4278. 'And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him' means that truth did not as yet have the power to join itself completely to good. This is clear from the meaning of 'being out of joint' as a situation in which truths have not yet been arranged into such an order that together with good they could all enter celestial-spiritual good, dealt with in the explanation at verse 31 below. The meaning as a consequence is that truth did not as yet have the power to join itself completely to good, for 'the hollow of the thigh' means the place where different kinds of good are joined together, as stated immediately above in 4277.

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.

7671. Verses 12-15 And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, and they will come up over the land of Egypt and devour every plant in the land, all that the hail has left. And Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and Jehovah brought an east wind into the land the whole of that day and the whole night. Morning came, and the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts came up over all the land of Egypt, and rested at all the border of Egypt; they were extremely severe. Before them there were no such locusts like them, and there will not be such after them. And they covered the surface of the whole land, and the land was darkened; and they devoured every plant in the land and all the fruit on the trees which the hail had caused to be left. And there was not left any green on tree and on plant of the field in the whole land of Egypt.

'And Jehovah said to Moses' means instruction. 'Stretch out your hand' means an exercising of power. 'Over the land of Egypt for the locusts' means in order that falsity may take possession of the whole natural of the molesting ones. 'And they will come up over the land of Egypt' means an outpouring into everything there. 'And devour every plant in the land' means the total consumption of all truth. 'All that the hail has left' means which the previous falsity has not consumed. 'And Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt' means exercising the power of God's truth over the entire natural of the molesting ones. 'And Jehovah brought an east wind' means an agent of destruction. 'The whole of that day and the whole of that night' means all the perception, both that which was darkened and that which was not darkened, of the molesting ones. 'Morning came' means the state of heaven in rearranged order. 'And the east wind brought the locusts' means massive falsity present with the molesting ones, brought by the agent of destruction. 'And the locusts came up over all the land of Egypt' means the outpouring of falsity into everything in the natural. 'And rested at all the border of Egypt' means at the outermost parts there. 'They were extremely severe' means that they penetrated every single part. 'Before them there were no such locusts like them, and there will not be such after them' means that no such falsity has existed since the Church first began, and such will not exist again. 'And they covered the surface of the whole land' means that they took possession of the last and lowest levels of the natural mind. 'And the land was darkened' means that falsity was introduced where there had been truth. 'And they devoured every plant in the land' means that it consumed every known fact about truth. 'And all the fruit on the trees' means every recognition of good. 'And they did not allow any green to be left' means the obliteration of every sensory apprehension of truth. 'On tree and on plant of the field' means belonging to the things the Church recognized and knew. 'In the whole land of Egypt' means on every side in the natural.