1 Kings 20:35 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Bible Comments

A certain man said to his neighbour Hebrew, אל רעהו, eel regnehu, to his companion, as St. Hierom translates it, that is, to a prophet bred in the same school with himself, who well understood the importance of obeying the command. In the word of the Lord In the name and by the command of God, whereof, doubtless, he had informed him. Smite me, I pray thee So as to wound me, 1 Kings 20:37. He speaks what God commanded him, though it was to his own hurt; by which obedience to God, he secretly reproacheth Ahab's disobedience in a far easier matter. And this the prophet desires, by God's appointment, that, looking like a wounded soldier, he might have the more free access to the king. And the man refused to smite him Not out of contempt to God's command, but probably, in tenderness to his brother.

1 Kings 20:35

35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him.