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.

6267. 'And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand to Israel's left' means truth belonging to the understanding, to occupy the second place, 'and Manasseh in his left to Israel's right' means good belonging to the will, to occupy the first place. This is clear from the representation of 'Ephraim' as truth belonging to the understanding, and from the representation of 'Manasseh' as good belonging to the will, dealt with in 5354, 6222; and from the meaning of 'the right' as occupying the first place, and of 'the left' as occupying the second place, as is evident from what is the normal practice in life. The implications of all this will be discussed in what follows below.

3613. 'And stay with him for a few days' means in that which was subsequent. This is clear from the meaning of 'staying' as being similar to dwelling, and so as living, dealt with in 1293, 2268, 2451, 2712, 3384 - though 'staying' has reference to the life of truth when accompanied by good, and 'dwelling' to the life of good when accompanied by truth; and from the meaning of 'days' as periods of time and states, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 2788, 3462. So it is the life belonging to periods of time and states that follow, to what is subsequent therefore, that is meant here by staying with him for a few days. This subsequent stage, or Jacob's staying with Laban, is dealt with in the chapters that follow.