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.

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.

10075. 'And the right flank' means inmost good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the right flank' as inmost good. 'The right flank' means inmost good because animals' flanks have the same meaning as the loins and thighs on a human being; a human being's loins and thighs mean conjugial love and consequently the good of celestial love, which is the good of the inmost heaven, see 3021, 4277, 4280, 4575, 5050-5062, 9961; and the right side of the loins and the right thigh mean the inmost good there. For by virtue of their correspondence the parts on the right side of a human being mean good from which springs truth, and those on the left side truth through which comes good; and those in the middle therefore mean the joining together of the two, that is, of good and truth. From this also it becomes clear that the flanks are the hindquarters of an animal where its genital organs reside, but not the forequarters, for these are called its breast. Since it means inmost good or celestial good, when the right flank of a sacrifice was lifted up and was given to Aaron it is called 'the anointing of him and of his sons', in Moses,

The right flank you shall give as a heave offering to the priest out of your eucharistic sacrifices. The breast of the wave offering and the flank of the heave offering I have received from the children of Israel from their eucharistic sacrifices; I have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons by the statute of an age ¹ . This is the anointing of Aaron and the anointing of his sons from the fire offerings to Jehovah. Leviticus 7:32, 34-35.

The breast and flank are called 'the anointing' on account of their representation of spiritual good and celestial good; for the breast by virtue of its correspondence means spiritual good, which is the good of the middle or second heaven, and the right flank celestial good, which is the good of the inmost or third heaven; and 'anointing' is a representation of the Lord in respect of Divine Good, 9954, 10019. Also the breast and the right flank were given to Aaron from sacrifices of the firstborn of ox, sheep, and goat, Numbers 18:18. The meaning of 'the right flank' as inmost good is also evident from the fact that it is mentioned last; for the tail and the intestines are mentioned first, after these the omentum on the liver, and the kidneys, and finally the right flank. The things that are mentioned first are most external, those that are mentioned second are more internal, and what is mentioned last is inmost.

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