Elhanan, son of Jair
Elhanan son of Jair-Oregim the Bethlehemite ( "’Elḥānān ben-Ya‘rê ’Ōrəḡîm Bêṯhallaḥmî") appears in 2 Samuel 21:19, where he is credited with killing Goliath. As this contradicts the better-known story in 1 Samuel 17 in which it is the famous David who kills Goliath, the 4th century BC Book of Chronicles explains the second Goliath by saying (20:5) that Elhanan "slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath", possibly constructing the name Lahmi from the last portion of the word "Bethlehemite" (""beit-ha’lahmi"). The King James Bible translators modified 2 Samuel 21:18–19 to make it read as if Elhanan had slain Goliath's brother: "And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare–oregim, a Beth–lehemite, slew "the brother of" Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam", although the Hebrew text at this point makes no mention of the word "brother"; the medieval Jewish authors of the Targum Jonathan solved the problem by explaining Elhanan as an alternative name for David. However, this makes it difficult to explain why David is called "Elhanan" in verse 19 but consistently "David" in the verses that surround it (15, 16, 17, 21, 22). The most widely accepted explanation is that the storytellers have displaced the deed from the obscure Elhanan to the more famous character, David.
Daniel in the lions' den
It is generally accepted that the Book of Daniel originated as a collection of folktales among the Babylonian diaspora, the Jewish community living in Babylon and Mesopotamia in the Persian and Hellenistic periods (5th to 2nd centuries BC). Chapters 4–6, which includes the tale of Daniel in the lions' den, may belong to the earliest stage, as these differ quite markedly in the oldest texts. Although the entire book is traditionally ascribed to Daniel the seer, the tales of chapters 1-6, including the story of the lion's den, are the voice of an anonymous narrator (except for chapter 4 which is in the form of a letter from king Nebuchadnezzar). It is possible that the name of Daniel was chosen for the hero because of his reputation as a wise seer in Hebrew tradition.