“Do not touch my anointed ones;

And my prophets, do not harm.”

(Psalm 105:15)

Perhaps most of us in the Christian faith are used to hearing the language of the “Anointed One” in the singular. Indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Anointed one par excellence; He is the Anointed one that all the other anointed ones point toward. Yet, in the Hebrew Bible, while there is a sense of a Christ, or Anointed One, to come, there are many people that are referred to as “anointed ones” in the Bible. The term is applied to those in the Levitical priesthood (Leviticus 3:3,16), to Samuel (1 Samuel 2:35), Saul (1 Samuel 24:10), David (2 Samuel 19:21; 22:51; 23:1), and even to Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1). 

If we are to take the parallelism of this verse very narrowly, it implies that all of the prophets of God can be considered as anointed ones as well. Yet, the Christian understanding has consistently been to refer to all of God’s elect as anointed ones in Christ. Question 32 of the Heidelberg Catechism, for instance, asks the question: “Why are you called a Christian?” In the answer, it reminds us of the fact that “Christ” means “Anointed One,” thus it reads:

“Because by faith I am a member of Christ and am thus a partaker of His anointing, in order that I also may confess His Name, may present myself as a living sacrifice to Him, and with a free conscience may fight against sin and the devil in this life, and hereafter in eternity reign with Him over all creatures.”

Thus, our Lord reminds us that if we are His, then no one can pull us out of the hand of God (John 6:28) and the Apostle Paul likewise reminds us that “if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). As the psalmist points out, God has always protected His anointed ones from those who would do evil to them. He says, “do not touch” (implying “to cause harm”) and “do not harm” (literally, “do evil”) to his anointed ones and to His spokespersons.

Why then are Christians often so timid? Why are Christians often so fearful about what may happen if they share their faith? Yes, people may feel uncomfortable around us. Yes, we may lose a friend or a job. In some parts of the world, we may even lose our lives. Yet, are we not secure in Christ? Will not God judge the wicked who harm his anointed ones? No, we have a great salvation that has been worked for us by Christ, the Great Anointed One; we should not fear earthly reprisals or persecution.