4317.就内在历史意义而言，“因为那人在坐骨神经筋上将雅各的大腿窝摸了一把”表由于他们具有一种无法通过重生被根除的遗传性，因为他们不允许这种事发生。这从“大腿”的含义清楚可知，“大腿”是指婚姻之爱，因而是指一切属天和属灵之爱（参看4280节）；因为“大腿窝”就是婚姻之爱，以及一切属天、属灵之爱与属世良善结合的地方（4277，4280节）。因此，“摸它”，或损害它，以至于瘸了是指摧毁从这些爱所流出的良善。由于这事发生在雅各身上，故它表示这种性质从他传到他的后代那里，因而具有遗传性。“坐骨神经筋”（nerve of that which was displaced）表示虚假（参看4303节），在此表示源自遗传之恶的虚假。由此和整个思路可知，这种遗传性无法通过重生根除，因为他们不允许这种事发生。
他们具有这种遗传性，并且无法重生；这一点从圣言中有关他们的一切记载，尤其摩西五经中的以下经文看得非常清楚：
摩西召了以色列众人来，对他们说，耶和华在埃及地，在你们眼前向法老和他众臣仆，并他全地所行的一切事，你们都看见了；但耶和华到今日没有使你们心能明白、眼能看见、耳能听见。（申命记29:2，4）
又：
我未领他们到我所起誓应许之地以先，这百姓今日里所作的计画我都知道了。（申命记31:21）
又：
我要向他们掩面，看他们的结局如何。他们本是极乖僻的一代，心中无诚实的儿女。我要除灭他们，使他们的名从人间消失，惟恐仇敌惹动我。因为他们是缺乏智谋的民族，他们里面毫无聪明。他们的葡萄树是所多玛的葡萄树，他们的葡萄是蛾摩拉田园出的；他们的葡萄是苦毒的，全挂都是苦的。他们的酒是大蛇的毒气，是虺蛇残害的头。这不都是积蓄在我这里，封锁在我府库中吗？（申命记32:20，26-34）
其它地方，尤其耶利米书中的部分经文也提到这些事。
“摸雅各的大腿窝”，然后他就瘸了，就表示他们的遗传性；这一点明显可见于何西阿书：
耶和华与犹大争辩，必照雅各所行的惩罚他，按他所做的报应他。他在腹中抓住哥哥的脚跟，壮年的时候与神较力；与天使较力，并且得胜，哭泣恳求。（何西阿书12:2-5）
就内在历史意义而言，此处“与神较力”是指他们坚持认为教会的代表要存在于他们当中（参看4290，4293节）。由此明显可知，他们所拥有的这种遗传性源自雅各自己，这一点从更多目前不得不忽略过去的经文明显看出来。
关于具体的遗传性，在当今的教会，人们都以为一切遗传之恶皆来自第一代父母，所有人都因此在遗传之恶方面受到诅咒。但事实并非如此。每个人里面的遗传之恶的源头在于他的父母和父母的父母，也就是在于祖父母和历代先祖。他们通过实际生活所获得、通过频繁实践或习惯可以说已经成为其秉性一部分的一切邪恶都会传给他的儿女，在他们里面变成遗传，这恶还伴随着从祖父母和先祖植入在父母里面的东西。来自父亲的遗传之恶更为内在，来自母亲的遗传之恶更为外在。前者无法轻易根除，而后者则能。当人正在经历重生时，来自最近父母的根深蒂固的遗传之恶就会被根除；但对那些未经历重生的人，或不能重生的人来说，它依然存留。这就是遗传之恶（参看313，494，2122，2910，3518，3701节）。这个问题对于能反省的人，以及从以下事实也是显而易见的，即：每个家族都有某种特定邪恶或良善，该家族凭此而有别于其它家族；这种特性如众所周知的，是从父母和先祖遗传来的。这同样适用于如今仍旧存留的犹太民族，该民族与其它民族截然不同，不仅能从它特有的性情被识别出来，还可以从它的习俗、言语和面貌被识别出来。
不过，很少有人知道何为遗传之恶。人们以为遗传之恶在于行恶，而事实上，它在于意愿、因而思想邪恶。遗传之恶就在意愿本身和源于此的思维中；它就是在它们里面、甚至在此人行善时也会将自己附着上的向恶的实际倾向。它通过当邪恶临到别人身上时所感觉到的快乐可被识别出来。这根深深向下隐藏，因为接受来自天堂，也就是经由天堂来自主的良善与真理的内在形式本身被扭曲，可以说已经扭曲得变形了；以致当良善与真理从主流入时，它们要么被反射回去，要么被歪曲，要么被窒息。正是由于这个原因，如今对良善与真理的觉知不存在了，对重生之人来说，取而代之的是良心；良心承认从父母和老师那里所学到的为良善与真理。爱自己胜过他人，若其他人不尊敬我们，就向他们意愿邪恶，以报复为乐，以及爱世界胜过天堂，就出自遗传之恶；一切恶欲或邪恶情感也出自这一源头。人不知道这类事物就存在于遗传之恶里面，更不知道它们是天上情感的对立面。然而，在来世可以清楚显明，每个人通过实际生活引向自己的源自遗传之物的邪恶何等之多，以及他因来自这一源头的邪恶情感而距离天堂何等遥远。
雅各后代里面的遗传之恶无法通过重生而根除，因为他们不允许这种事发生。这一事实从圣言中的历史描述明显看出来；因为他们在旷野的一切试探中都屈服了，如摩西五经所记载的；后来在迦南地，一看不到神迹，也会屈服。然而，这些试探都是外在的，而不是内在的或属灵的。他们在属灵的事上不能受试探，因为他们不知道内在真理，也没有任何内在良善，如前所示；除了在他所知道或所拥有的事物方面外，没有人能受试探。试探就是实现重生的实际手段。这些事就是他们不允许重生的意思。关于他们在来世的状态和命运，可参看前文（939-941，3481节）。
Potts(1905-1910) 4317
4317. That in the internal historical sense, by "because he touched in the hollow of Jacob's thigh the nerve of that which was displaced," is signified because they had a heredity which could not be eradicated by regeneration, because they would not allow this, is evident from the signification of the "thigh," as being conjugial love, and consequently every heavenly and spiritual love (see n. 4280); and because the "hollow of the thigh" is where there is the conjunction of conjugial love, and also of all heavenly and spiritual love, with natural good (n. 4277, 4280). Hence to "touch it," or to injure it so as to occasion halting, is to destroy the good which is of these loves, and as this happened to Jacob, it is signified that this nature passed from him to his posterity, and thus was hereditary. That the "nerve of that which was displaced" signifies falsity, may be seen above (n. 4303), here falsity from hereditary evil. It follows from this and from the series, that this heredity could not be eradicated from them by regeneration, because they would not allow this. [2] That they had such a heredity and that they could not be regenerated, is very evident from all that is related of them in the Word, and particularly from these passages in Moses:
Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all things that Jehovah hath done in your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; and Jehovah hath not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, even unto this day (Deut. 29:2, 4). In the same:
I know the figment of the people which they do at this day, before I bring them into the land which I sware (Deut. 31:21). And again:
I will hide My faces from them, I will see what is the last of them; for they are a generation of perversities, sons in whom is no truth. I would exterminate them, I would cause their memory to cease from man, were it not that I feared the indignation of the enemy. For they are a nation that perisheth in counsels, and there is no intelligence in them; for their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their grapes are of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are hemlock, the clusters are bitter to them. Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel head of asps. Is not this laid up in store with Me, sealed in My treasures? (Deut. 32:20, 26-34);
and in many other places, especially in Jeremiah. [3] That this was signified by the "touch upon the hollow of Jacob's thigh," and his consequent lameness, is manifest in Hosea:
The controversy of Jehovah with Judah, to visit upon Jacob, according to his ways, and according to his works He will render to him; he supplanted his brother in the womb; in his grief he contended with God, and contended toward the angel, and prevailed; he wept and entreated him (Hos. 12:3-5). where "to contend with God," in the internal historical sense, is to be urgent that the representative of a church should be with them (see n. 4290, 4293). From this it is evident that they had such a heredity from Jacob himself, and the same might be shown from many more passages which must be passed over for the present. [4] As regards heredity specifically, it is believed in the church at this day that all hereditary evil is from the first parent, and that all are therefore condemned in regard thereto. But the case is not so. Hereditary evil derives its origin from everyone's parents and parents' parents, or from grandparents and ancestors successively. Every evil which they have acquired by actual life, even so that by frequent use or habit it has become like a nature, is derived into the children, and becomes hereditary to them, together with that which had been implanted in the parents from grandparents and ancestors. The hereditary evil from the father is more inward, and the hereditary evil from the mother is more outward. The former cannot be easily rooted out, but the latter can. When man is being regenerated, the hereditary evil inrooted from his nearest parents is plucked up by the roots; but with those who are not being regenerated, or who cannot be regenerated, it remains. This then is hereditary evil (see also n. 313, 494, 2122, 2910, 3518, 3701). This is also evident to everyone who reflects, and also from the fact that every family has some peculiar evil or good by which it is distinguished from other families; and that this is from parents and ancestors is known. It is similar with the Jewish nation remaining at this day, which is evidently distinct from other nations, and is known from them, not only by its peculiar genius, but also by manners, speech, and face. [5] But what hereditary evil is, few know; it is believed to consist in doing evil; but it consists in willing and hence thinking evil; hereditary evil being in the will itself and in the thought thence derived; and being the very conatus or endeavor that is therein, and which adjoins itself even when the man is doing what is good. It is known by the delight that is felt when evil befalls another. This root lies deeply hidden, for the very inward form that receives from heaven (that is, through heaven from the Lord) what is good and true, is depraved, and so to speak, distorted; so that when good and truth flow in from the Lord, they are either reflected, or perverted, or suffocated. It is from this cause that no perception of good and truth exists at this day, but in place of it, with the regenerate, conscience, which acknowledges as good and true what is learned from parents and masters. It is from hereditary evil to love self more than others, to will evil to others if they do not honor us, to perceive delight in revenge, and also to love the world more than heaven; and from the same source come all the derivative cupidities or evil affections. Man is ignorant that such things are in hereditary evil, and still more that they are opposite to heavenly affections; and yet it is manifestly shown in the other life how much of evil from what is hereditary each one has drawn to himself by actual life, and also how far he has removed himself from heaven by evil affections from this source. [6] That hereditary evil could not be eradicated from the posterity of Jacob by regeneration because they would not allow it, is likewise manifest from the historicals of the Word; for they gave way in all the temptations in the wilderness as recorded by Moses: and also afterwards in the land of Canaan, whenever they did not see miracles; and yet those temptations were outward but not inward or spiritual. In respect to spiritual things they could not be tempted, because as before shown they knew no internal truths, and had no internal good; and no one can be tempted except as to what he knows and what he has. Temptations are the veriest means of regeneration. These things are signified by their not allowing regeneration. As regards their state and lot in the other life, see above (n. 939-941, 3481).
Elliott(1983-1999) 4317
4317. In the internal historical sense '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. This is clear from the meaning of 'the thigh' as conjugial love, and consequently all celestial and spiritual love, dealt with in 4280, and 'the hollow of the thigh' as the place where conjugial love, and also all celestial and spiritual love, is joined to natural good, 4277, 4280. Consequently 'touching it', that is, so damaging it that limping results, means destroying the good that flows from those loves. And since it was Jacob in whom this was done, that among his descendants which had come down from him, and so was hereditary, is meant. 'The sinew of that which was displaced' means falsity, see 4303, in this case falsity which stems from hereditary evil. The fact that this heredity could not be rooted out through regeneration because they would not allow that to happen follows from this and from the whole train of thought.
[2] The possession of such a heredity and their inability to be regenerated is quite clear from all that is recorded in the Word about them, and especially from the following in Moses,
Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, You yourselves saw all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land; and Jehovah has not given you A heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, even to this day. Deut 29:2, 4.
In the same author,
I know the people's imagination, which they are performing today, before I bring them into the land which I have sworn [to give them]. Deut 31:21.
And further on,
I will hide My face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, sons with no truth in them. I would scatter them far, I would make the memory of them cease from mankind, except that I feared the wrath of the enemy. For they are a nation from whose counsel is perishing and in whom there is no intelligence. For from the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah their grapes; they have grapes of hemlock, clusters that are bitter. The poison of dragons is their wine, and the cruel head of asps. Is not this stored up with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Deut 32:20, 26-34.
The same things are said in many other places, in particular in Jeremiah.
[3] Further evidence that their heredity is meant by the touching of Jacob's thigh and his consequently having a limp may be seen in Hosea,
The controversy of Jehovah with Judah: He will make a visitation on Jacob over his ways, and will render to him according to his deeds. In the womb he supplanted his brother; in his grief he contended with God, and contended against the angel and prevailed; he wept and appealed to him. Hosea 12:2-4.
Here 'contending with God' means, in the internal historical sense, their insistence that a representative of the Church should exist with them, 4290, 4293. From this it is evident that the kind of heredity they possessed had been derived from Jacob himself, as may be shown from further places still but must be passed over for the time being.
[4] As regards heredity specifically, the belief at the present day in the Church is that all hereditary evil is derived from the first parent and that all are therefore condemned in respect of that evil. But this is untrue. The origin of hereditary evil in everyone lies with his parents and parents' parents, that is, with successive generations of ancestors. Every evil which each of these has acquired to himself by his own actions in life, inasmuch as it becomes so to speak part of his character through regular practice or habit, is passed on to his children and becomes hereditary in them; and that evil accompanies what has been implanted in parents from grandparents and ancestors. Hereditary evil coming from the father is more internal, and hereditary evil from the mother more external. That coming from the father cannot be rooted out easily whereas that from the mother can. When a person is being regenerated the deeply-implanted hereditary evil that is received from immediate forbears is rooted out; but with those who are not being regenerated, or who are unable to be, it remains. This then is hereditary evil; see also 313, 494, 2122, 2910, 3518, 3701. This matter is also plain to anyone who reflects, as well as from the fact that every family has some evil or good characteristic by which it is distinguished from other families; and that characteristic, as is well known, is inherited from parents and ancestors. The same applies to the Jewish nation which is still in existence. It is clearly different from all other nations and may be recognized not only from its particular disposition but also from its customs, speech, and facial characteristics.
[5] But few people know what hereditary evil is. It is believed to consist in the doing of evil, when in fact it consists in the willing and therefore thinking of it. It is within the will itself and therefore within thought that hereditary evil dwells. It is the actual inclination to evil which is within them and which attaches itself even when the person does what is good. It is recognized through the kind of delight which enters in when evil befalls another. This root lies hidden deep down, for the interior form itself receiving good and truth from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven, is perverted and so to speak twisted out of shape, with the result that when good and truth flow in from the Lord these are either cast back or perverted or smothered. This is why no perception of what is good and true exists at the present day, but instead, in the case of the regenerate, conscience which acknowledges as good and true that which has been learned from parents and teachers. Hereditary evil leads to loving oneself more than others, willing evil on another if he does not promote oneself to honour, and taking delight in acts of revenge. It also leads to loving the world more than heaven and to all evil desires or evil affections, which spring from the same source. Man does not know that such things exist within him, still less that they are the opposite of heavenly affections In the next life however he is shown plainly how much evil, hereditary in origin, he has drawn to himself through his own actions in life, and also how far he has removed himself from heaven through evil affections from the same source.
[6] The fact that hereditary evil in Jacob's descendants could not be rooted out through regeneration because they would not allow that to happen is also evident from the historical descriptions in the Word - in all their temptations in the desert they gave in, as described in Moses, which they also did subsequently in the land of Canaan as often as they did not see miracles taking place. Those temptations however were external ones, and not internal or spiritual. In spiritual things they were incapable of being tempted because they had no knowledge of internal truths nor any possession of internal goods, as shown already; and nobody is able to be tempted except in what he knows or possesses. Temptations are the actual means by which regeneration is accomplished. This is what is meant by them not allowing regeneration to happen. Concerning their state and fate in the next life, see 939-941, 3481.
Latin(1748-1756) 4317
4317. Quod in sensu interno historico per `quia tetigit in vola femoris Jacobi nervum emoti' significetur quia hereditarium illis quod per regenerationem eradicari non potuit quia non admitterent, constat ex significatione `femoris' quod sit amor conjugialis, et inde omnis amor caelestis et spiritualis, de qua n. 4280, et quod `vola femoris' sit ubi conjunctio amoris conjugialis, tum omnis amoris caelestis et spiritualis, cum bono naturali, n. 4277, 4280;inde `tangere illam', seu laedere ut inde claudicatio, est destruere bonum quod amorum illorum est; et quia hoc in Jacobo, significatur quod ab illo id apud posteros, ita hereditarium; quod `nervus emoti' sit falsum, videatur n. 4303, hic falsum quod a malo hereditario; quod hereditarium hoc per regenerationem illis eradicari non potuerit quia non admitterent, inde (o)et ex serie sequitur. [2] Quod tale hereditarium illis fuerit et quod non regenerari potuerint, constat manifeste ab omnibus iis quae de illis memorantur in Verbo, et adhuc ab his apud Mosen, Vocavit Moses omnem Israelem et dixit ad eos, Vos vidistis omnia quae fecit Jehovah in oculis vestris in terra Aegypti Pharaoni et omnibus servis ejus, et omni terrae ejus;... et non dedit Jehovah vobis cor ad sciendum, et oculos ad videndum, et aures ad audiendum, usque ad diem `hunc, Deut. xxix 1, 3 [A. V. 2, 4]:
{1} apud eundem, Novi figmentum populi, quod is faciens hodie, antequam introduco illum in terram quam juravi, Deut. xxxi 25 et porro, Abscondam facies Meas ab eis, videbo quid novissimum, nam generatio perversitatum illi, filii non veritas in eis.... Exterminarem eos, cessare facerem ex homine memoriam eorum, nisi indignationem inimici timerem.... Quia gens periens consiliis illi, et non in eis intelligentia,... quia ex vite Sodomae vitis eorum, et ex agris Amorae uvae eorum, uvae cicutae, botri amari eis. Venenum draconum vinum eorum, et caput aspidum crudele. Nonne illud reconditum apud Me, sigillatum in thesauris Meis? Deut. xxxii 20, 26-34:
et alibi quam pluries, imprimis apud Jeremiam. [3] Quod hoc significatum sit per `tactum volae femoris Jacobi et claudicationem ejus inde' pater apud Hosheam, Lis Jehovae cum Jehudah, ad visitandum super Jacob, juxta vias ejus, et juxta opera ejus reddet ei. In utero supplantavit fratrem suum; in dolore suo contendit cum Deo, et contendit ad angelum, et praevaluit, flevit et rogavit (c)illum, xii 3, 4, 5 [A.V. 2-4];
ubi `contendere cum Deo' in sensu interno historico est {2} instare ut repraesentativum Ecclesiae esset apud illos, n. 4290, 4293 quod tale hereditarium illis fuerit ab ipso Jacobo, (o)inde patet, et adhuc pluribus ostendi potest, sed pro tempore supersedendum. [4] Quod in specie hereditarium attinet, creditur hodie in Ecclesia quod omne malum hereditarium sit a primo parente, et quod ideo omnes quoad illud damnati sint; sed res non ita se habet; malum hereditarium originem ducit a cujusvis parentibus et parentum parentibus seu avis et atavis successive; omne malum quod illi per actualem vitam sibi compararunt, usque ut per frequentem usum seu habitum naturae instar induerit, hoc derivatur in liberos, et fit illis hereditarium, una cum illo quod parentibus implantatum est {3} ab avis et atavis; malum hereditarium a patre est interius, et malum hereditarium a matre est exterius; illud non facile eradicari potest, hoc autem potest; cum regeneratur homo, tunc exstirpatur malum hereditarium a proximis parentibus irradicatum, at apud illos qui non regenerantur, aut regenerari possunt, remanet; hoc nunc est malum hereditarium, videatur etiam n. 313, 494, 2122, 2910, 3518, 3701; id quoque patet cuivis {4} qui reflectit, et quoque ex eo quod unaquaevis familia aliquod {5} peculiare malum aut bonum habeat per quod distinguitur ab aliis (o)familiis; quod id a parentibus sit et avis, notum est. Similiter gens Judaica quae hodie superest, quod illa a ceteris gentibus distincta sit et internoscatur, non solum ex peculiari genio sed etiam ex moribus, loquela et facie, constat. [5] Quid autem malum hereditarium, pauci sciunt; creditur quod sit facere malum, sed est velle et inde cogitare malum; in ipsa voluntate et inde cogitatione est malum hereditarium; est ipse conatus qui inest, et quoque cum bonum facit, se adjungit; noscitur per jucundum cum alteri malum accidit {6}; radix illa alte latet, ipsa enim forma interior recipiens bonum et verum e caelo, seu per caelum a Domino, est depravata ac, ut ita dicatur, detorta, sic ut cum bonum et verum a Domino influit, id vel reflectatur, vel pervertatur, vel suffocetur; inde est quod perceptio boni et veri hodie nulla detur, sed loco ejus conscientia apud regeneratos, quae pro bono et vero agnoscit quod a parentibus et magistris discitur: ex malo hereditario est amare se prae altero, velle alteri malum si `se non' honorat, jucundum percipere in vindictis, tum quoque amare mundum prae caelo et omnes cupiditates seu affectiones malae quae inde; homo ignorat quod talia ei insint, et magis quod talia sint opposita affectionibus caelestibus, sed usque in altera vita quantum mali {7} ex hereditario per actualem vitam sibi attraxerit, manifeste ostenditur, tum quantum per affectiones malas inde se removerit a caelo. [6] Quod malum hereditarium posteris Jacobi per regenerationem eradicari non potuerit quia non admitterent, patet quoque ex historicis Verbi, succubuerunt enim in omnibus tentationibus in deserto, de quibus apud Mosen; et quoque postea in terra Canaane quoties non miracula viderent; et tamen tentationes illae fuerunt {8} externae, non autem internae seu spirituales; quoad spiritualia non tentari potuerunt quia interna vera non sciverunt nec interna bona habuerunt, ut prius ostensum est, et nemo tentari potest quam quoad illa quae scit {9} et quae habet, tentationes sunt ipsissima media regenerationis; haec significantur per quod regenerationem non admitterent; de illorum statu et sorte in altera vita, videatur n. 939-941, 3481. @1 i et$ @2 pro$ @3 relictum$ @4 i manifeste$ @5 aliquid$ @6 occidet I$ @7 i is$ @8 i solum$ @9 credit$