4277. 'And he touched the hollow of his thigh' means where celestial-spiritual good is joined to natural good meant by 'Jacob'. This is clear from the meaning of 'the thigh' as conjugial love, and consequently as all celestial and spiritual love, since these are derived from conjugial love as offspring from their parent, dealt with in 3021; and from the meaning of 'the hollow' or socket or cavity of it - that is to say, of the thigh - as the place where the joining together exists, and here therefore where celestial-spiritual good is joined to natural good meant by 'Jacob'. But no one can be told anything about that conjunction unless he knows first of all what celestial-spiritual good, meant by 'Israel', is, and what natural good, meant by 'Jacob', is. It will be told below at verse 28 where Jacob, who at that point is named Israel, is the subject and also further on where Jacob's descendants are the subject.

6264. 'And behold, God has caused me to see your seed also' means that not only an inflow of love was discerned, but also the goodness and truth springing from it. This is clear from the representation of Manasseh and Ephraim, to whom 'seed' refers here, as good belonging to the will and truth belonging to the understanding, dealt with in 5354, 6222, as well as from the meaning of 'seed' also as goodness and truth, 1610, 2848, 3310, 3373, 7671. And since the words used are 'I did not think to see your face, and behold, God has caused me to see', the meaning is that not only an inflow of love was discerned, but also the goodness and truth springing from it; for 'seeing the face' means an inflow of love, see immediately above in 6263.

5803. 'We have a father, an old man' means that spiritual good is their source. This is clear from the representation of Israel, to whom 'a father refers here, as spiritual good, which is the source, dealt with just above in 5801. As regards Israel's representation, see 4286, 4292, 4570, where it is shown that he represents the spiritual Church, in particular the internal aspect of it, which is the good of truth or spiritual good from the natural. What spiritual good or the good of truth is, see 5526, 5773.