3118. 'The man bowed, and bowed down to Jehovah' means gladness and joy. This is clear from the meaning of 'bowing' and of 'bowing down' as being glad and joyful. Bowing and bowing down are movements of the body that express humility, or humility in act, either in a state of grief or in a state of joy - in a state of grief when things do not turn out as one wishes, in a state of joy when they do turn out well, as here when Rebekah, according to the prayer already in the man's heart, gave him a drink from her pitcher, and also gave a drink to the camels. For bowing down can be a movement of the body expressing joy as well, see 2927, 2950. The reason why gladness is mentioned as well as joy is that 'gladness' in the Word has reference to truth, but 'joy' to good. Furthermore gladness belongs to the face whereas joy belongs to the heart; or what amounts to the same, gladness belongs to spiritual affection, or to truth, joy to celestial affection, or to good. Thus gladness occurs in a less degree than joy, as also does 'bowing' than 'bowing down'. This is also evident from the fact that the spiritual member of the Church merely bows before the Lord and calls upon grace, whereas the celestial member of the Church bows down before the Lord and pleads for mercy, 598, 981, 2423. Both are mentioned here on account of the marriage of truth and good existing in every individual part of the Word, 683, 793, 801, 2516, 2712.

2423. 'Behold now, your servant has found grace in your eyes' means a state of humility resulting from the affection for truth, and 'you have magnified your mercy' means a likeness of a state of humility resulting from the affection for good. This becomes clear from what has been stated already about grace and mercy in 598, 981. For people governed by an affection for truth are not able to humble themselves sufficiently so as to acknowledge from the heart that all things are attributable to mercy; and this being so, instead of mercy they speak of grace. Indeed the less the affection for truth is in them, the less humility there is within their mention of grace. On the other hand the more affection for good exists with someone the more humility there is within his mention of mercy. This shows how broad the difference is in the adoration and consequently the worship between those governed by the affection for truth and those governed by the affection for good. For in order that worship may exist, adoration must exist, and in order that adoration may exist humility must do so too. This applies to every single aspect of worship. From this it is evident why both grace and mercy are mentioned here.