Shmuel Alef 17:42

42 And when the Pelishti squinted and saw Dovid, he despised him: for he was but a na’ar (boy), and admoni (ruddy), and yafeh mareh (good-looking).

Shmuel Alef 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.

Shmuel Alef 17:42 In-Context

40 And he took his makel (stick, staff) in his yad, and chose him chamishah chalukei avanim (five smooth stones) out of the nachal (brook), and put them in a keli haro’im (shepherd’s bag) which he had, even in a wayfarer’s bag; and his kela (slingshot) was in his yad; and he drew near to the Pelishti.

41 And the Pelishti came on and drew near unto Dovid; and the ish, the no’se hatzinnah, went ahead of him.

42 And when the Pelishti squinted and saw Dovid, he despised him: for he was but a na’ar (boy), and admoni (ruddy), and yafeh mareh (good-looking).

43 And the Pelishti said unto Dovid, Am I a kelev (dog), that thou comest to me with maklot (sticks)? And the Pelishti cursed Dovid by his g-ds.

44 And the Pelishti said to Dovid, Come to me, and I will give thy basar unto the oph hashomayim, and to the behemat hasadeh.