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.
Arcana Coelestia # 6265
6265. 'And Joseph brought them away from his thighs' means that the good belonging to the will and the truth belonging to the understanding were brought away from an affection originating in love on the part of spiritual good. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877; from the representation of Manasseh and Ephraim, the ones here whom 'Joseph brought away', as the good belonging to the will and the truth belonging to the understanding, dealt with in 5354, 6222; from the meaning of 'the thighs' as an affection originating in love, dealt with in 3021, 4277, 4280, 4575, 5050-5062; and on the part of spiritual good is meant because they were brought away from Israel, who represents spiritual good, 6253. The words used here mean that the internal celestial took good belonging to the will and truth belonging to the understanding away from spiritual good, that is, away from the affection arising from its love; they have this meaning because 'Israel', who represents spiritual good, had made that goodness and truth draw near him. Besides this they had to be brought to him by Joseph, who represents the internal celestial; for that reason they were brought away and after that, as described in what follows, were brought to him again by Joseph.
[2] The explanation for all this is that the inflow of love came to that goodness and truth from the internal celestial by way of spiritual good - in keeping with true order. That external procedure had therefore to be strictly adhered to when they were going to be blessed; for they were being presented to the Lord, the Source of the foretelling meant here by the blessing, 6254. This now explains why Joseph brought his sons away from his father's thighs, and why he himself after that brought them to him again.
Exodus 23
1
"You shall not spread a false report. Don't join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
2
"You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice;
3
neither shall you favor a poor man in his cause.
4
"If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
5
If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don't leave him, you shall surely help him with it.
6
"You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
7
"Keep far from a false charge, and don't kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked.
8
"You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.
9
"You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
10
"For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase,
11
but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In the same way, you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.
12
"Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed.
13
"Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don't invoke the name of other gods, neither let them be heard out of your mouth.
14
"You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.
15
You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out from Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.
16
And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of harvest, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field.
17
Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.
18
"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning.
19
The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Yahweh your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
20
"Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
21
Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don't provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him.
22
But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.
23
For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.
24
You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.
25
You shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from your midst.
26
No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.
27
I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
28
I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.
29
I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you.
30
Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land.
31
I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
32
You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33
They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."
