1 Samuel 17:42

42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a boy, ruddy 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 And David took his staff in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine.

41 Now the Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer before him.

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

43 “Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

44 “Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”