4294. Verses 29-32 And Jacob asked and said, Tell me, I pray, your name. And he said, Why is it that you ask my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, [saying,] For I have seen God face to face, and my soul is delivered. And the sun rose on him as he passed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh, even to this day, because he touched, in the hollow of Jacob's thigh, the sinew of that which was displaced.

'Jacob asked and said, Tell me, I pray, your name' means the angelic heaven and the nature of that heaven. 'And he said, Why is it that you ask my name?' means that heaven was unwilling to reveal itself. 'And he blessed him there' means a joining to the Divine celestial-spiritual. 'And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel' means a state of temptations. 'For I have seen God face to face, and my soul is delivered' means that He suffered the severest temptations, seemingly attributable to the Divine. 'And the sun rose on him' means when the one kind of good was joined to the other. 'As he passed over Penuel' means a state of truth within good. 'And he was limping on his thigh' means that truths were not yet arranged into such an order that together with good they could all enter celestial-spiritual good. 'Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh' means that no truths containing falsities were assimilated. 'Even to this day' means that, perpetually so, falsities would not be attached. 'Because he touched, in the hollow of Jacob's thigh, the sinew of that which was displaced' means for the reason that they were indeed falsities.

[2] In the internal historical sense, where the descendants of Jacob are the subject, 'Jacob asked and said, Tell me, I pray, your name' means evil, spirits 'He said, Why is it that you ask my name?' means that they did not acknowledge evil spirits to be the origin. 'He blessed him there' means that so it was done. 'Jacob called the name of the place Peniel' means a state in which they took on representations. 'For I have seen God face to face, and my soul is delivered' means His presence through representations. 'The sun rose on him' means when they entered into representations. 'As he passed over Penuel' means when they entered the land of Canaan. 'He was limping on his thigh' means that with those descendants goods and truths had been destroyed completely. 'Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh' means that those descendants ought to know this. 'Even to this day' means that their nature was perpetually so. 'Because he touched, in the hollow of Jacob's thigh, the sinew of that which was displaced' means because of their heredity which could not be rooted out through regeneration because they would not allow that to happen.

6295. 'He too will be a people, and he too will become great' means that truth from good also, thus the celestial man, will be increased. This is clear from the meaning of 'a people' as truth, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 3581, 4619; from the meaning of 'becoming great as being increased; and from the representation of Manasseh, about whom these things are said, as good that belongs to the will in the natural and is born from the internal, dealt with in 6234, 6238, 6267. The fact that truth from good is a mark of the celestial man is clear from what has often been stated and shown already about the celestial man. That is to say, it has been shown that the celestial man is one who, led by his will, has a concern for good, and from this for truth, and that he is different from the spiritual man, in that the latter, led by his understanding, has a concern for truth and from this for good. And since 'Manasseh' means good belonging to the will he represents the celestial man - the external celestial man or member of the external celestial Church, to be exact. For 'Manasseh' is good belonging to the will within the natural, thus within the external man, whereas 'Joseph' is the member of the internal celestial Church because he represents good belonging to the will within the rational, thus within the internal man.

[2] Let something also be said briefly about the truth of good, a mark of the celestial man. This truth is indeed called truth, but really it is good. Residing with the celestial man is the good of love to the Lord and the good of love towards the neighbour, the good of love to the Lord forming the internal part of him, the good of love towards the neighbour the external part. This being so, the members of the celestial Church in the internal part of that Church are those who are governed by love to the Lord, and those in the external part are those governed by love towards the neighbour. The good of the latter love - love towards the neighbour residing with the celestial man - is what is here being called the truth of good and is represented by 'Manasseh'. For the celestial man is one who does not reason from truth, or even about truth, since he is able to perceive from good, that is, from the Lord through good, whether something is true or not true, 202, 377, 2715, 3146, 4448. Even so, the good of charity residing with him is what is called truth, but celestial truth.