1 Samuel 18:23

I am a poor man. — David dwells upon this fact of his utter inability to give the expected costly offering for the princess. He evidently attributes to his poverty and his successful rival’s wealth his former disappointment in the case of Merab.

And lightly esteemed. — David looked upon himself as a mere successful soldier of fortune among the wealthy chiefs who surrounded Saul. His father — though, no doubt, “head man” or sheik in tiny Bethlehem — was, compared with the elders of Israel who formed the Court of Saul, a poor man.