1 Samuel 17:42

42 The P'lishti looked David up and down and had nothing but scorn for what he saw - a boy with ruddy cheeks, red hair and good looks.

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 Then he took his stick in his hand and picked five smooth stones from the riverbed, putting them in his shepherd's bag, in his pouch. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the P'lishti.

41 The P'lishti, with his shield-bearer ahead of him, came nearer and nearer to David.

42 The P'lishti looked David up and down and had nothing but scorn for what he saw - a boy with ruddy cheeks, red hair and good looks.

43 The P'lishti said to David, "Am I a dog? Is that why you're coming at me with sticks?"- and the P'lishti cursed David by his god.

44 Then the P'lishti said to David, "Come here to me, so I can give your flesh to the birds in the air and the wild animals."