The phrase ‘touch not the anointed’ was never meant to shield leaders from criticism and accountability

Source: The phrase ‘touch not the anointed’ was never meant to shield leaders from criticism and accountability

Lies are the tools of the weak and insecure.

When political propagandists weaponize sacred scriptures to intimidate citizens, they perform a calculated act of spiritual fraud.
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​A recent post by a pro-regime campaigner declared President Emmerson Mnangagwa “the anointed,” warning that opposing him invites a deadly curse.

By celebrating the tragic death of vocal critic Blessed “Bombshell” Geza as proof of divine wrath, this display is a textbook study in autocratic manipulation.
By brandishing the biblical mandate “touch not my anointed,” political sycophants and self-serving religious leaders build a fortress of fear around power.
They seek to transform civic questioning into a spiritual sin and portray public accountability as rebellion against God.
But a rigorous reading of scripture exposes this narrative as a complete inversion of the truth: “the anointed” in this text are not the political rulers, but the ordinary citizens themselves.
Found in Psalm 105:15, the declaration commands: “Touch not my anointed ones.”
​To understand how thoroughly this passage has been hijacked, look at the text for what it actually says.
In Psalm 105, “my anointed” does not refer to kings, presidents, or religious patriarchs.
It refers directly to the ordinary citizens—the vulnerable, everyday people stripped of state power.
Just three verses earlier, the psalm explicitly describes these people as “few in number, indeed few, and strangers in the land,” wandering as defenseless nomads from nation to nation.
The rulers are not the anointed; the rulers are the potential oppressors.
The ordinary citizens are undeniably the anointed.
The text states plainly that God “suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he rebuked kings for their sakes,” commanding those rulers, “touch not my anointed.”
Therefore, “touch not my anointed” was never a shield to protect those in authority from public criticism.
It was a divine warning issued directly to political and religious leaders, ordering them to stop abusing, exploiting, and oppressing the people.
This spiritual fraud is just as rampant in the church as it is in the state.
Pastors, prophets, and church founders routinely weaponize this same verse to create an untouchable caste, muzzling congregants who dare to ask hard questions.
They weaponize stories like Miriam being struck with leprosy after confronting Moses, falsely framing her divine judgment as proof that questioning leadership invites a curse.
But Miriam was judged for racial bigotry and personal envy over Moses’ leadership—not for demanding moral accountability or transparency.
Misapplying her story to suppress questions about financial opacity, moral rot, or dictatorial church governance is a gross theological distortion.
But whether invoked by a state propagandist to protect a politician or by a clergyman to hide misconduct, using this verse to evade scrutiny is an identical theft of a title that belongs strictly to the collective body of believers and citizens.
Regime propagandists take a text explicitly written to protect defenseless citizens from tyrannical rulers and flip it upside down to protect tyrannical rulers from defenseless citizens.
When a politician or state actor claims to be “the anointed” to silence public scrutiny, they are usurping a title that belongs to the people they govern.
Even when individual figures in biblical history were anointed for specific roles, their position never conferred immunity from moral evaluation, verbal confrontation, or public opposition.
When King David abused his power, the prophet Nathan did not stay quiet out of fear of a curse; he walked directly into the palace and publicly exposed the king’s corruption.
Elijah openly confronted King Ahab over his tyranny, and John the Baptist condemned King Herod’s moral decay.
The entire biblical tradition demonstrates that divine authority is never a blank check for unchecked power.
If “touch not the anointed” meant that citizens must remain silent in the face of misrule, then every true prophet in history died in violation of God’s command.
Political and religious elites love quoting this text precisely because it offers the ultimate shortcut to unchecked dominance.
By claiming a divine mandate, a ruler attempts to neutralize constitutional checks, judicial oversight, and democratic opposition.
It allows corrupt systems to frame economic mismanagement, systemic looting, and human rights abuses as divinely sanctioned, while painting citizens who demand basic dignity and justice as enemies of God.
God does not expect leaders to reign as untouchable demigods above the law.
Divine standards demand that leaders act as humble public servants who execute impartial justice, defend the poor, and remain fully answerable to the people.
When rulers weaponize faith to shield their misrule, responsible citizens are not called to passive submission.
God expects citizens to act as active custodians of righteousness—testing every authority, speaking out for the oppressed, exposing corruption, and standing firm against tyranny.
Silence in the face of state-sponsored injustice is not piety; it is cowardice.
The people are the anointed, and power must answer to them.
Power must answer to justice.
***Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to contact him on +263715667700 or ***mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com

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