3148. Dat de woorden ‘en de voeten der mannen, die met hem waren’ de reiniging betekenen van alle dingen die Hem toebehoorden in de natuurlijke mens, blijkt uit de betekenis van de voeten, namelijk de dingen die tot de natuurlijke mens behoren, waarover nr. 2162;

en uit de betekenis van ‘de mannen die met hem waren’, namelijk alle dingen daar. Het was een gebruik dat reizigers, wanneer zij in een huis kwamen, hun voeten wasten, zoals toen de broeders van Jozef in het huis van Jozef werden binnengeleid, (Genesis 43:24);

toen de Leviet en die met hem was in het huis van de oude man ontvangen werden, (Richteren 19:21);

en toen Uria, van de reis komende, door David bevolen werd, af te gaan naar zijn huis en zijn voeten te wassen, (2 Samuël 11:8). De reden hiervan was, dat reizen en vreemdelingschappen de dingen betekenden die tot het onderricht en vandaar tot het leven behoren, zie de nrs. 1293, 1457, 1463, 2025, en dat deze dingen gereinigd moesten worden, is kort hiervoor in nr. 3146 aangetoond; en bovendien, opdat de in geestelijke zin bedoelde onreinheden niet zouden aankleven en het huis, dat wil zeggen de mens, bezoedelen; wat ook hieruit duidelijk blijkt ‘dat zij het stof van hun voeten zouden afschudden, wanneer de stad of het huis de vrede niet ontvangen zou, (Mattheüs 10:14).

9222. 'And you shall not curse a governor of your people' means that teachings presenting the truth are not to be, either - not to be blasphemed. This is clear from the meaning of 'a governor (or prince)' as the Church's primary truths, dealt with in 5044; from the meaning of 'people' as those governed by truths taught by doctrine, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295, 3581, 7207; and from the meaning of 'cursing' as blaspheming. What connection these prohibitions have with each other is evident from the internal sense; for 'not reviling God' means not blaspheming God's truth, and 'not cursing a governor' means not blaspheming teachings that present the truth, God's truth being the Word, and the Church's teachings being truth drawn from the Word.

Let the nature of blasphemy against God's truth be stated briefly here. God's truth is the Word and teachings drawn from the Word. Those who repudiate it in their heart blaspheme it even though they praise and declare it with their lips. Hidden within repudiation lies blasphemy, which also bursts out into the open when they are left to think by themselves, especially in the next life. For there when external [restraints] have been removed people's hearts speak.

[2] Those who blaspheme or repudiate the Word cannot receive anything at all of the truth or good of faith. For the Word teaches the existence of the Lord, of heaven and hell, of life after death, of faith and charity, and of many other things, about which no one would have any knowledge whatever without the Word or revelation, 8944. Therefore those who repudiate the Word cannot receive anything taught by the Word; for when it is read or heard by them it is met with a negative attitude of mind that either annihilates truth or turns it into falsity.

[3] First of all therefore with a member of the Church comes belief in the Word; and this is the chief characteristic of one who is guided by the truth of faith and governed by the good of love. But with those who are steeped in the evils of self-love and love of the world non-belief in the Word is the chief characteristic; for when they think about it they instantly reject it and also blaspheme it. If anyone were to see how great the blasphemies are against the Word, and what they are like, with those who are steeped in the evils of those kinds of love he would be horrified. While in the world the person is unaware of their existence, since they lie concealed behind the ideas of his conscious thought, and it is this that comes out into speech with other people. Even so they are revealed in the next life, where they appear horrible.

[4] There are two kinds of blasphemies - those that come out of the understanding but not at the same time out of the will, and those that come out of the will by way of the understanding. The second kind are the ones which are so horrible, not the first. Those that come out of the will by way of the understanding spring from evil of life, whereas those that come solely out of the understanding and not at the same time out of the will spring from falsity of doctrine or from the illusions of the outward senses that deceive a person set fast in a state of ignorance. These things have been stated in order that people may know the nature of blasphemy against God's truth, that is, the Word, and against teachings drawn from it, meant by 'reviling God and cursing a governor of the people'.