THE TEXT
1 Chronicles 16:22 (KJV) — 22 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, And do my prophets no harm
The Context
1 Chronicles 16:17–21 (KJV) — 17 And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, And to Israel for an everlasting covenant, 18 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, The lot of your inheritance; 19 When ye were but few, Even a few, and strangers in it. 20 And when they went from nation to nation, And from one kingdom to another people; 21 He suffered no man to do them wrong: Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes,
Divine Protection
Based on the collective text, God is describing the emphasis placed on His protection of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and the great Patriarchs/Matriarchs. Psalm 105:14 states, ” He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes.” We see two explicit instances of this in the OT text.
Sarah and the Prophet
Genesis 20:6–7 (KJV) — 6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
Isaac and His Wife
Genesis 26:11 (KJV 1900) — 11 And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
The Applicable Scope
I Chronicles 16:22, and Psalm 105:15 speak specifically of Patriarchal and Matriarchal figures and broadly of kingly, priestly, and prophetic figures who were anointed and appointed to their service. We see the kingly sense in I Samuel 24 regarding David and King Saul and in the unique prophetic figure of Moses, who stands apart from all others as the mediator of the covenant.
1 Samuel 24:5–6 (KJV) — 5 And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt. 6 And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.
Numbers 12:6–8 (ESV) — 6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
Anointed in the New Testament
From this, we can see that the text specifically speaks of God’s protective covering over key figures who had been called, chosen, and appointed to accomplish divine missions. Scripture principally indicates the carefulness one must take when approaching those under this umbrella. Broadly, it also applies to the greater whole of the covenantal community of Israel in the OT and in the NT, the Body of Christ comprised of individual members anointed as kings and priests in an already, but not yet eschatological kingdom ( II Cor. 1:21-22; I Jn 2:20; Rev. 1:6).
While this text can easily be abused to posit a leadership paradigm of authoritarian control, it is important to recognize that one must never throw out the “baby with the bathwater.” The principles realized throughout the Old Testament are not entirely done away with following an ascendant theology of servant leadership. Those things that are anointed by God, both His body and key figures within the body that have been anointed, appointed, and authorized to lead within the body, continue to enjoy the protective gaze of God, who is righteously jealous over his people.
It goes both ways. Pulpit, be careful how you handle the pew. Pew, be careful how you handle the pulpit. Positions do not eradicate spiritual equality, but they are essential in the body of Christ and are a feature we cannot simply divorce from an elevation of carefulness, respect, and significance.