8409. As “flesh” signifies one’s own in both senses, in the supreme sense the Lord’s Divine own, which is His Divine Human, thus the good of His love toward the universal human race; therefore “flesh” in the sense which has reference to man denotes one’s own made alive by the Lord’s own, that is, it denotes the Lord’s own with man, thus the good of love to Him. (On the signification of “flesh” in this sense, see n. 3813, 7850.) But in the opposite sense, “flesh” denotes man’s own, thus the evil of the love of self, and from this the cupidities or concupiscences of this love (n. 999, 3813). (That man’s own is nothing but evil, see n. 210, 215, 694, 874-876, 987, 1023, 1044, 1047, 3812, 5660, 5786) That “flesh” denotes man’s own, thus evil of every kind, is further evident from the following passages in Isaiah:

I will feed thine oppressors with their flesh, and they shall be drunken with their blood, as with new wine (49:26);

“to feed with flesh” denotes to be gorged with their own evil.

[2] In Jeremiah:

Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, but his heart departeth from Jehovah (17:5);

“to make flesh his arm” denotes to trust in his own power; and therefore in Isaiah 9:20, “to eat the flesh of his arm” denotes to trust in himself. Again in Isaiah:

Egypt is a man, and not God; and his horses flesh, and not spirit (31:3);

“the horses of Egypt” denote memory-knowledges from a perverted understanding (n. 6125); “flesh” denotes what is dead; “spirit,” what is alive; therefore the sons of Egypt are said to be “great in flesh” (Ezekiel 16:26). What is “dead” is so called from evil, for spiritual death is from evil; and what is alive is so called from good, for spiritual life is from good.

[3] Hence it is that “flesh” and “spirit” in the Word are opposed to each other, as in John:

That which is born from the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit (John 3:6).

It is the spirit that maketh alive, the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life (John 6:63).

Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not reprove man forever, for that he is flesh (Genesis 6:3);

here “flesh” denotes man’s own. In like manner in Matthew:

Jesus said, Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it, but My Father who is in the heavens (Matthew 16:17).

As many as received, to them gave He power to be sons of God, to them that believe on His name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (1:12-13);

“the will of the flesh” denotes one’s own of the will; “the will of man,” one’s own of the understanding; “sons of God” denote the regenerate, and they who are being regenerated are all made alive from the Lord’s own, which is “the flesh and body of the Lord,” and is the Divine good itself.

[4] As “flesh” in the opposite sense denotes man’s own, thus evil, it also denotes concupiscence, for the life of the flesh, which is the body’s own life, is nothing but the pleasure of the senses, the delight of the appetites, and concupiscence. That “flesh” denotes concupiscence, is evident from these words in Moses:

The rabble that was in the midst of the people lusted a lust, whence the sons of Israel wept again, and said, Who shall feed us with flesh? our soul is now dry, our eyes have nothing to turn to but the manna: and Jehovah said unto Moses, Say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves for the morrow, that ye may eat flesh, for ye have wept in the ears of Jehovah, saying, who shall feed us with flesh? for it was better with us in Egypt; Jehovah will give you flesh to eat, for a month of days, even until it come out from your nose, and it shall be a loathing to you. The flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was swallowed, when the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the people, and Jehovah smote the people with a very great plague, whence he called the name of that place “the graves of lust,” because there they buried the people that lusted (Numbers 11:4, 6, 16, 18, 20, 33-34).

From all this it is now evident what is signified by “sitting by the flesh-pot in the land of Egypt,” namely, a life according to what they like and as they had desired, thus a life of their own.

6125. [In exchange] for the horses. That this signifies memory-knowledges from the intellectual, is evident from the signification of “horses,” as being things intellectual (n. 2760-2762, 3217, 5321); and because they are predicated of Egypt, by which are signified memory-knowledges, “horses” here denote memory-knowledges from the intellectual. It is here necessary to state what these memory-knowledges from the intellectual are. Man has an intellectual, and he has a will, and this not only in his internal man, but also in his external. The intellectual in a man grows and increases from his infancy to his maturity, and consists in viewing things from what belongs to experience and to memory-knowledge; and also in viewing causes from effects; and in viewing consequences in connection with their causes. Thus the intellectual consists in the comprehension and perception of such things as are of civic and moral life. It comes into existence from the influx of light from heaven; and therefore every man can be perfected in respect to the intellectual. The intellectual is given to everyone according to his application, according to his life, and according to his nature; nor is it lacking in anyone, provided he is of sound mind. It is given to man to the end that he may be in freedom and in choice, that is, in the freedom of choosing good or evil. Unless man has such an intellectual as has been described, he cannot do this of himself, thus neither could anything be appropriated to him.

[2] Be it known further, that it is man’s intellectual which receives what is spiritual, so as to be a recipient of spiritual truth and good. For nothing of good, that is, of charity, and nothing of truth, that is, of faith, can be insinuated into anyone who has not an intellectual, but they are insinuated according to his intellectual; and therefore also man is not regenerated by the Lord until in adult age and possessed of an intellectual, before which period the good of love and truth of faith fall as seed into ground that is quite barren. But when a man has been regenerated, his intellectual performs the use of seeing and perceiving what is good, and thereby what is true; for the intellectual carries over those things which are of the light of heaven into those which are of the light of nature, whereby the former appear in the latter as do the interior affections of man in a face free from pretence; and as the intellectual performs this use, therefore in the Word, in many passages where the spiritual of the church is treated of, its intellectual also is treated of, as of the Lord’s Divine mercy shall be shown elsewhere.

[3] From all this it is now evident what is meant by memory-knowledges from the intellectual, namely, that they are memory-knowledges which confirm those things that a man intellectually apprehends and perceives, whether these are evil or good. These memory-knowledges are signified in the Word by “horses from Egypt;” as in Isaiah:

Woe to them that go down into Egypt for help, and lean on horses; and trust on the chariot, because they are many, and upon the horsemen, because they are very strong; and they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, and seek not Jehovah. For Egypt is man, and not God; and his horses flesh, and not spirit (Isaiah 31:1, 3); where “horses from Egypt” denote memory-knowledges from a perverted intellectual.

[4] In Ezekiel:

He rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that it might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth this? (Ezekiel 17:15); where also “horses from Egypt” denote memory-knowledges from a perverted intellectual, which are consulted in matters of faith, while the Word, that is, the Lord, is not believed except from these; thus it is not believed at all, for denial reigns in a perverted intellectual.

[5] That such memory-knowledges were destroyed is represented by the horses and chariots of Pharaoh being drowned in the sea Suph; and because these knowledges are signified by “horses,” and false doctrinal things by “chariots,” therefore “horses and chariots” are so often mentioned in the Word (see Exodus 14:17-18, 23, 2 14:26, 28; and thereafter in the Song of Moses and Miriam):

The horse of Pharaoh went in, and also his chariot, and also his horsemen, into the sea; but Jehovah caused the waters of the sea to return upon them. Sing ye to Jehovah, for exalting He hath exalted Himself; the horse and his rider hath He cast into the sea (Exodus 15:19, 21).

[6] Similar memory-knowledges are also signified by what was prescribed in Moses for the king over Israel:

If they desire a king, a king from the midst of the brethren shall be set over them; only he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor bring back the people into Egypt in order that he may multiply horses (Deuteronomy 17:15-16);

a king represented the Lord as to Divine truth (n. 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4789, 4966, 5044, 5068), thus as to intelligence, for this when genuine is from Divine truth. That intelligence ought to be procured by means of the Word, which is Divine truth, and not by means of memory-knowledges from one’s own intellectual, is signified by the injunction that the king “should not multiply horses, and should not bring back the people into Egypt in order that he may multiply horses.”