Psalm 105:14-15

Psalm 105:14-15

Do my prophets no harm

It’s a remarkable fact that from the time of Abraham onwards, no kingdom, nation or individual was allowed to permanently oppress the people who were destined to become Israel. The only oppression that they suffered was under the Pharaohs but even that was used for good, in fact the slavery of Egypt turned out be the labour pains that gave birth to the nation and ultimately its identity as a unique population of people with their own homeland. 

An early account of “oppression averted” is found in Genesis 20 and in the story of Abraham’s encounter with Abimelek, the King of Gerar. (By the way, this is exactly the area of land that would be inhabited by Ishmael’s descendants in the years to come.) Abraham wanted no conflict with Abimelek so he passed off Sarah, his wife, as his sister and allowed Abimelek to take her. God spoke to the innocent suitor and revealed that Sarah was married and that he should not touch her! Abimelek was able to hold up his hands with righteous indignation for he had done nothing wrong. Then the Lord said to him, “Return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live, but if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.” Genesis 20:7.

This is the first time in the Scriptures that someone is called a prophet, and Abraham was the first man to wear that title and I believe this is the reason for the words here in Psalm 105:15. In the story in Genesis 20, God Himself could have resolved the situation and sorted out the misunderstandings, He could have absolved Abimelek and restored Sarah, but He delegated authority to Abraham and allowed him to intercede and gave him permission to act on His behalf in absolution and making reparation. A Prophet, therefore, is one who is anointed to act or speak on God’s behalf, it is the man or woman who is privileged and authorised to represent Him in a given situation. To fulfil the role, the one chosen must have heard the voice of God and be prepared to carry out the will of God, for he or she has been delegated to speak or act for Him.

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