6009. [Judg. 2:] verses 1 to 3. This statement, that "they did not drive out the enemies," was made by the angel of Jehovah, because one of their orders was that they should put all their enemies under the curse. * But that they did not do so, was permitted, not commanded. Therefore, because it was permitted, but quite differently commanded, they are reproached by the angel of Jehovah. The reason why the enemies could not be driven out was that if they had been, the people could no longer have been tempted as the true Israel. Without the presence of the evil, nothing introduces evil so that it may be turned into good. For man is evil from the root, and this evil is continually rising up. Without the presence of one who stirs it up, this evil is accounted to a person. Nor can the angels of God the Messiah be with anyone unless there is a fight, for that fight reforms the person. When the evil is stirred up, the wound is opened, and thus the person gets better and is reformed. These are the matters portrayed here, the reason for which will be said in the end of the Chap., verses 22 and 23, and in Chap. 3, verses 1 and 2,* see the notes. Evil otherwise stagnates in a person, so to speak, causing it to breathe forth rottenness. It clings also to the good in him, and is not separated from it without this kind of stirring up. * It is not clear what note or notes are referred to here and in WE 6023; perhaps to the notes written at the end of the tomes. See Experientiae Spirituales, Preface to Volume I, pp. xxx to xxxiii.