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.