7068. 'And they bowed, and bowed down' means humility. This is clear from the meaning of 'bowing, and bowing down as an expression of humility, dealt with in 2153, 6266. But 'bowing' is humility that is exterior and is present in those motivated by truth, whereas 'bowing down' humility that is interior and is present in those motivated by good, see 5682. The truth of this has often become apparent to me from those in the next life who are motivated by truth and those who are motivated by good. Those motivated by truth are so to speak rigid, standing upright as though they are stiff; and when they ought to humble themselves before the Divine they bend their body forwards only slightly. But those motivated by good are so to speak flexible; and when they humble themselves before the Divine they bow right down to the ground. For truth without good is utterly rigid; but when it regards good as the end in view that rigidity starts to change into flexibility. Good on the other hand is in itself flexible, and when it has truth introduced into it that truth too, because it develops into good there, becomes flexible. The reason why this happens is that truth cannot be set in its proper place in a heavenly form except by good, which means that in itself truth is inflexible. The form of heaven is utterly fluid and not at all resistant. As a consequence good, and truth with it set in its proper place, is of a similar nature, and is flexible, as has been stated.

6266. 'And bowed down, his face to the earth' means an expression of humility by them. This is clear from the meaning of 'bowing down, face to the earth' as an expression of interior humility, dealt with in 5682. For that kind of bowing down is an action performed by the body corresponding to humility of mind; and it explains why people who worship God in their hearts bow down in that manner. It is said that Joseph 'bowed down' because he was acting in place of them; yet he did not bow down before Israel but before the Lord, from whom the blessing came through Israel.

[2] Joseph did it in place of them because of the situation in spiritual things. Good belonging to the will and truth belonging to the understanding within the natural possess no ability on their own to humble themselves before the Lord; they can possess it only if it flows in from the internal. In fact without an inflow through the internal into the natural, nothing at all of the powers of will and understanding are present there, nor indeed any life since the internal is the means through which life from the Lord comes to be there.