2253. 'Will You also destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous persons who are in the midst of it?' means intercession made from love that they should not perish. This is clear from the meaning of 'fifty', also of 'righteous', as well as of 'the midst of it', that is, of the city, dealt with above in 2252. All these expressions together imply intercession made from love, and that those persons should not perish. Regarding this intercession, see above in 2250. That it is made from love is also evident. With the Lord, when He was in the world, no other life was present than the life of love towards the whole human race, which He passionately desired to save eternally. That life is wholly celestial life, by which He united Himself to the Divine, and the Divine to Himself - for Being (Esse) itself, or Jehovah, is nothing else than mercy, which is the manifestation of love towards the whole human race - and that life was the life of pure love, which life cannot possibly exist with any human being. People who do not know what life is, and that the nature of the life is determined by that of the love, do not comprehend this. From this it is evident that in the measure anyone loves the neighbour he draws on the life that is the Lord's.

2250. 'Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?' means the Lord's grief because of His love towards the human race, and His intercession which He made that although they were evil good should still be imparted to them. This becomes clear from the zeal that belongs to the love shining out of these words, and more so out of those in verse 25, where it is said, 'Far be it from You to do such a thing as to make the righteous die with the wicked, so that the righteous will be as the wicked; far be it from You; will not the Judge of the whole earth execute judgement?' It is clear in addition from the meaning of 'the righteous' as good, dealt with in 612, 2235, and from the meaning of 'the wicked' as that which is the contrary of righteous, that is, the contrary of good, thus evil. It is further evident from these words and also from what follows in this chapter that it is intercession. The Lord's intercession for the human race was made while He was in the world, and indeed while He was in a state of humiliation. For at such times, as stated already, He spoke to Jehovah as if to another. But in the state of glorification - when the Human Essence has become united to the Divine Essence and has become Jehovah - He does not at such times intercede but has mercy, gives help from His own Divine, and saves. It is mercy itself that constitutes intercession, for that is what it is in essence.