“And the Lord saw… I will curse no more the earth because of man, for the inclination of a man's heart is evil from his youth, and I will strike no more every living thing, as I have done.”
We should understand how it can be said that only after the flood, the Creator saw that the inclination of a man’s heart is evil. Can it be said that beforehand He did not know about it?
We should interpret this as having two types of people. There are those who belong to the general public. They are regarded as “The whole world tells you that you are righteous.” And there is also the quality of “Be as a wicked in your eyes.”
In order for one to achieve the final goal, he must walk on the path of truth, which is Lishma [for Her sake], meaning that the whole intention of engaging in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] is to achieve Lishma. However, we begin in Lo Lishma, meaning that we think that there is nothing more to the work of the Creator than observing in practice.
In this manner, they can engage in Torah and Mitzvot. However, working in order to achieve the goal for which the Torah and Mitzvot were given, which is regarded as “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” they do not think about this. They excel only in quantity, meaning in being stricter and imposing more limitations and so forth.
By this we will understand what our sages said, “Why is her name called ‘empty’? Even the empty ones in her are filled with Mitzvot like a pomegranate.” We should understand why then are they called “empty.” However, they are devoid of content, meaning they lack the real reason for which to observe the Mitzvot, since they do not mind the intention.
It follows that after the flood, when man saw that those who do not walk on the path of truth die in the waters of the flood, called “evil water,” as in “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” which is Pharaoh’s question, and the question of the wicked one, “What is this work for you?” then we see that there is an evil inclination. But before we see that we can die in the flood, we do not see any evil.
It follows that we say that what the Creator says pertains to man, that now he sees that the Creator is looking at him. Thus, among people who want to walk on the path of truth, this is not called “strike every living thing.” Rather, this is regarded as being shown the truth. Hence, a person attains that this is not regarded as a curse, but the opposite.