The Anointed of the LORD Was Captured

Jerusalem admits that it watched in vain for a foreign nation to save it. Then the catastrophe reaches the monarchy: “the anointed of the LORD” is captured, the king under whose “shadow” the people expected to survive among the nations. In the setting of Jerusalem’s fall, the natural historical referent is the final Davidic king caught by Babylon—most commonly identified as Zedekiah.

Because “anointed” is the Hebrew concept behind “messiah,” Christians have long read this verse in relation to Christ. That tradition needs careful testing. The verse itself is describing Judah’s captured king, not directly announcing Jesus’ arrest. Calvin, for example, reads Zedekiah as the historical referent and then as a type of Christ. This study retains that Davidic/Christological trajectory as traditional typology while rejecting the stronger claim that Lamentations 4:20 is simply a direct prediction of Jesus.