4211. 'And called his brothers to eat bread' means [an invitation] to make the good from the Lord's Divine Natural their own. This is clear from the meaning of 'brothers' as those who were now to be joined together by the covenant, that is, by friendship, and in the internal sense as those who are governed by good and truth (for such people are called 'brothers', see 367, 2360, 3303, 3459, 3803, 3815, 4121, 4191); from the meaning of 'eating' as making one's own, dealt with in 3168, 3513 (end), 3832 (for meals taken together and feasts among the ancients meant making things their own and being joined together by means of love and charity, 3596); and from the meaning of 'bread' as good that stems from love, dealt with in 276, 680, 1798, 3478, 3735, and in the highest sense means the Lord, 2165, 2177, 3478, 3813. Since 'bread' in the highest sense means the Lord it therefore means everything holy which comes from Him, that is, it means everything good and true. And since no other good exists which is good except the good of love and charity, 'bread' therefore means love and charity. Sacrifices in former times had no other meaning, and for that reason were referred to by the single word 'bread', see 2165. And some of the flesh of the sacrifices was eaten so that the heavenly feast - that is, a joining together through good flowing from love and charity - might be represented. The same is meant today by the Holy Supper, for this has replaced sacrifices and feasts of consecrated things. The Holy Supper is in the Church an external practice that has an internal reality within it, and by means of this reality it joins one who is governed by love and charity to heaven, and by means of heaven to the Lord. For in the Holy Supper too 'eating' means making one's own - 'the bread' being celestial love and 'the wine' spiritual love - so much so that while it is being eaten by one in a state of holiness nothing else is perceived in heaven.

[2] The reason why the phrase 'making the good from the Lord's Divine Natural their own' is used is that the subject is the good that exists with the gentiles, for it is this good that 'Laban' represents now, 4189. When man is joined to the Lord he is not joined to His Supreme Divine itself but to His Divine Human, for man cannot have any idea at all of the Lord's Supreme Divine, because this lies so far beyond anything he can conceive of that it fades from view altogether and ceases to mean anything to him. But he is able to have an idea of His Divine Human. For everyone is joined through thought and affection to one of whom he can have some idea but not to one of whom he cannot have any idea. If, when a person thinks about the Lord's Human, holiness is present in his ideas he also thinks of the holiness which comes from the Lord and fills heaven, and at the same time he thinks of heaven, since heaven in its entirety corresponds to a complete human being, which correspondence has its origin in the Lord, 684, 1276, 2996, 2998, 3624-3649. This explains why it is not possible to be joined to the Lord's Supreme Divine, only to His Divine Human, and through that Divine Human to His Supreme Divine. Hence the statement in John 1:18 about nobody, except the only begotten Son, ever having seen God, also the statement about there being no way to the Father except through Him; as well as from the statement that He is the Mediator. The truth of all this can be plainly recognized from the fact that all within the Church who declare their belief in a Supreme Being and yet set the Lord at nought are people who have no belief in anything at all, not even in the existence of heaven or of hell, and who worship nature. And if such people are ready to learn from experience it will be clear to them that the wicked, even those who are extremely so, declare a like belief.

[3] But the way in which people think of the Lord's Human varies, one person's ideas being different from another's, and one person's more holy than another's. Those within the Church are able to think that His Human is Divine, and also that He is one with the Father, as He Himself says that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. But those outside the Church are unable to do this, for one thing because they do not know anything about the Lord and for another because their idea of the Divine is gained solely from visible images and tangible idols. Nevertheless the Lord joins Himself to them by means of the good they do from the charity and obedience present within their crude notions of Him. And this is why mention is made here about them making the good from the Lord's Divine Natural their own. For when the Lord is joined to man the state of thought and consequent affection in him determines the exact nature of that conjunction. Those who have an entirely holy conception of the Lord and who at the same time have a true knowledge of and affections for what is good and true - as those within the Church are able to have - have been joined to the Lord as to His Divine Rational. Those however who do not have so holy a notion of Him and who do not have so interior a notion and affection, and yet the good of charity exists with them, have been joined to the Lord as regards His Divine Natural. And those whose holiness is cruder still are joined to the Lord as to His Divine Sensory Perception. This last type of joining is what is represented by 'the bronze serpent', in that those who looked at it recovered from serpent-bites, Numbers 21:9. This is the type of joining together which those among the gentiles have who worship idols and yet lead charitable lives in accordance with their own religion. From these considerations one may now see what is meant by making the good from the Lord's Divine Natural their own, meant by 'Jacob called his brothers to eat bread'.

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.