999. That 'flesh' means what belongs to man's will is clear from the meaning of 'flesh' in its proper sense when used in connection with corrupt mankind. In general 'flesh' means the whole of mankind, in particular the bodily-minded - see what has been shown already in 574. And because it means the whole of mankind, and in particular the bodily-minded, it means that which is specifically man's own, and therefore that which constitutes his will. That which constitutes his will - that is, the will itself - is nothing but evil. Consequently 'flesh', used in reference to mankind because it is such, means all evil desire or all craving. For, as shown several times already, the human will is nothing but evil desire. And because flesh had that meaning, the flesh the people craved in the wilderness had the same representation too. That craving is described in Moses as follows,
The mixed multitude that were among them had a strong craving, and so they wept repeatedly and said, Who will give us flesh to eat? Numbers 11:4.
Here 'flesh' is plainly called 'craving', for it is said that 'they had a strong craving, [saying,] Who will give us flesh?' The same meaning is in like manner clear from what is said further on in that chapter,
While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before they had chewed it, the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the people, and Jehovah smote the people with a very great plague. And the name of that place was called Graves of Craving, for they buried there the people that craved. Numbers 11:33-34.
[2] Anyone may see that such a plague could not possibly have spread among the people simply because they had craved for flesh. It did not spread because of a craving for flesh, for this is quite natural for someone when he has been kept from eating for a long time, as was the case at that time with the people in the wilderness. There was a deeper - a spiritual - cause to the plague, namely, that those people were such as utterly loathed that which was meant by and represented by 'the manna', as is also clear in verse 6 of the same chapter. They desired solely such things as were meant and represented by 'flesh', that is to say, things belonging to their own will, which consisted of evil desires and were in themselves putrid and profane. It was because that Church, as a result of the representation of such things, was a representative Church that the people experienced so severe a plague. For the events that took place among the people were represented in a spiritual way in heaven. In heaven 'the manna' represented what is heavenly, and 'the flesh which they craved' the foulness of their own will. Consequently, such being their nature, they were punished. From these and other places in the Word it becomes clear that 'flesh' means what belongs to the will, here the merely human will. How filthy that will is, see under verse 2 of this chapter where 'the beasts of the earth' is the subject.
