Every man is senseless in his knowledge: every goldsmith is put to shame by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
Read Chapter 10
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
“Who has understood the sense of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor or has taught him?” Of him we also read elsewhere: “For he holds the circuit of the earth and made the earth as nothing.” And Jeremiah says, “The gods that have not made heaven and earth will perish from the earth and from among those places that are under heaven. He that made the earth by his power and prepared the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens at his knowledge and a multitude of waters in the heaven.” And he adds, “Humankind is become a fool for knowledge.” How can one who pursues the corruptible things of the world and thinks that from these things he can comprehend the truth of divine nature not become a fool as he makes use of the artifices of sophistry? - "Six Days of Creation 1.3.9"
But if heretics deny that either the heavens or the earth were made by you, O Lord, let them take heed of the abyss into which they are hurling themselves by their own madness. The prophet writes, “Perish the gods that have not made heaven and earth.” Shall he then perish, O Arian, who had found and saved that which had perished? - "On the Christian Faith 4.4.48"
Because they can be called gods, though they cannot be so, for a time they are even called so. What does the prophet say, or what warning does he give them? The prophet is told to say this to them: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from those that are under the heavens.” He is not such a god, for our God is above all gods. Above all what gods? “For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.” - "Expositions of the Psalms 48.14"
In reading what is said in this psalm of Christ and of the church, one would find that what is there foretold is fulfilled in the present state of the world. He would see the idols of the nations perishing from off the earth, and he would find that this is predicted by the prophets, as in Jeremiah: “Then shall you say to them, ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth, and from under heaven,’ ” and again, “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to you from the ends of the earth and shall say, ‘Surely our ancestors have inherited lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit. Shall a person make gods for himself, and they are not gods?’ Therefore, behold, I will at that time cause them to know, I will cause them to know my hand and my might, and they shall know that I am the Lord.” Hearing these prophecies and seeing their fulfillment, I need not say that he would be affected. We...
He said, “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth and from under the heaven.” He did not say, “The gods that have not made the heaven and from the earth,” because they never were in heaven. What did he say? He said, “Let them perish from the earth and from under the heaven,” as if, while the word earth was repeated, “heaven” did not need to be (because they never were in heaven). He repeats “earth” twice, since it is under heaven. “Let them perish from the earth and from under the heaven,” from their temples. Consider whether this is not now taking place, whether in a great measure it has not already happened. For what, or how much, has remained? The idols remained rather in the hearts of the pagans than in the niches of the temples. - "Expositions of the Psalms 99.2"
Jeremiah the prophet, gifted with consummate wisdom, or rather the Holy Spirit in Jeremiah, exhibits God. “Am I a God at hand,” he says, “and not a God afar off? Can a person hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” … For “the Lord who created the earth by his power,” as Jeremiah says, “has raised up the world by his wisdom.” For wisdom, which is his word, raises us up to the truth. It raises us who have fallen prostrate before idols. And this raising through the word is itself the first resurrection from our fall. - "Exhortation to the Greeks 8"
The psalmist writes, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high; I cannot attain unto it.” In another: “When I thought how I might know this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God and considered their latter end.” And later in the same psalm, “I was as a beast before you; nevertheless I am continually with you.” And Jeremiah says, “Every person is become brutish and without knowledge.” - "Against the Pelagians 1.15"
Next, he adduces what indeed is the greatest token of divinity, “of whom are all things.” For this implies also that those others are not gods. For it is said, “Let the gods who made not the heaven and the earth perish.” Then he adds at the end nothing less than this, “and we to him.” For when he says, “of whom are all things,” he means the creation and the bringing of things out of nothing into existence. - "Homilies on 1 Corinthians 20.5"
