4281. 'The hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him' means that in the descendants of Jacob that conjunction had been thoroughly damaged and the two loves pulled apart. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'wrestling' in this sense as being pulled apart and so suffering damage. It is evident from what has been stated above in 4280 that 'the hollow of the thigh' means a joining together; and that 'Jacob' in the Word means not only Jacob but also all his descendants is clear from very many places, such as Numbers 23:7, 10, 21, 23; 24:5, 17, 19; Deuteronomy 33:10; Isaiah 40:27; 43:1, 22; 44:1-2, 21; 48:12; 59:20; Jeremiah 10:16, 25; 30:7, 10, 18; 31:7, 11; 46:27-28; Hosea 10:11; Amos 7:2; Micah 2:12; 3:8; Psalms 14:7; 24:6; 59:13; 78:5; 99:4; and in other places.

[2] Jacob and his descendants were by nature such that with them celestial and spiritual love could not be joined to natural good, that is, the internal or spiritual man could not be joined to the external or natural man. This is evident from the details told in the Word concerning that nation. For they neither knew nor wished to know what the internal or spiritual man was, and therefore that matter was not revealed to them. In fact it was their belief that nothing existed with man apart from the external and natural. Nor in all their worship did they have anything else in mind, so that Divine worship with them was wholly idolatrous; for once internal worship is separated from external, it is nothing but idolatrous. The Church which was established among them was not in fact a Church but only a representative of the Church, for which reason that Church is called a representative Church. For it was possible for a representative of the Church to exist among such people, see 1361, 3670, 4208.

[3] Indeed in representations no attention is paid to the person who represents, only to the thing represented by him. Consequently not only persons represented Divine, celestial, or spiritual things, but also inanimate objects, such as Aaron's garments, the ark, the altar, the oxen and sheep which used to be sacrificed, the lampstand with its lamps, the bread of the presence on the table of gold, the oil with which they were anointed, the frankincense, and other objects like these. This was why their kings, bad ones no less than the good, represented the Lord's kingship, and why their high priests, bad ones no less than the good, represented the things that belong to the Lord's Divine priesthood, when they performed their own function in external form according to the prescribed rules and commands. In order therefore that among them a representative of the Church might come into existence they were provided through plainly visible revelation with such prescribed rules and such laws as would be entirely representative. Therefore as long as they kept to them and strictly complied with them, those people were able to play a representative role. But when they deviated from them into the prescribed rules and laws of other nations, and in particular to the worship of another god, they deprived themselves of their ability to play that representative role. For this reason they were coerced by external means - which were captivities, calamities, threats, and miracles - into obeying laws and prescribed rules that were truly representative, not by internal means, as those people are whose external worship has internal within it. These are the considerations that are meant in the internal historical sense by the words 'the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint', which sense has regard to Jacob and his descendants.

4288. These same verses which have been explained so far also have regard to the Jewish and Israelitish nation which is called 'Jacob' in the Word, as stated and shown above in 4279. In the sense which is being called the internal historical the words 'Let me go, for the dawn is coming up' mean that the genuine representative role would depart from the descendants of Jacob before they entered into the representatives connected with the land of Canaan. The nature of that nation has been shown above, namely that among them no internal worship existed, only external worship; that is to say, they had become cut off from the heavenly marriage, and therefore no Church could be established among that nation, only that which was a representative of the Church, see 4281.

[2] But one must know what a representative Church is and what a representative of the Church is. A representative Church exists when internal worship is present within external, but a representative of the Church when no internal worship exists even though external does so. In both cases they observe very similar external practices, that is to say, they follow similar ordinances, laws, and commands. But in the representative Church external things correspond to internal so that they make one, whereas in a representative of the Church that correspondence does not exist because external things are either devoid of internal or else at variance with them. In the representative Church celestial and spiritual love is supreme, but in a representative of the Church bodily and worldly love is supreme. Celestial and spiritual love constitutes the internal itself, but when no celestial or spiritual love exists, only bodily and worldly, that which is external devoid of what is internal exists. The Ancient Church which existed after the Flood was a representative Church, but that which was established among the descendants of Jacob was merely a representative of the Church. But to make the difference between the two quite plain, let it be illustrated by examples.

[3] In the representative Church Divine worship took place on mountains because 'mountains' meant celestial love, and in the highest sense the Lord, 795, 1430, 2722, 4210; and when they held worship on mountains they were in their own holy place because they were at the same time abiding in celestial love. In the representative Church Divine worship also took place in groves because 'groves' meant spiritual love, and in the highest sense the Lord in regard to that love, 2722; and when they held worship in groves they were in their own holy place because they were at the same time abiding in spiritual love. When they held Divine worship in the representative Church they used to turn their faces towards the rising of the sun because 'the rising sun' too meant celestial love, 101, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643. And when they looked up at the moon they were again filled with holy reverence because 'the moon' meant spiritual love, 1529-1531, 2495, 4060. And the same applied when they looked up at the starry sky because this meant the angelic heaven or the Lord's kingdom. In the representative Church they had tents or tabernacles in which they held Divine worship, and this was holy worship because 'tents' or 'tabernacles' means the holiness of love and of worship, 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312. And countless other examples could be mentioned.

[4] In the representative of the Church Divine worship did indeed take place at first on mountains and also in groves. The practice also existed then of turning to face the rising of the sun, as well as that of beholding the moon and the stars. There was likewise worship in tents or tabernacles. But because their external worship was devoid of internal - that is, they were governed by bodily and worldly love and not by celestial and spiritual, and so worshipped the actual mountains or groves, and also the sun, moon, and stars, as well as their tents or tabernacles - those practices, which had been holy in the Ancient Church, were now made idolatrous by those belonging to a representative of the Church. They were therefore restricted to the same place and practices for them all, that is to say, to the mountain on which Jerusalem and at length Zion stood, where from the temple they beheld the rising of the sun, and also to one tent for them all, called the tent of meeting, and ultimately to the ark in the temple. They were restricted to these things to the end that a representative of the Church might come into being when they practiced what was outwardly holy. Otherwise they would have rendered holy things unholy.

[5] From these examples one may see what the difference is between a representative Church and a representative of the Church. In general, one may see that members of the representative Church communicated with the three heavens, and that they did so in things of an interior kind, for which external ones could serve as the foundation on which they rested. But those who belonged to a representative of the Church did not communicate with heaven in things of an interior kind. Yet the external things to which those people were limited were nevertheless able to serve as the foundation for interior ones. The Lord's Providence in a miraculous manner enabled this to be so, for the reason that some kind of communication might be established between heaven and mankind through what was a semblance of the Church. For without any communication of heaven with mankind by means of some kind of Church the human race would perish. But what the communication is like when it takes place through external things devoid of any correspondence with internal ones cannot be stated briefly. In the Lord's Divine mercy a statement is to be made about this later on.