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.

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.

5272. 'This is the word which I have spoken to Pharaoh' means what the natural was led to think by the celestial of the spiritual. This is clear from the meaning of 'the word' as the real thing, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'speaking' as thinking, dealt with in 2271, 2287, 2619, 5259; from the representation of 'Joseph', who is the speaker here, as the celestial of the spiritual, and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the natural, both of whom are dealt with above. From all this it is evident that 'this is the word which I have spoken to Pharaoh' means the real thing, or what the natural was led to think by the celestial of the spiritual; see also 5262. Regarding the term 'the word', this is used in the original language to express the idea of the real thing. This also explains why Divine revelation is called the Word, and why too in the highest sense the Lord Himself is called such. And when 'the Word' is used to refer to the Lord, as also when it is used to refer to revelation received from Him, Divine Truth - the source of every real thing that comes into being - is meant in the proximate sense.

[2] This idea that all real things have been brought and are being brought into being by means of Divine Truth going forth from the Lord, thus by means of the Word, is an arcanum which has yet to be disclosed. People's belief and understanding of this is that all things have been created because God has spoken and issued His command, as a king does in his kingdom. But that is not what is meant by saying that all things have been made and created by the Word. Rather, the meaning is that Divine Truth which goes forth from Divine Good, that is, which goes forth from the Lord, is the originator of all things that have been brought and are being brought into being. Divine Truth going forth from Divine Good is the ultimate reality and the essential being within all creation; and this Divine Truth is what makes and creates all things. But scarcely anyone has any other idea of Divine Truth than this - a word or utterance issuing from a speaker's mouth and transmitted into the air. This idea about Divine Truth leads to the notion that 'the Word' means simply a command, so that all things that have been made exist solely because a command has been delivered, not because of some reality that has come forth from the Lord's Divine. But as has been stated, the Divine Truth going forth from the Lord is the ultimate reality and essential being from which all things derive their existence. Every form of what is good and true owes its existence to this. But in the Lord's Divine mercy more will be said later on regarding this arcanum.