TOUCH NOT MY ANOINTED
“Do not touch my anointed and do my prophet no harm.”
(Psalms 105:15)
Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you. Behold I will deliver your enemy into your hand that you may do to him as it seems good to you. And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Now it happened afterwards that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe. And he said to his men, “God forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the God’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” So David restrained his servants with these words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.” ( 1 Samuel 24:4-7).
God does not only want us to honour Him; He wants us to abide and carry out every instruction He gives us.
The anointed ones are those consecrated by God for a particular office or religious service. People can be anointed with oil to signify God’s blessing or call of God on that person’s life (Exodus 29:7, 40:9, 2Kings 9:6, Ecclesiastes 9:8; James 5:14. God may anoint people for unique and different purposes such as to be a king, or into any of the fivefold ministry; ( Apostle, Prophet, Pastor, Evangelist, and Teacher) and other related offices.
David and Saul had trouble with each other before the above story. Saul made several attempts to kill David (1Samuel 18:11-20; 19:1-10, 11, 18) because people rendered a song of victory in favour of David:” So the women sang as they danced, and they said: “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousand. Then Saul was furious, and the saying displeased him, and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousand, and Saul, they have ascribed only thousands. Now, what more can he have but the kingdom? (1Samuel 18:7-8). God, by His foreknowledge, knew what Saul would do to David. He raised Jonathan as a benefactor and deliverer for David and sealed their friendship with a covenant. May the God of heaven raise an unmatchable benefactor and deliverer to help you in your days of trouble in Jesus’ name.
In 1 Samuel 24:4, the Bible says the men of David said to him, “This is the day the Lord said to you, behold I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him whatever it seems reasonable to you. ” And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. (Deut. 7:23; Jer 15:11).
David had many opportunities to pay Saul back in his coin. Still, David understood the implications of touching God’s anointed. David’s men saw the situation as an opportunity to settle the scores with Saul. Still, David saw it as a test or temptation he must overcome. If you were to be David, what would you have done? Knowing well that (a) God says, “His anointed men must not be touched for any reason and (b) The anointed man that was not to be affected was hunting for your life.
Touching God’s anointed could mean speaking unkind words of them, backbiting about them, rebelling against them or conspiring to do evil against them or judge them. We should be careful of what we say or do to God-anointed ones, as the consequences of our actions and reactions to them could be unbearable.
David’s life and behaviour in this story teach that;
- We are not to pay back evil for evil; we are not to compensate well for crime (1 Peter 3:9, Proverbs 17:13)
- We should not take vengeance ourselves (Deut. 32:25, Romans 12:19; 1 Sam. 24:12-13).
- We should be rooted and grounded in fear of God that prevents us from doing abominable things (Gen 39:9, 1 Samuel 24:6)
- We should also submit and be loyal to governing authorities that God has put us under, whether good or bad influence; be the king, Apostle, Prophet, Teacher, Pastor, Evangelist (Your director, manager, team leader, etc.) (Hebrews 13:7).
He Reigns Forever
