1 Samuel 17:42

42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a youth, healthy^[a] and handsome.

1 Samuel 17:42 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:42

And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he
disdained him
He looked about for his antagonist, to take a view of him, what sort of a man he was, expecting to see one much like himself; but observing a puny young man, he despised him in his heart, and perhaps looked upon it as an affront to him to send such a man to fight with him:

for he was [but] a youth;
his age was one reason why he despised him, being, as before observed, about twenty years of age, and not come to his full strength, a stripling, as he is called, ( 1 Samuel 17:56 ) , another reason follows,

and ruddy, and of a fair countenance;
looked effeminate, had not the appearance of a soldier, of a weather beaten veteran, exposed to heat and cold, and inured to hardships.

1 Samuel 17:42 In-Context

40 Instead, he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pouch, in his shepherd's bag. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.

41 The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with the shield-bearer in front of him.

42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a youth, healthy and handsome.

43 He said to David, "Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?" Then he cursed David by his gods.

44 "Come here," the Philistine called to David, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts!"

Footnotes

• [a]. Or reddish