9010. 'And God caused it to happen at his hand' means appearing as something happening by chance. This is clear from ancient people's idea of chance, which was that whatever happened was brought about by God; and this was why they expressed the idea of chance by saying that 'God caused it to happen at someone's hand'. Those who belonged to the ancient Churches knew that the Lord's providence was present in every single thing, and that contingencies, that is, things which appeared to happen by chance, were providential. Simple people therefore who could see no difference between things that happened because He permitted them and those that happened because He was well pleased by them attributed to the Lord both good and evil, good because they knew that He was the author of everything good, but evil on account of the appearance. For when a person performs evil deeds, and by performing them turns away from the Lord, the appearance is that the Lord turns away; at this time the Lord appears to him to be behind, not in front of him. These then are the reasons why if anyone struck another by chance, that is, his will had not contemplated the deed beforehand, the words 'God caused it to happen at his hand' were used to express it.

The Lord's providence is in every single thing, see 1919 (end), 4329, 5122 (end), 5155, 5195, 5894 (end), 6058, 6481-6487, 6489, 6491, 7004, 7007, 8478, 8717.

Contingencies or chance occurrences are providential, 5508, 6493, 6494.

Evil is attributed to the Lord, when in fact it originates in man, 2447, 5798, 6071, 6832, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7877, 7926, 8197, 8227, 8228, 8282, 8284, 8483, 8632.

8632. I talked to spirits belonging to that planet about the Lord, saying that He does ill to no one, still less punishes anyone. Being some of the more simple, those spirits were at first unwilling to accept this, believing that the Lord was the author of punishments. But I told them that their angels present with a person on their planet do not chastise or even speak harshly, and that they do no more than allow spirits that administer punishment, who are also present, to chastise. And since those angels do not chastise, much less does the Lord, who is Goodness itself and the Ruler of the angels, do so. Having heard what I told them those spirits acknowledged and declared affirmatively with a clear voice that the Lord punishes no one, does ill to no one, and does not even speak harshly to anyone. Regarding the angels and regarding the spirits who administer punishment among the inhabitants of Jupiter, see 7802-7805, 7810.