“Touch not mine anointed”
"Abraham's Departure" by József Molnár (Courtesy of Wikipedia)
Throughout my life, I have heard Psalm 105:15 quoted as a warning of the danger of speaking against the ministry, particularly the pastor. While I do believe it is a sin to assault or undermine the preacher (I am one, after all), this interpretation falls far short of the real meaning of this verse.
First, it must be noted that the writer (1st Chronicles 16:7 attributes the words of Psalm 105 to King David) is speaking directly about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, the Jews. He references the everlasting covenant God made with Abraham’s offspring, and then recounts their wanderings among the nations. During that time, David notes, God “reproved kings for their sakes; saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.”
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob weren’t “ministers” in the modern sense of the word. They were nomads, roaming across the modern-day Middle East. Their lives were marked with extraordinary displays of faith, as well as some very big mistakes. But God had called them, and He was willing to rebuke and even punish heads of state who crossed Abraham and his offspring.
While Psalm 105:14-15 speaks directly of Abraham’s biological descendants, the Christian must remember the words of the Apostle Paul: “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7, KJV). In 2 Corinthians 1:21, Paul also speaks of believers as being “anointed” by God.
In view of these verses, we must be very careful about how we treat all of God’s anointed, not just the ones who fill the pulpit on Sunday. It’s wrong to disparage the preacher, but it’s equally sinful to disparage the Sunday school teacher, the choir director, the usher, the cleaning crew or even the person who seems to do nothing more than keep the pew warm.
God was willing to afflict the Egyptian Pharaoh because of his unwitting offense against Abraham’s wife (Genesis 12:17), even though the incident seems to be largely Abraham’s fault. God still is ready to stand up for His people when they are maligned, mistreated and misused. Let it never be said of us that we were responsible for the mistreatment.
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