A certain man—said unto his neighbour in the word of the Lord, Smite me, &c.— Said—by the command of the Lord, &c. Houbigant. The prophets, as we have before observed, both in their parabolical speeches and symbolical actions, are to be considered as persons of a singular character. See ch. 1 Kings 11:30-31. We have one here, desiring his companion, a person bred up in the same school with him, to give him a wound, that thereby he might have a better opportunity of reproving Ahab for his ill-timed clemency to Ben-hadad. To desire to be wounded was, in appearance, a request so frantic, that his brother prophet might justly have denied him, had he not been satisfied that his request was from God. But herein lay the great fault of the recusant; though he knew the authority of God's commands, and that this was the very thing which he enjoined; yet, out of an indiscreet pity and compassion to his brother, he refused to comply. Had he been a stranger to the several methods of divine prophesy, he might have excused himself with a better grace; but as he was equally a prophet, bred up in the same school as the other, and well understood the weight of his brother prophet's request, he was utterly inexcusable.
Related Commentaries of 1 Kings 20:35
1 Kings 20:35-36
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.
36 Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him.