490. It is plain from the first chapter of Genesis that everything created by God was good. It says there that 'God saw that it was good' (verses 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), and at the end 'God saw everything that He made, and behold, it was very good' (verse 31). It is also plain from man's primeval state in paradise. Evil, however, arose from man, as is plain from Adam's second ¹ state, that is, after the fall, by his being expelled from paradise. It is clear from these facts that if free will in spiritual matters had not been given to man, God Himself, and not man, would have been the cause of evil; in this case God would have created both good and evil, and it is wicked even to think that God created evil too. The reason why God did not create evil, since He bestowed on man free will in spiritual matters, and never puts any evil into his mind, is that He is good itself, and in good God is omnipresent, continually urging and demanding to be received. Even if He is not received, still He does not go away. For if He did, man would instantly die, or rather dissolve into non-existence, since man gets his life, and the continued existence of all he consists of, from God.

[2] Evil was not created by God but introduced by man, because man turns the good which continually flows in from God into evil, by turning away from God and turning towards himself. When this happens, the pleasure given by good remains, but it now becomes the pleasure given by evil; for without an apparently similar pleasure being left man would cease to live, since it is pleasure which makes up the vital principle of his love. These two pleasures are still diametrically opposed, though a person is unaware of this so long as he lives in the world. After death, however, he will know this and indeed feel it plainly, for then the pleasure given by the love of good is turned into heavenly blessedness, but the pleasure given by the love of evil into the torments of hell. These arguments prove that everyone is predestined to heaven, and no one to hell; but it is the person who commits himself to hell by misusing his free will in spiritual matters. As a result he embraces the ideas wafted from hell, since, as was said above, everyone is held mid-way between heaven and hell, so that he can be in equilibrium between good and evil, and consequently have free will in spiritual matters.

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4446. Verses 8-12 And Hamor spoke to them, saying, Shechem my son, his soul longs for your daughter; give her, I beg you, to him for a wife. And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves. And you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you; dwell, and carry on trade throughout it, and have possessions in it. And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find grace in your eyes, and I will give that which you tell me. Increase the dowry and gift to any size, ¹ and I will give whatever you tell me, and give me the young woman for a wife.

'Hamor spoke to them, saying' means the good of the Church among the Ancients. 'Shechem my son' means the truth derived from that good. 'His soul longs for your daughter; give her, I beg you, to him for a wife' means a longing to be joined to this new Church which in outward appearance was similar to the Ancient Church. 'And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves' means the union of goods and truths. 'And you shall dwell with us' means life. 'And the land shall be before you; dwell' means the Church which would be one. 'Carry on trade throughout it, and have possessions in it' means matters of doctrine which, because they are communicated, would accord with one another. 'And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers' means counsel taken by the truth from the ancient Divine stock with the good and truth of this semblance of religion. 'Let me find grace in your eyes, and I will give that which you tell me' means that if they on their part were similar in mind to him on his part. 'Increase the dowry and gift to any size, and I will give whatever you tell me' means that he will accept the things which exist with them and will make those things his own. 'And give me the young woman for a wife' means provided the joining together takes place.

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