4281. That by “the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint in his wrestling with him,” is signified that this conjunction was wholly injured and displaced in Jacob’s posterity, is evident from the signification of being “out of joint” in the sense in question, as being to be displaced, and thus to be injured. That the “hollow of the thigh” denotes conjunction, is manifest from what was said above (n. 4280); and because in the Word “Jacob” denotes not only Jacob, but also all his posterity, as is evident from many passages in the Word (Numbers 23:7, 10, 21, 2 23:23; 24:5, 1 24:17, 19; Deuteronomy 33:10; Isaiah 40:27; 43:1, 22; 44:1-2, 21; 48:12; 59:20; Jeremiah 10:16, 25; 30:7, 10, 18; 31:7, 11; 46:27-28; Hosea 10:11 Amos 7:2; Micah 2:12; 3:8; Psalms 14:7; 24:6; 59:13; 78:5; 99:4 and elsewhere).

[2] That Jacob and his posterity were of such a character that with them celestial and spiritual love could not be conjoined with natural good (that is, the internal or spiritual man with the external or natural man), is manifest from everything which is related of that nation in the Word; for they did not know, nor were they willing to know, what the internal or spiritual man is, and therefore this was not revealed to them; for they believed that nothing exists in man except that which is external and natural. In all their worship they had regard to nothing else, insomuch that Divine worship was to them no otherwise than idolatrous; for when internal worship is separated from external, it is merely idolatrous. The church that was instituted with them was not a church, but only the representative of a church; for which reason that church is called a representative church. That a representative of a church is possible with such people may be seen above (n. 1361, 3670, 4208).

[3] For in representations the person is not reflected upon, but the thing which is represented; and therefore Divine, celestial, and spiritual things were represented not only by persons, but also by inanimate things, as by Aaron’s garments, the ark, the altar, the oxen and sheep that were sacrificed, the lampstand with its lamps, the bread of arrangement upon the golden table, the oil with which they were anointed, the frankincense, and other like things. Hence it was that their kings, the evil as well as the good, represented the Lord’s royalty; and the high priests, the evil as well as the good, represented the things that belong to the Lord’s Divine priesthood, when they discharged their office in an outward form according to the statutes and precepts. In order therefore that the representative of a church might come forth among them, such statutes and laws were given them by manifest revelation as were altogether representative; and therefore so long as they were in them and observed them strictly, so long they were able to represent; but when they turned aside from them, as to the statutes and laws of other nations, and especially to the worship of another god, they then deprived themselves of the faculty of representing. For this reason they were driven by outward means, such as captivities, disasters, threats, and miracles, to laws and statutes truly representative; but not by internal means, as are those who have internal worship in external. These things are signified by the “hollow of Jacob’s thigh being out of joint,” taken in the internal historical sense, which regards Jacob and his posterity.

8920. 'Speak yourself to us, [and we will hear]' means the reception of truth in an adjusted form, which - in that form - they will obey. This is clear from the meaning of 'speaking' as influx and communication, dealt with in 2951, 3060, 4131, 5481, 5797, 6225, 7270, 8128, and therefore also as reception since what flows in and is communicated is received; and from the representation of Moses, the one who should speak, as the truth from God below heaven joined to God's truth in heaven, thus the intermediary between the Lord and the people, dealt with in 8760, 8787, 8805. So it is that here 'Moses' is truth in an adjusted form.

[2] As regards truth in an adjusted form, it should be recognized that when God's truth comes down by way of the heavens to people in the world, as the Word came down, it undergoes adjustment for all on its way down, both for those in heaven and for those on earth. But the form in which God's truth exists in the heavens is completely different from that in which it exists in the world. In the heavens that truth is as it exists in the internal sense of the Word, in the world it is as it appears in the literal sense. Indeed in the heavens themselves it exists in diverse forms - in one form in the inmost or third heaven, in another in the middle or second heaven, and in yet another in the first or lowest heaven. The form that God's truth takes - that is, the perception, thought, and utterance of it - in the inmost or third heaven is so superior to the form it takes in the middle or second heaven that it is not comprehensible there; it is so Divine and matchless. It contains countless things which cannot find utterance in the second heaven; it consists of nothing other than the changes of state which the affections inherent in love undergo. Yet the form God's truth takes in the middle or second heaven is in like manner superior to the one it takes in the first or lowest heaven, and is even more superior to the form God's truth takes in the world. So it is that the things which find utterance in those heavens are of a kind that no human mind has ever perceived or any ear has heard, as those who have been raised to heaven know from experience.

[3] People who have no knowledge of this suppose that those in the heavens think in the same way and speak in the same way as on earth. But they suppose this because they do not know that the interior aspects of a person belong to a higher level of existence than exterior ones do, or that the thought and speech of those in the heavens is celestial and spiritual, whereas on earth it is natural, the difference between the two being so great that words cannot describe it. But regarding those types of speech, see 1634-1650, 1757-1759, 1876, 2157, 2472, 2476, 3342-3345, 4104, 4609, 5225, 5287, 6040, 6982, 7002, 7089, 7131, 7191, 7381, 8343, 8733, 8734.

[4] From all this also it is evident that unless God's truth or the Word appeared in an adjusted form it would be unintelligible. For if it were above people's level of perception it would not pass into understanding or accordingly into faith. This is why God's truth has been given to mankind in the form taken by the Word in the letter; for if it were to appear in the form in which it exists in heaven, it would be unintelligible to anyone in the world. As soon as anyone glanced at it and saw what was in it, it would be cast aside, since it would not consist in images such as belong to natural light. Furthermore it would be full of arcana which could not possibly find a place in a person's way of thinking because they would be entirely at odds with the appearances and illusions derived from the world through the outward senses - not to mention the copious chain of deeper arcana which lie hidden within those arcana and cannot be expressed except by variations and changes in the state of heavenly light and flame, by means of which angelic speech and thought are carried on.