 20:5.
II Samuel 21 says this, “15 Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted. 16 And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels[b] and who was armed with a new sword, said he would kill David. 17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.”
18 In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha. 19 In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair[c] the Bethlehemite killed the brother of[d] Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod. 20 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him. 22 These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men” (NIV).
As one reads the above text and I Samuel 17 of Goliath, one can conjecture that Goliath was one of the descendants of Rapha since his appearance is similar to the Philistine’s champion. There were five .Philistine’s champion, Goliath, Saph, Ishbi-Benoth, the brother of Goliath, and a huge man with six fingers.
The text states that the Philistine’s champion Ishbi-Benoth fought David. David was not able to overcome this champion and Abishai came to his rescue and kill Ishbi-Benoth. The text further states that the Philistine’s champions were of the descendants of Repha. It is plural in form so it appears that there is a family network of the Rapha. How they are related is unclear as uncles or cousins but they came from the same lineage of Rapha.
The text states that David didn’t battle the “brother” of Goliath but Elihanan son of Jair killed him. Thus the text states that David killed one of the Rapha, not two. David battled two Rapha’s but only killed one.
Summary: David fought two Philistine’s champion: Goliath and Isbi-Benoth but defeat only one-Goliath.
-Kingston