9528. 'Of shittim wood' means out of mercy. This is clear from the meaning of 'shittim wood' as the good of merit which is the Lord's alone, dealt with in 9472, 9486; and since the good of merit is mercy, 'shittim wood' also means mercy. For out of pure love, thus out of pure mercy, the Lord assumed the Human, and underwent the severest temptations, finally the passion on the Cross, that He might save the human race; and therefore merit and righteousness are His. From all this it is evident that the good of merit consists in mercy, mercy (misericordia) being Divine Love directed towards those trapped in misery (miseriae).

The Lord underwent the severest temptations and thereby set heaven and hell in order; and He fought out of Divine Love, to save those who receive Him in love and faith, see 1266, 1663, 1668, 1676, 1690, 1691 (end), 1737, 1787, 1789, 1812, 1813, 1820, 1921, 2083, 2159, 2574, 2649, 2776, 2795, 2813, 2816, 3318 (end), 4180, 4286, 4295, 5078.

1266. Those before the Flood who perished are in a certain hell beneath the heel of the left foot. Shutting them in is a rock enveloped in mist which is a projection of their dreadful delusions and persuasions, and by which they are segregated from all other hells and kept apart from the world of spirits. They are continually pressing to come up out of there but can never get beyond the attempt to do so. For they are such that if they were to enter the world of spirits with their dreadful delusions and with the choking and toxic effects of their persuasions, they would deprive every spirit they met, apart from good ones, of his ability to think. And if the Lord by His Coming in the flesh had not freed the world of spirits of that abominable crew the human race would have perished. Indeed no spirit could have stayed with man, and yet man cannot live a single moment unless spirits and angels are with him.