670. That 'living creature' ¹ means things of the understanding, and 'all flesh' those of the will, becomes clear from what has been stated already, and also from what follows. In the Word 'living creature' means all animal life in general, as in Genesis 1:10, 21, 24; 2:19. Here however, because the phrase 'all flesh' is added immediately after, it means things which belong to the understanding, for the reason given already, that the regeneration of the member of this Church had to begin in the things of the understanding. This also is why in the next verse 'birds' are mentioned first, which mean things of the understanding or the rational, and 'beasts', which are those of the will, second. 'Flesh' in particular means bodily-mindedness which is a feature of the will.

Footnotes:

5832. 'You will cause my grey hair to go down in evil to the grave' means that spiritual good and so the internal aspect of the Church is going to perish. This is clear from the representation of 'Israel' as spiritual good, dealt with in 5807, 5812, 5813, 5817, 5819, 5825, and as the internal aspect of the spiritual Church, 4286; from the meaning of 'grey hair' as the final phase of the Church, [dealt with in 5550;] and from the meaning of 'going down in evil to the grave' as perishing, dealt with in 4785. Going down in good to the grave describes rising again and being regenerated, 2916, 2917, 5551, and therefore 'going down in evil to the grave' is the opposite, namely perishing. As regards a perishing of the internal aspect of the Church if the truth represented by 'Benjamin' perishes, the situation is this: For good to be good it must have its own truths, and for truths to be truths they must have their own good. Without truths good is not good, even as truths without good are not truths; together they constitute a marriage, which is called the heavenly marriage. Consequently if one departs the other perishes; and one can depart from the other by being torn to pieces by evils and falsities.