3813. As regards 'flesh', this means in the highest sense the Proprium of the Lord's Divine Human, which is Divine Good, and in the relative sense means the will side of the human proprium when made alive by the Proprium of the Lord's Divine Human, that is, by His Divine Good. This proprium is the one called the heavenly proprium which, in itself the Lord's alone, is appropriated to those who are governed by good and consequently by truth. Such a proprium exists with angels in heaven, and also with men whose interiors, that is, their spirits, are in the Lord's kingdom. But in the contrary sense 'flesh' means the will side of the human proprium, which in itself is nothing but evil, and not having been made alive by the Lord is called dead; and the individual himself is for that reason called dead.

[2] That 'flesh' in the highest sense means the Proprium of the Lord's Divine Human, and so His Divine Good, is clear from the Lord's words in John,

Jesus said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever. The bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews disputed with one another, saying, How can this man give his flesh to eat? Jesus therefore said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day; for My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. This is the bread which came down from heaven. John 6:51-58.

Here it is quite evident that 'flesh' means the Proprium of the Lord's Divine Human, and so the Divine Good - His flesh in the Holy Supper being called 'the body'. His body or flesh in the Holy Supper is the Divine Good, and His blood the Divine Truth, see 1798, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3735. And since bread and wine have the same meaning as flesh and blood - that is to say, 'bread' is the Lord's Divine Good, and 'wine' His Divine Truth - bread and wine were commanded in place of flesh and blood. This is why the Lord says, 'I am the living bread; the bread which I will give is My flesh; he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him; this is the bread which came down from heaven'. 'Eating' means being communicated, being joined to, and being made one's own, see 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513 (end), 3596.

[3] The same was represented in the Jewish Church by the law that the flesh of sacrifices was to be eaten by Aaron and his sons, by those persons who brought the sacrifice, and by others who were clean; and that this flesh was holy, see Exodus 12:7-9; 29:30-34; Leviticus 7:15-21; 8:31; Deuteronomy 12:27; 16:4. That being so, if any unclean person ate some of that flesh he was to be cut off from his people, Leviticus 7:21. The fact that these sacrifices were called 'bread', see 2165, and that that sacrificial flesh was called 'holy flesh', Jeremiah 11:15; Haggai 2:12. And in Ezekiel 40:43 where the new Temple is the subject, it is called 'the flesh of the offering which is on the tables in the Lord's kingdom', by which clearly worship of the Lord in His kingdom is meant.

[4] That 'flesh' in the relative sense means the will side of man's proprium when made alive by the Lord is Divine Good is clear also from the following places: In Ezekiel,

I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in your midst; and I will remove the heart of stone out of their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26.

'The heart of stone out of their flesh' stands for a will and proprium when not made alive, 'a heart of flesh' for a will and proprium when made alive; for 'the heart' is a representative of good in the will, see 2930, 3313, 3635. In David,

O God, You are my God; in the morning I seek You. My soul thirsts for You, my flesh in a dry land longs for You, and I am weary without water. Psalms 63:1.

In the same author,

My soul longs for the courts of Jehovah; my heart and my flesh shout for joy to the living God. Psalms 84:2.

[5] In Job,

I have come to know my Redeemer; He is alive; and at the last He will rise above the dust; and afterwards these things will be encompassed by my skin, and out of my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself; and my eyes will behold, and no other. Job 19:25-27.

'Being encompassed by skin' stands for the natural, such as a person possesses after death, dealt with in 3539. 'Out of his flesh seeing God' stands for the proprium when made alive, which is why Job says, 'Whom I shall see for myself; and my eyes will behold, and no other'. Since it was well known in the ancient Churches that 'flesh' meant the proprium, and since the Book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church, 3540 (end), he accordingly followed the custom of the day and drew on meaningful signs to speak of these, as of many other matters. Those therefore who conclude from what Job said that their dead body is going to be reassembled from the four winds and is going to rise again do not know the internal sense of the Word. Those who are conversant with that sense know that they will enter the next life in a body, but in a purer one. In that life people have purer bodies, for they behold one another, talk to one another, and are endowed with each of the senses, which though like those in the physical body are now keener. The body which a person carries around on earth is designed for activities on earth and therefore consists of flesh and bones, whereas the body that a spirit carries around in the next life is designed for activities in that life and does not consist of flesh and bones but of such things as correspond to these, see 3726.

[6] That 'flesh' in the contrary sense means the will side of the human proprium which in itself is nothing but evil is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Every man will eat the flesh of his own arm. Isaiah 9:20.

In the same prophet,

I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, and they will be drunk with their blood as with new wine. Isaiah 49:26.

In Jeremiah,

I will feed them with the flesh of their sons and with the flesh of their daughters, and every man will eat the flesh of his companion. Jeremiah 19:9.

In Zechariah,

Those that are left will eat, every one the flesh of another. Zechariah 11:9.

In Moses,

I will chastise you seven times for your sins, and you will eat the flesh of your sons: and the flesh of your daughters will you eat. Leviticus 26:28-29.

The will side of the human proprium, or man's own natural inclinations, is described in this way because it is nothing but evil and consequent falsity, and so hatred against every form of truth or good, that are meant by 'eating the flesh of their own arm', 'the flesh of sons and daughters', and 'the flesh of another'.

[7] In John,

I saw an angel standing in the sun, who called out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying in mid-heaven, Come and gather yourselves to the supper of the great God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and those seated on them, and the flesh of all free men and slaves, both small and great. Revelation 19:17-18; Ezekiel 39:17-20.

Anyone may see that the flesh of kings, captains, mighty men, horses and those seated on them, free men and slaves, is not meant by such expressions. 'Flesh' accordingly has another meaning which has not been known up to now. The fact that evils resulting from falsities, and evils producing falsities, are meant - which evils originate on the will side of the human proprium - is evident from each expression used here.

[8] Since falsity which springs from the understanding side of man's proprium is meant by 'blood' in the internal sense, and evil which springs from the will side of his proprium by 'flesh', the Lord speaks of the person who is to be regenerated as follows,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13.

For this reason 'flesh' is used to mean in general all mankind, see 574, 1050 (end). For whether you speak of man or of man's proprium it amounts to the same.

[9] That 'flesh' in the highest sense means the Lord's Divine Human is evident from the verses quoted above, as well as from the following in John,

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father. John 1:14.

It is by virtue of this flesh that all other flesh is made alive, that is, by virtue of the Lord's Divine Human, every human being is made alive, through making His love his own, which is meant by 'eating the flesh of the Son of Man', John 6:51-58, and by eating the bread in the Holy Supper - for the bread is His body or flesh, Matthew 26:26-27.

9296. 'And the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in [the fruit of] your labours from the field' means the worship of a thankful mind on account of the implanting of good after that, and so on account of regeneration and complete deliverance from damnation. This is clear from the meaning of 'the feast' as worship of the Lord and thanksgiving, dealt with above in 9286, 9287, 9294, and so the worship of a thankful mind; from the meaning of 'ingathering', when speaking of the implanting of truth in good, as the implanting of good itself; from the meaning of 'the end of the year' as the end of labours; and from the meaning of 'when you have gathered in [the fruit of] your labours from the field' as the enjoyment and use of all that has been planted in good. For not only products of the field are meant by 'labours' but also those of the vineyard and the olive-grove, so that the fruits of the earth are meant, as is evident from the description of this feast in Moses,

You shall celebrate the feast of tabernacles seven days, when you gather in from your threshing-floor, and from your winepress. And Jehovah your God will bless you in all your produce, and in all the labour of your hands. Deuteronomy 16:13, 15.

And elsewhere,

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the earth, you shall keep the feast of Jehovah seven days. Leviticus 23:39.

[2] Since this feast means worshipping the Lord with a thankful mind on account of the implanting of good, and so on account of complete deliverance from damnation, what the implanting of good is must first be explained here. It has been shown in various places already that a person has two powers of life - the understanding and the will - and that the understanding is dedicated to receiving truth and the will to receiving good. For there are two realities to which all things throughout creation, both in heaven and in the world, have connection, namely truth and good. From this it is also evident that these two realities compose a person's life, that the truth of faith and the good of charity compose his new life, and that unless they have both been implanted in the person he has no new life. In what way the truth of faith is sown and implanted in a person is well known in the Church, but in what way the good of charity is, is not as yet so well known. When a person is a young child he receives good from the Lord, that good being the good of innocence as it exists with young children. This good composes the first beginnings of a new will with a person, and it develops in the next period of life in the measure that he leads an innocent life among those of his own age, behaves properly in life and does what he is told by parents and teachers. It develops more fully however with those who subsequently allow themselves to be regenerated. This the Lord foresees, and according to the state of their subsequent life He makes provision for it. For in every present moment the Lord foresees what is bad and provides what is good; He does so from the moment the person is conceived even into eternity. At a later stage, when the person has grown up and starts to think from self, then to the extent that he is carried away by the delights of self-love and love of the world that new will, that is, first beginnings of a new will, is closed, and to the extent that he is not carried away by those delights it is opened and also perfected.

[3] But in what way it is perfected through the implanting of truth must be stated next. That new will, which is formed from the good of innocence, is the dwelling-place by means of which the Lord comes in and resides with a person, rousing the person to will what is good, and from willing good to doing it. This influx is effective with a person to the extent that he refrains from evils. It gives him the ability to know, see into, reflect on, and have an understanding of truths and forms of good. The truths and forms of good occur on the level of both private and public life, and he receives that ability according to his delight in service. After this the Lord flows by way of that good into the truths the person knows from the teachings of the Church; He then summons from his memory the kinds of truths that may help him serve usefully in life, implanting those truths in the good and perfecting it. So it is that the good present with a person depends entirely on his service in life. If that service is rendered for his neighbour's benefit, that is, for the good of fellow-citizen, country, Church, heaven, and for the Lord, then that good is the good of charity. But if his service in life is rendered solely for the sake of self and the world, then those first beginnings of a new will are closed. Below them a will is formed from the evils of self-love and love of the world, and arising from this an understanding from falsities. This will is closed above and open below, that is, it is closed in heaven's direction and open in the world's. All this shows in what way truths are planted in good and give it form. It also shows that when a person is governed by good he is in heaven with the Lord; for as stated above, the new will, where the good of charity resides, is the Lord's dwelling-place and is therefore heaven with a person. And the new understanding extending from it is so to speak a tabernacle or booth through which people pass in and out.

[4] These kinds of things in general and in particular were represented by this feast, which was a feast of ingathering of the fruits of the earth, and was called the feast of tabernacles. The establishment of this feast, spoken of in Moses as follows, shows that this is so,

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the earth, you shall keep the feast of Jehovah seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day a sabbath. And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a fine tree, ¹ fronds of palm trees, and the bough of a thick tree, and willows of the powerful stream; and you shall be glad before Jehovah your God seven days. You shall dwell in tabernacles seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in tabernacles, that your generations may know that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in tabernacles when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. Leviticus 23:39-44.

And elsewhere,

You shall celebrate the feast of tabernacles seven days, when you gather in from your threshing-floor, and from your press. You shall be glad in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male slave and your female slave and the Levite and the sojourner and the orphan and the widow who are within your gates. And you will be altogether glad. Deuteronomy 16:13-15.

[5] The state when good has been implanted by the Lord through truth, thus the state when heaven resides with a person, was represented by this feast. This is evident from the internal sense of all that is mentioned in these passages, which is this: The fifteenth day of the seventh month means the end of the former state and the beginning of a new state. (That this is the meaning of the fifteenth, see 8400, and also of the seventh, 728, 6508, 8976, 9228.) The fruit of the earth, which had been gathered in by then, means the good of charity, 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847, 3146, 7690, 7692. Gathering in from the threshing-floor and from the press has a similar meaning. For grain, which is a product of the threshing-floor, is the good of truth, 5295, 5410; wine, which is a product of the press, is truth derived from good, 6377; and oil, which is also a product of the press, is good which is a source of truth, 886, 3728, 4582, 4638. A sabbath on the first day and a sabbath on the eighth day mean the joining of truth to good, and in a reciprocal manner the joining of good to truth, the sabbath meaning truth and good joined together, 8495, 8510, 8890, 8893, 9274. The reason why the eighth day too was called a sabbath is that eighth meant the beginning of a new state, 2044, 8400 (end).

[6] The fruit of a fine tree which they were to take on the first day meant festivity and joy because good had been implanted, which is why the words you shall be glad before Jehovah follow; fronds of palm trees meant internal truths of that good, 8369; the bough of a thick (or tangled) tree meant relatively external truths of good, or known facts, 2831, 8133; and willows of the powerful stream meant rather more external truths, which belong to impressions received by the bodily senses. The tabernacles in which they were to dwell seven days means the holiness of love received from the Lord and offered in return to the Lord, 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312, 3391, 4391, 4599, also the holiness of union, 8666. Native Israelites means those governed by the good of charity, and therefore also means - in the abstract sense - that good, 3654, 4598, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833, 6426, 7957. The rejoicing of all at that time meant the joy such as that felt by those who are governed by good received from the Lord, thus such as that felt by those in heaven. For one who is governed by the good of charity received from the Lord is in heaven with the Lord. These are the things on account of which that feast was established.

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