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'.

7058. 'And Moses told Aaron all Jehovah's words' means an influx of truth going forth directly from the Lord's Divine into truth that goes forth in an indirect way, and instruction in specific doctrinal teachings. This is clear from the meaning of 'telling' as influx, dealt with in 5966; from the representation of 'Moses' as truth going forth directly from the Lord's Divine, dealt with in 7010, 7054; from the representation of 'Aaron' as truth that goes forth in an indirect way from the Lord's Divine, dealt with in 7009; and from the meaning of 'all Jehovah's words' as specific doctrinal teachings. Instruction is meant by 'Moses told Aaron' those things, because instruction from the Divine is effected by means of influx, meant by 'telling'. From all this it is evident that 'Moses told all Jehovah's words' means an influx of truth going forth directly from the Lord's Divine into truth that goes forth in an indirect way, and instruction in specific doctrinal teachings.

[2] As regards instruction in specific doctrinal teachings, it is imparted when truth going forth directly from the Lord's Divine is joined to truth that goes forth in an indirect way; for then perception is imparted, see above in 7055. The two kinds of truth are joined together especially among the angels who are in the third or inmost heaven, those who are called celestial. They have a keen perception of both, and from that a clear feeling of the Lord's presence. The reason for this is that they more than others are governed by good, for in them the good of innocence is present. As a consequence they are nearest the Lord, surrounded by flashing and so to speak burning light, for they see the Lord as the Sun, whose radiating light has that appearance because they are so near Him.

[3] The expression 'truth going forth directly from the Lord's Divine' is used even though the subject here in the internal sense is the Lord when He was in the world and called upon His Father as if He were separate from Himself. But the situation then, as stated a number of times already, was that the Divine itself or Jehovah was within Him; for He had been conceived from Jehovah, whom for that reason He also called His Father, while calling Himself His Son. But at that time the weak Human inherited from His mother had come to the forefront in the Lord; and to the extent that it did so, Jehovah or the Divine itself which was within Him seemed to be absent, whereas to the extent that the Human that had been glorified or made Divine had come to the forefront in the Lord, Jehovah or the Divine itself was present, there in the Human itself. From this one may now know how to understand the idea that truth which had gone forth directly from the Divine came from the Lord's Divine.