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.

6236. 'They are mine' means that they are within me. This is clear from the representation of 'Jacob', who says this regarding himself, as the truth of the natural, dealt with below; and from the representation of Manasseh and Ephraim, to whom he is referring, as the Church's will and the Church's understanding within the natural, dealt with in 5354, 6222. The reason 'they are mine' means within me is that in representing the truth of the natural 'Jacob' also represents the natural in relation to truth, and within the natural there exist an understanding part and a will part, which are represented by 'Ephraim and Manasseh'. And as they exist in the natural 'they are mine' therefore means within me.

[2] 'Jacob' represents the natural - in the highest sense the Lord's Divine Natural, see 3305, 3509, 3525, 3576, 4009, 4538, 4570, 6098, and in the relative sense truth in the natural, thus also the natural in relation to truth, 3509, 3525, 3546. And since 'Jacob' in general is truth in the natural, his ten sons are the Church's truths there in particular, 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5511; and so now are Joseph's sons too. 'Pharaoh' likewise represents the natural, though not as regards truths but as regards factual knowledge, which is of a lower order than truths but is that into which they can be introduced and instilled, represented by the coming of Jacob and his sons to Egypt.