John Gill Commentary 1 Kings 20:37

"Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, smiting and wounding him." — 1 Kings 20:37 (ASV)

Then he found another man, and said, smite me, I pray you ,
&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.