John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 4:20

"The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits; Of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations." — Lamentations 4:20 (ASV)

This verse, as I have said elsewhere, has been ignorantly applied to Josiah, who fell in battle long before the fall of the city. The royal dignity continued after his death; he was himself buried in the grave of his fathers; and though the enemy was victorious, yet he did not come to the city. It is then absurd to apply to that king what is here properly said of Zedekiah, the last king; for though he was wholly unlike Josiah, yet he was one of David’s posterity, and a type of Christ.

As it was, then, God’s will that the posterity of David should represent Christ, Zedekiah is here rightly called the Christ of Jehovah, by which term Scripture designates all kings, and even Saul. Though his kingdom was temporary and soon decayed, yet he is called “the Anointed of Jehovah”; and doubtless the anointing, which he received by the hand of Samuel, was not altogether in vain. But David is properly called the Anointed of Jehovah, together with his posterity. Hence he often used these words, Look on thy Christ. (Psalms 84:10). And when Hannah in her song spoke of the Christ of Jehovah, she had no doubt a regard to this idea (1 Samuel 2:10). And, finally, our Lord was called the Christ of the Lord, for so Simeon called him (Luke 2:26).

Now, then, we perceive that this passage cannot be understood except of king Zedekiah. It ought at the same time to be added, that he is called the Christ of Jehovah, because his crown was not yet cast down, but he still bore that diadem by which he had been adorned by God. As, then, the throne of David still remained, Zedekiah, however unworthy he was of that honor, was yet the Christ of Jehovah, as Manasseh was, and others who were wholly degenerated.

The Prophet, however, seems to ascribe to Zedekiah far more than he deserved, when he calls him the life of the people. But this difficulty may be easily removed; the man himself is not regarded according to his merits, but as he was called by God, and endowed with that high and singular honor, for we know that what is here said extended to all the posterity of David—

I have made him the first-begotten among all the kings
of the earth. (Psalms 89:27).

For though the kings of the earth did not obtain their authority, except as they were established by God’s decree, yet the king from David’s posterity was first-begotten among them all. In short, it was a sacerdotal, and even a sacred kingdom, because God had specially dedicated that throne to himself. This peculiarity ought then to be kept in mind, so that we do not look on the individual in himself.

Then the passage runs consistently, when he says that the Messiah, or the anointed of Jehovah, had been taken in their snares; for we know that he was taken, and this is consistent with history. He had fled by a hidden way into the desert, and he thought that he had escaped from the hands of his enemies; but he was soon seized and brought to king Nebuchadnezzar. As, then, he had unexpectedly fallen into the hands of his enemies, the Prophet rightly says metaphorically, that he was taken in their snares.

He calls him the spirit of the nostrils of the people, because the people without their king were like a mutilated and an imperfect body. For God made David king, and also his posterity, for this end, that the life of the people might in a manner reside in him.

As far, then, as David was the head of the people, and so constituted by God, he was even their life. The same was the case with all his posterity as long as the succession continued, for the favor of God was not extinguished until all liberty vanished, when the city was destroyed, and even the name of the people was, so to speak, abolished.

But we must observe what we have said before, that these high terms in which the posterity of David were spoken of, properly belong to Christ only; for David was not the life of the people, except as he was the type of Christ, and represented his person. Then what is said was not really found in the posterity of David, but only typically.

Hence the truth, the reality, is to be sought only in Christ. And hence we learn that the Church is dead, and is like a maimed body, when separated from its head. If, then, we desire to live before God, we must come to Christ, who is really the spirit or the breath of our nostrils; for as a dead man no longer breathes, so also we are said to be dead when separated from Christ.

On the other hand, as long as there is between him and us a sacred union, though our life is hidden, and we die, yet we live in him. And though we are dead to the world, yet our life is in heaven, as Paul and Peter also call us there (Colossians 3:3–4; 2 Peter 3:16).

In short, Jeremiah means that the favor of God was, so to speak, extinguished when the king was taken away, because the happiness of the people depended on the king, and the royal dignity was, so to speak, a sure pledge of the grace and favor of God. Hence the blessing of God ceased when the king was taken away from the Jews.

Finally, it follows, Of whom we have said, Under thy shadow we shall live among the nations. The Prophet shows that the Jews in vain hoped for anything anymore concerning their restoration, for the origin of all blessing was from the king. God had bereaved them of their king; it then follows that they were in a hopeless state.

But the Prophet, to express this more clearly, says that the people thought they would be safe if the kingdom remained. We shall live, they said, even among the nations under the shadow of our king. This meant, “Though we may be driven to foreign nations, yet the king will be able to gather us, and his shadow will extend far and wide to keep us safe.”

So the Jews believed, but falsely, because by their defection they had cast away the yoke of Christ and of God, as it is said in Psalm 2:3. Since they had shaken off the heavenly yoke, they in vain trusted in the shadow of an earthly king and were wholly unworthy of the guardianship and protection of God.