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 nations.
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
The body of God is a spiritual body; the body of Christ is the body of the divine Spirit, for the Spirit is Christ, as we read: “The Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord.” - "On the Mysteries 9.58"
But what wonder, since both the Father and the Son are said to be Spirit. Of this we shall speak more fully when we begin to speak of the unity of the name. Yet since the most suitable place occurs here, that we may not seem to have passed on without a conclusion, let them read that both the Father is called Spirit, as the Lord said in the Gospel, “for God is Spirit,” and Christ is called Spirit, for Jeremiah said, “The Spirit before our face, Christ the Lord.”
So, then, the Father is Spirit and Christ is Spirit, for that which is not a created body is spirit, but the Holy Spirit is not commingled with the Father and the Son but is distinct from the Father and from the Son. For the Holy Spirit did not die. He could not die because he had not taken flesh on himself, and the eternal Godhead was incapable of dying, but Christ died according to the flesh. - "On the Holy Spirit 1.9.105–6"
Jeremiah, in prophesying of Christ, says, “The breath of our mouth, the Lord Christ, was taken in our sins,” thus briefly showing both that Christ is our Lord and that he suffered for us. - "City of God 18.33"
Read the Lamentations. In those Lamentations, Jeremiah, lamenting you, wrote what is worthy of lamentations. He saw your destruction, he beheld your downfall, he bewailed Jerusalem that then was; for that which exists now shall not be bewailed; for that Jerusalem crucified the Christ, but that which exists now worships him. Lamenting then, he says, “The breath of our countenance, Christ the Lord, was taken in our corruptions.” Am I then stating views of my own? Behold he testifies of the Lord Christ seized by men. And what is to follow from this? Tell me, O prophet. He says, “Of whom we said, ‘Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.’ ” For he signifies that the grace of life is no longer to dwell in Israel but among the Gentiles. - "Catechetical Lectures 8.7"
Hold more steadfastly the faith in “One God the Father almighty; and in our Lord Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son; and in the Holy Spirit the Comforter.” Though the word itself and title of Spirit is applied to them in common in the sacred Scriptures, it is said of the Father, God is a Spirit, as it is written in the Gospel according to John; and of the Son, a Spirit before our face, Christ the Lord, as Jeremiah the prophet says; and of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, as was said. Yet the arrangement of articles in the faith, if religiously understood, disproves the error of Sabellius also. - "Catechetical Lectures 17.34"
Christ According to the letter, is spoken of their king, who is called the Christ; that is, the anointed of the Lord. But it also relates, in the spiritual sense, to Christ our Lord, suffering for our sins. (Challoner) (Isaias liii. 5.) (St. Augustine, City of God xviii. 33.)
It literally speaks of Josias, or of Sedecias. (Worthington)
Josias was slain by the Egyptians. (St. Jerome, in Zacharias xii.)
But Sedecias seems chiefly to be meant. The people were much attached to him, though he was wicked; and they expected that he would have rescued them from the power of the Chaldeans, as his league with the neighbouring Gentiles (Calmet) seemed to insure, (Haydock) if they had proved faithful. (Calmet)
But all was useless against the Lord. (Haydock)
Jeremiah says, “The Spirit of our face is Christ the Lord; and how was he taken into their nets of whom we said, under his shadow we shall live among the nations.” The Scripture announces that, being Spirit of God, Christ was going to become a passible man, also, as if astonished and amazed at his passion, that he was going to endure the passion in this way, under whose shadow it was said we would live. And it calls his body a “shadow,” for just as a shadow derives from a body, so the body of Christ derives from his Spirit. But by “shadow” it also signifies the abasement and contemptibleness of his body. Just as the shadow from straight and upright bodies is on the ground and trodden under foot, so also was the body of Christ thrown to the ground and trampled under foot at his passion. Perhaps he also named the body of Christ a “shadow” as having become a shade for the glory of the Spirit and covering it. And also, many times, when the Lord passed by, they placed those in the grip of d...
But in no instance did the heathen … imitate the act of being crucified because they did not understand it, since all that was said about it in Scripture was in the form of symbols. And crucifixion, as the prophet foretold, is the greatest symbol of Christ’s power and role, as is also proven by the things that fall under our own observation. For consider all the things in the world that use this form or are associated with it. No one travels on the sea unless that trophy that is called a sail remains sound on the ship. No one ploughs the earth without it: diggers and mechanics cannot do their work unless they use tools that have this shape. And the human form differs from that of the irrational animals in nothing else than in its being erect and having the hands extended and having on the face extending from the forehead what is called the nose through which the living creature breathes. And this takes no other form than that of the cross. And so it was said by the prophet, “The breath...
Those who boast about their knowledge of the law will, perhaps, say to us, “You blaspheme in saying that the Lord was subjected to the corruption of death and to the suffering of the cross.” Read, therefore, what you find written in the Lamentations of Jeremiah: “The Spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord, was taken in our corruptions, of whom we said, we shall live under his shadow among the nations.” You hear how the prophet says that Christ the Lord was taken, and for us, that is, for our sins, delivered to corruption. Under whose shadow, since the people of the Jews have continued in unbelief, he says the Gentiles lie, because we live not in Israel but among the Gentiles. - "Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed 19"
We indeed, who know for certain that Christ always spoke in the prophets, as the Spirit of the Creator (for so says the prophet, “The person of our Spirit, Christ the Lord,” who from the beginning was both heard and seen as the Father’s vicegerent in the name of God). We are well aware that his words, when upbraiding Israel, were the same as those that it was foretold that he should denounce against him: “You have forsaken the Lord and have provoked the holy One of Israel to anger.” If, however, you would rather refer to God the whole imputation of Jewish ignorance from the first, instead of to Christ, through an unwillingness on their part to allow that even in ancient times the Creator’s word and Spirit—that is to say, his Christ—was despised and not acknowledged by them, you will even in this subterfuge be defeated. For when you do not deny that the Creator’s Son and Spirit and Substance is also his Christ, you must allow that those who have not acknowledged the Father have failed l...
For even now, on the tenth day of the month Gorpiaeus, when they assemble together, they read the Lamentations of Jeremiah, in which it is said, “The Spirit before our face, Christ the Lord, was taken in their destructions,” and they read Baruch, in whom it is written, “This is our God; no other shall be esteemed with him. He found out every way of knowledge and showed it to Jacob his son and Israel his beloved. Afterwards he was seen on earth and conversed with people.” And when they read them, they lament and bewail—as they themselves suppose—that desolation that happened through Nebuchadnezzar. However, as the truth shows, they unwillingly make a prelude to that lamentation that will overtake them. But after ten days from the ascension, which from the first Lord’s day is the fiftieth day, you are to keep a great festival, for on that day, at the third hour, the Lord Jesus sent on us the gift of the Holy Spirit, and we were filled with his energy, and we “spoke with new tongues, as t...
Fourthly, is excluded a protection from kings. As said: "The breath of our nostrils, the Lord's anointed That is, by which we were breathed through narrow places; as: "the Lord's anointed". Like Josiah (16th King of Judah, son of Amon and Jedidah: 2 Kings 22:1): "was taken in their pits." That is, was killed by the Egptians (cf. 2 Kings, Chapter 24,"Nebuchhadnezzar Conquers Judah"), Namely, while that king Josiah was a just king.
Such also can be exposed as to King Zedekiah (of Judah), as to the consequence of his reign. Or it even can be referred to Christ. As the prophet Isaiah foretold: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities." (Is: 53:5).
Then, as Verse 20 concluded: "he of whom was said, "Under his shadow we shall live among the nations." Namely, under the Lord's protection. As the Song of Solomon 2:3 expresses it: "With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."
