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.

6641. 'And every soul, those who came out of Jacob's thigh' means everything that springs from general truth. This is clear from the meaning of soul' in an ordinary sense as a person, here a member of the spiritual Church, though in the internal sense truth and goodness are meant by 'soul' because these are what make a person human, 6605, 6626; from the meaning of 'thigh' as conjugial love, dealt with in 3021, 4277, 4280, 5050-5062, and - since 'thigh' means conjugial love - as all love, both celestial and spiritual, 3021, 4277, 4280, 4575, so that 'coming out of the thigh' means truth and goodness springing from the heavenly marriage, and consequently the Church's truth and good (for these when they are genuine are born from the heavenly marriage, which is a marriage of goodness and truth); and from the representation of 'Jacob' as truth and also good in the natural, but truth and good as a general whole since his sons are separate truths and forms of good within that general whole, dealt with in 6637. The reason why 'Jacob' here represents truths as a general whole is that the subject is the spiritual Church. For this Church begins in truths as a general whole, and by means of them is led into its good. With a member of the spiritual Church there is no knowledge of what spiritual good is, nor thus any acceptance of it, except through truth; for he does not have from good any perception of truth such as a member of the celestial Church has.