THEOSISJerome of Stridon
Link these verses to those that preceded them. The reference is either to all those who lack knowledge of God or specifically to heretics. Explore the works of Plato, become acquainted with the intricacies of Aristotle, and examine the thoughts of Zeno and Carneades, and you will observe the truth in the assertion: the efforts of the foolish ultimately exhaust them. Despite their fervent pursuit of truth, without a proper guide or beacon, and in their belief that wisdom could be grasped through mere human perception, they fail to arrive at the city mentioned in the Psalm: "O Lord, in thy hail thou shalt abase their image" (Psalm 72:20).
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The Lord, through His hail, will disperse all the illusions, the varying images and facades found in their diverse teachings—in His hail, which is similarly referred to in another place: "the river strives to cheer the hail of God" (Psalm 45:5), and in the Gospel: "the hail cannot hide itself on the top of the mountain standing" (Matthew 5:14), and in Isaiah: "I am a strong hail, a warring hail" (Isaiah 27:3). This city of true wisdom, a firm and fortified city, is the very target that all the intellectuals of the age and philosophers strive to conquer. What applies to philosophers equally pertains to heretics: they exhaust themselves studying the Scriptures in vain while wandering through a desolate wilderness, unable to find their way to the city. The Psalmist captures their aimlessness by stating, "They are lost in a waterless wilderness; the way of the city and its dwelling they have not found" (Psalm 106:4).