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.

9310. 'For My name is in the middle of him' means that from Him comes all the good of love and truth of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'the name of Jehovah' as everything in its entirety by which God is worshipped, dealt with in 2724, 3006, and so all the good of love and truth of faith, 6674; and from the meaning of 'in the middle of him' as the fact that they exist within Him, and therefore also come from Him. The good of love is such that what exists within it exists also in others from itself; for it shares what is its own. The essential characteristic of love is to give its whole self up willingly to others. And since it does so from the Divine Himself through His Divine Human, and then from the Divine Human, therefore also the Lord is called, in respect of His Divine Human, 'the name of Jehovah', 6887, 8274.

[2] Anyone who does not know what 'name' means in the internal sense may think that wherever 'the name of Jehovah' or 'the name of the Lord' occurs in the Word it implies no more than His name, when in fact all the good of love and all the truth of faith which come from the Lord are meant, as in Matthew,

If two of you agree in My name ¹ on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them. Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:19-20.

In the same gospel,

Everyone who leaves houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields, for My name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will be allotted the inheritance of eternal life. Matthew 19:29.

In John,

As many as received [Him], to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name. John 1:12.

In the same gospel,

He who does not believe is judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18.

In the same gospel,

These things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31.

In these and in very many other places 'the Lord's name' means all the good of love and truth of faith in their entirety by which He is worshipped.

[3] In John,

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you. Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give it to you. John 15:7, 16.

'Asking the Father in My name' means asking the Lord, as He Himself teaches in the same gospel,

Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:13-14.

The reason why 'asking in the Lord's name' means asking the Lord is that no one can come to the Father except through the Lord, John 14:6, and the Lord's Divine Human is Jehovah or the Father in visible form, as shown above in 9303, 9306. In the same gospel,

The sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. John 10:3.

'The sheep' stands for those who are governed by the good of charity and faith; 'hearing the voice' stands for obeying commandments; and 'calling by name and leading out' stands for conferring heaven in keeping with the good of charity and truth of faith, since 'name', in regard to people, means the nature of their love and faith, 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 3421.

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