1 Kings 20:37

37 Then he found another man and said, "Strike me!" So the man hit him, striking and wounding him.

1 Kings 20:37 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 20:37

Then he found another man, and said, smite me, I pray thee,
&c.] This is not said to be his neighbour, nor one of the sons of the prophets, but a rustic man, and so stuck not to take him at his word:

and the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him;
in his face; made some incision in his flesh, broke the skin, and fetched blood of him; perhaps somewhere about his eyes, by what follows: this he got done to him, that he might look like a wounded soldier, and thereby get the more easily to the speech of Ahab.

1 Kings 20:37 In-Context

35 At the command of the Lord a certain member of a company of prophets said to another, "Strike me!" But the man refused to strike him.
36 Then he said to him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, as soon as you have left me, a lion will kill you." And when he had left him, a lion met him and killed him.
37 Then he found another man and said, "Strike me!" So the man hit him, striking and wounding him.
38 Then the prophet departed, and waited for the king along the road, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.
39 As the king passed by, he cried to the king and said, "Your servant went out into the thick of the battle; then a soldier turned and brought a man to me, and said, "Guard this man; if he is missing, your life shall be given for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.'
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.