9222. And a prince in thy people thou shall not execrate. That this signifies that neither are the doctrines of truth to be blasphemed, is evident from the signification of “a prince,” as being the primary truths of the church (see n. 5044); from the signification of “a people,” as being those who are in truths of doctrine (n. 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295, 3581, 7207); and from the signification of “execrating,” as being to blaspheme. How closely these things are connected, is evident from the internal sense; for by “not to curse God” is signified not to blaspheme truth Divine, and by “not to execrate a prince” is signified not to blaspheme the doctrine of truth. Truth Divine is the Word, and the doctrine of the church is the truth thence derived. A few words may be said about the blaspheming of truth Divine. Truth Divine is the Word, and is doctrine from the Word. Those blaspheme who at heart deny these, even though with the mouth they may praise the Word, and preach it. The blasphemy is hidden in the denial, and it emerges when they are left by themselves, especially in the other life; for there hearts speak, after outward things have been removed.

[2] Those who blaspheme, that is, deny the Word, are unable to receive anything of the truth and good of faith; for the Word teaches the existence of the Lord, of heaven and hell, of the life after death, of faith and charity, and of many other things, which without the Word, that is, without revelation, would be quite unknown (n. 8944); and therefore those who deny the Word cannot receive anything of what the Word teaches; for when they either read or hear it, a negative attitude presents itself, which either extinguishes the truth, or turns it into falsity.

[3] Wherefore the very first thing with the man of the church is to believe the Word; and this is the chief thing with him who is in the truth of faith and the good of charity. But with those who are in the evils of the love of self and of the world, the chief thing is not to believe the Word, for they reject it the moment they think about it, and likewise blaspheme it. If a man were to see the magnitude and the nature of the blasphemies against the Word that exist with those who are in the evils of these loves, he would be horrified. While the man himself is in the world he is not aware of this, because these blasphemies are hidden behind the ideas of that active thought which with men passes into speech. Nevertheless they are revealed in the other life, and appear horrible.

[4] Blasphemies are of two kinds; there are those which come forth from the understanding and not at the same time from the will; and those which come forth from the will through the understanding. It is these latter blasphemies which are so horrible; but not the former. Those which come forth from the will through the understanding are from evil of life; but those which come forth from the understanding only, and not at the same time from the will, are from falsity of doctrine, or from the fallacies of the external senses, which deceive a man who is held fast in ignorance. These things have been said in order that it may be known how the case is with the blaspheming of truth Divine, that is, of the Word and its derivative doctrine, which is signified by “cursing God and execrating a prince of the people.”

5663. Your God, and the God of your father. That this signifies the Lord’s Divine Human may be seen from the fact that where “God” or “Jehovah” is mentioned in the Word, the Lord and no one else is meant (see n. 1343, 1736, 2921, 3035); and when it is said “your God and the God of your father” that is, the God of Israel and of Jacob and his sons, it means the Lord’s Divine Human, and indeed as to the Divine natural (n. 3305, 4286, 4570); for Israel represented the Lord as to the interior natural, Jacob as to the exterior, and his sons as to the truths in this natural.

[2] That the Lord was meant in the Word by “God” and “Jehovah” the Jewish Church did not know, nor does the Christian Church know it at this day. That the Christian Church has not known it is because it has distinguished the Divinity into three persons. But the Ancient Church which was after the flood, and above all the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood, understood by “Jehovah” and “God” no other than the Lord, and Him indeed as to His Divine Human. They also knew about the Divine Itself which is in the Lord, and which He calls His “Father” yet they were not able to think about that Divine Itself which is in the Lord, but about the Divine Human, and consequently could not be conjoined with any other Divine; for conjunction is effected through thought which is of the understanding and affection which is of the will, thus through faith and through love. For if we think of the Divine Itself, the thought falls as it were into a boundless universe, and thus is dissipated, whence there is no conjunction. It is otherwise when the Divine Itself is thought of as the Divine Human. And the ancients knew that they could not be saved unless they were conjoined with the Divine.

[3] Therefore it was the Divine Human that the Ancient Churches worshiped; and Jehovah also manifested Himself to them in the Divine Human. The Divine Human was the Divine Itself in heaven; for heaven constitutes one man, which is called the Grand Man, as has been heretofore shown at the end of the chapters. This Divine in heaven is none other than the Divine Itself, but in heaven it is as a Divine Man. This Man is what the Lord took on and made Divine in Him, and united it to the Divine Itself as it had been united from eternity; for from eternity there was a one. He did this because mankind could not otherwise have been saved; for it was no longer sufficient for the Divine Itself to be able, through heaven and thus through the Divine Human Itself there, to flow into human minds; wherefore the Divine Itself willed to unite the Divine Human to Itself actually by the Human taken on in the world. The one and the other is the Lord.