“Do Not Touch My ANOINTED ONES; Do My PROPHETS No Harm”
We’ve all heard this verse, but how do we properly interpret it? Who are God’s “anointed ones”? To answer, let’s go to the passage, which appears twice in Scripture verbatim:
“Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.”
“Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.”
These are examples of synonymous parallelism in Hebraic poetry wherein the first part of the verse is repeated in the second part in different words. As such, “anointed ones” and “prophets” are spoken as one-and-the-same. Both verses are contextually referring to the Israelites, God’s chosen nation in that era. So do not touch God’s people; do God’s people no harm.
Notice what the previous verse in each text says:
He allowed no one to oppress them;
for their sake he rebuked kings:
This reveals the core message of our text: Don’t unjustly persecute God’s people or it will draw the wrath of the Almighty. Does this only apply to the Hebrews under the Old Covenant or does it also apply to God’s people today, those under the New Covenant? Yes, because…
- All genuine believers are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).
- All the promises God made to the Israelites are ‘yes’ for those in Christ? (2 Corinthians 1:20).
We’ll look at that further in a moment. First, let’s return to our main text…
“Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.”
So, “my anointed ones” and “my prophets” are synonymous concepts in this text. Yet there’s an obvious distinction: All believing Hebrews could be classified as “anointed ones” (see the difference between believing Israelites and unbelieving Israelites in this article). But not all Hebrews were prophets in the technical sense, that is, inspired people who were called to speak for the LORD to the people (the word is nabi in the Hebrew and prophétés in the Greek). ‘Prophets’ would only apply to all believing Israelites in a generic sense, that is, people who (are supposed to) represent the LORD and therefore speak for the Almighty.
In a more technical sense, “prophet” here would refer to to Old Covenant prophets (the genuine ones, of course, not false prophets).
Old Covenant Prophets
During the Old Covenant era, a genuine prophet or prophetess spoke for God. In light of this, what a prophet said was equal to the Word of the LORD and kings made extremely important decisions at their word, like going to war. The primary purpose of the Old Testament prophet was to lead and guide Israel through the spoken Word of the LORD and, in fact, a lot of their words became Holy Scripture and are included in what we know today as the Old Testament, such as the books from Isaiah to Malachi.
For this reason, the words of a prophet had to be 100% accurate. If their words were proven to be false, they were to no longer be regarded as prophets and were even to be put to death (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). If an Old Testament prophet missed it just once, they were done (which explains the need for a more immediate application to their far-flung prophecies, explained here). This, of course, didn’t happen in cases where the king and other leaders were corrupt and actually wanted false prophets to comfort them with lies, which occurred all too often in Israel and Judah (e.g. the 400 false prophets of King Ahab noted in 1 Kings 22:5-9).
The Messiah — “The Anointed One” — Was the Last Old Testament Prophet
Jesus Christ was the last person to operate in the anointing of an Old Testament prophet (Hebrews 1:1-2) and, in fact, he was The Prophet, which the Hebrews had anticipated for almost 1500 years (Deuteronomy 18:15, John 6:14 & 7:40). For those not in the know, ‘the Christ’ and ‘the Messiah’ both mean “the Anointed One” (they are Christos in the Greek and Mashiyach in Hebrew).
New Covenant Believers Are “Chips Off the Ol’ Block” of The Anointed One
Genuine Christ-ians (Acts 11:26) are born of the seed of the Christ — the Anointed One — as observed in 1 John 3:9 & 1 Peter 1:23 (‘seed’ is sperma in the first passage; the Greek word for sperm). As such, New Covenant believers are little anointed ones or the spiritual offspring of the Anointed One; who (super)naturally have the same spirit.
In light of this, in the New Testament era, Psalm 105:15 & 1 Chronicles 16:22 (our main text, at the top) could apply to any genuine believer who’s walking in the spirit and producing the fruit thereof, as opposed to works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-23). I distinguish this because any ‘believer’ who’s walking in the flesh and producing works of the flesh on a regular basis with no care of repentance (1 John 1:8-9) would certainly not be God’s “anointed one.” As the Lord plainly said, “By their fruit you will recognize them,” aka false prophets, that is, false people who (supposedly) speak for God (Matthew 7:15-23).
For instance, if there’s a Christian brother or sister who habitually engages in hateful gossip & slander, including (or especially) concerning blameless brothers & sisters in the LORD and even fivefold ministers (Ephesians 4:11-13), this exposes them as false believers. Keep in mind that ‘devil’ — diabolos in the Greek — literally means “slanderer” or “accuser” (Revelation 12:10). In other words, such false believers are acting like their father, the devil.
To elaborate, the New Testament plainly says that all genuine believers “have an anointing from the Holy One” (1 John 2:20). Those who are humble and come near to God, as observed in James 4:6 & 4:8, would be closer to the LORD and consequently have more favor — grace — compared to arrogant, carnal ones who are distant from the Almighty (Psalm 138:6).
To bring this home: If you’re a New Covenant believer who’s walking in the spirit as opposed to the flesh, and “keeping with repentance” when you miss it (Matthew 3:8 & Luke 3:8), you are an anointed one of God, called to speak for the Almighty as an ambassador of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20 & 1 Peter 4:11). And the LORD has your back based on the promise of our main text.
Related Topics:
GRACE — What Is God’s Grace? How Do You Receive It? How Do You Grow In It?
Christ: “The Anointed One” — What Does it Mean? What Does “Jesus” Mean?
How to Walk FREE OF THE FLESH by being Spirit-Controlled
Understanding Christ’s LORDSHIP in the Believer’s Life
Distinguishing ATHEISTS, AGNOSTICS and BELIEVERS
PROPHETS — New Testament and Old Testament (There’s a Difference)
Official Prophets (Ministers) and Independent Prophets (Ministers)
TEMPTATION, TRIALS and TESTS — What’s the Diff?
Handling Personal Offenses vs. Handling Criminal Acts
How to CONFRONT & CORRECT (and How NOT to)
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