Swedenborg in a number of pssages associates “wicked” with “malevolence,” defines “malevolence” as “destroying good, interior and exterior,” and says that the wicked do this by disowning the desire for good and understanding for good that come from the Lord, and by actively denying the Lord.
We might say, then, that wickedness is evil on the hunt, looking for all that is good and true specifically so it can attack and destroy it.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7590
7590. ‘Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people are wicked’ means that Divine Good could not tolerate the malevolence of the molesters, and that the current affliction had occurred as a result of this. This is clear from the consideration that Jehovah is Divine Good; for ‘Jehovah’ is used to mean the Divine Being (Esse), which is Divine Good, and ‘God’ to mean the Divine Coming-into-Being (Existere), which is Divine Truth, dealt with in 6905. Jehovah is said to be ‘righteous’ because He cannot tolerate the malevolence of molesters; for ‘Pharaoh and his people’ means those who engage in molestation, and malevolence is meant by their being ‘wicked’.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9249
9249. ‘Do not put your hand with the wicked’ means not obeying malevolent feelings. This is clear from the meaning of ‘putting the hand’ as obeying (for ‘the hand’ means power, 878, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 6292, 7188, 7189, 7518, 7673, 8153, 8281), and as what resides with a person, thus the person himself to the extent that he has power within him, 9133, so that ‘putting one’s hand with someone’ means making common cause with him, which – when malevolence motivates it, meant by ‘the wicked – is obeying, since malevolence is persuasive and leads a person on; and from the meaning of ‘the wicked’ as one who is malevolent, and in the abstract sense malevolence.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9264
9264. ‘For I will not justify the wicked’ means that such malevolence is contrary to Divine righteousness. This is clear from the meaning of ‘justifying’ as declaring innocent and acquitting, but in this instance not acquitting since it says ‘I will not justify’ (that ‘justifying’ can also mean declaring innocent and acquitting is evident from the legal meaning of the word, as well as from the following in Matthew,
By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Matt. 12:37.
And in Luke,
You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. Luke 16:15);
and from the meaning of ‘the wicked’ as malevolence, dealt with above in 9249. Malevolence, which is spoken of here as being contrary to Divine righteousness, consists in destroying good, interior and exterior, meant by ‘killing the innocent and the righteous’, who are the subject just above in 9262, 9263. Such good is destroyed when Divine Truth and Good received from the Lord are disowned. When a person disowns them they are annihilated, and so is the Lord Himself, the Source from whom all good that is good comes and all truth that is true. When they have been annihilated the person no longer has any spiritual life or consequently any salvation. They – truth and good – are annihilated when people disown what is Divine and the Lord’s, and also when they disown the Word since this is Divine Truth received from the Lord and concerning the Lord. Disowning this, when one has previously acknowledged it and accepted it in faith, and so annihilating it, is the sin against the Holy Spirit which is not forgiven, Matt. 12:31. For the Holy Spirit is Divine Truth and Good, being the Holiness which emanates from the Lord, 9229. The same thing is also meant by ‘shedding innocent blood’, dealt with just above. The truth that such malevolence is not forgiven because it is contrary to Divine righteousness is meant by ‘I will not justify the wicked’.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 661
661. And shall send gifts one to another.- That this signifies their consociation, is evident from the signification of sending gifts, as denoting to be consociated from love and friendship; for gifts from such an affection and disposition bring together both the well-disposed and the ill-disposed; in this case, those who are opposed to the goods of love and truths of doctrine, signified by the two witnesses who were slain and cast out into the street of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. It is to be observed that nothing is more delightful to the ill-disposed and the wicked than to destroy the goods of love and the truths of doctrine wherever these are, and to do evil to those in whom they are; for they burn with hatred against such things, and for this reason there continually exhales from the hell, where such persons are, a deadly hatred against celestial love and spiritual faith, consequently against heaven, and especially against the Lord Himself; and they are in the delight of their heart as often as they are permitted to do evil. Such is the wild-beast nature of those who are in hell. This therefore is what is meant by, they shall rejoice and shall be glad over them. The ill-disposed also enter into friendships and band together for the purpose of doing injury to the well-disposed; the delight of hatred, which is the delight of their love, unites them together, and then they appear to be friends in heart, although they are enemies. This, therefore, is the signification of sending gifts one to another.