The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.
This passage has been ignorantly twisted to mean Josiah, but it speaks of Zedekiah, the last king. Though he was unworthy and nothing like his ancestor David, he still bore the crown and was rightly called the Lord's Anointed, as were all who held that throne. The anointing Samuel poured on the house of David was not in vain, even when worn by a degenerate man.
AI summary
The prophets and priests bear chief fault, not that the people were innocent, but these watchmen should have warned them and did not. They shed the blood of the righteous to please their people and advance their false religion. Nothing ripens a nation for ruin faster than the sins of those set to teach the truth.
AI summary
Commenting on Lamentations 4:13-20
Not Josiah, as some claim, but Zedekiah, the final king of Judah. When the Chaldeans took the city, he fell into their nets and pits. Yet what is said here applies supremely to Christ: He is the very breath and life of His people, the one in whom they live and move, without Whom no man can live at all.
AI summary