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.

3540. 'And she put the skins of the kids of the she-goats' means the external truths clothing homeborn good. This is clear from the meaning of 'skins' as external things, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'the kids of the she-goats', coming as they did from the flock bred within the homestead, as the truths which clothe homeborn good, dealt with in 3518, 3519, where it is also evident what homeborn good is and what truths from that source are. Any good whatever has its own truths, and any truths whatever have their own good. And they must be joined together - good to truths - if anything at all is to exist. The reason why 'skins' means external things is that the skin is the outer covering of an animal to which its exterior parts extend, even as the skin or the cuticles is such with a human being. The latter receives its spiritual meaning from what is representative in the next life, where there are people who belong to the province of the skin. These will in the Lord's Divine mercy be described at the ends of chapters below where the Grand Man will be presented as a separate subject. They are people in whom none but external good and the truths which go with this are present. This is why the skin, human or animal, means things that are external. The same is also evident from the Word, as in Jeremiah,

On account of the greatness of your iniquity your skirts have been uncovered, your heels have suffered violence. Can the Ethiopian change his skin and the leopard its spots? Also are you able to do good, having been taught to do evil? Jeremiah 13:22-23.

Here 'skirts' means external truths, 'heels' the lowest goods - 'the heel' and 'shoes' being the lowest natural things, see 259, 1748. And because those truths and goods, as it is said, spring from evil, they are compared to an 'Ethiopian', who was black, and his 'skin', and also to 'a leopard and its spots'.

[2] In Moses,

If you take your neighbour's clothing as a pledge you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down; for this is his only covering; it is his clothing for his skin, in which he will lie down. Exodus 22:26-27.

Inasmuch as all the laws contained in the Word, including civil and judicial ones, have a correspondence with laws in heaven concerning what is good and true, and from this correspondence came to be laid down, so it was with the law just quoted. For why else would it have ever been laid down that they were to restore clothing that had been pledged before the sun went down, and why else is it said that 'it is his clothing for his skin, in which he lies down'? The correspondence is evident from the internal sense, which is that people were not to cheat their neighbour of external truths, which are the matters of doctrine by which they conduct their lives, and also religious observances - 'clothing' meaning such truths, see 297, 1073, 2576, and 'the sun' the good of love or of life that ensues from those truths, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495. The prevention of that good from perishing is meant by the statement about the restoration of the pledge before the sun went down. And since the things laid down in those laws are the external coverings of interior things, or the outermost aspects of these, the words 'his clothing for his skin in which he lies down' are used.

[3] Because 'skins' meant external things it was commanded that there should be for the tent a covering made of red ram skins and over that a covering of badger skins, Exodus 26:14. For the tent was representative of the three heavens, and so of the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom. The curtains enveloping it represented natural things, which are external, 3478; and these are the ram skins and the badger skins. And since external things are those which cover internal, or natural things are those which cover spiritual and celestial, in the way that the body does the soul, that command was therefore given. It was for a like reason commanded that when the camp was on the move Aaron and his sons were to cover the ark of the testimony with the veil and were to place a badger-skin covering over it. And over the table and what was on it they were to spread a twice-dyed scarlet cloth and then cover that with a badger-skin covering. They were likewise required to place the lampstand and all its vessels under a covering made of badger skin - also all the vessels for ministering they were to place under a violet cloth, and then cover them with a badger-skin covering, Numbers 4:5-6, 8, 10-12. Anyone who thinks about the Word in a devout way may see that Divine things were represented by all these objects, such as the ark, the table, the lampstand, and the vessels for ministering, also the coverings of twice-dyed scarlet and of violet, as well as the coverings of badger skin, and that these objects represented Divine things contained within external ones.

[4] Because the prophets represented those who teach, and therefore represented teaching from the Word concerning what is good and true, 2534; and because Elijah represented the Word itself, 2762, as also did John, who for that reason is called the Elijah who is to come, Matthew 17:10-13; and in order that these might represent the nature of the Word in its external form, that is, in the letter,

Elijah wore a skin girdle around his loins. 2 Kings 1:8. And John had a garment of camel hair and a skin girdle around his waist. Matthew 3:4.

Because animal 'skin' and human 'skin' means external things, which in relation to spiritual and celestial are natural things, and because it was customary in the Ancient Church to speak and to write by means of meaningful signs, reference is also made to both types of skin, and with the same meaning, in Job, a book of the Ancient Church. This becomes clear from a number of places in that book, including the following,

I 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. Job 19:25-26.

'Encompassed by skin' stands for the natural as it exists with someone after he has died, dealt with in 3539. 'Out of one's flesh seeing God' is doing so from a proprium made alive. For the proprium is meant by 'flesh', see 148, 149, 780; and the Book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church, a fact which is evident, as has been stated, from its style which draws on representatives and meaningful signs. It is not however one of the books called the Law and the Prophets, the reason being that it has no internal sense in which the one subject is the Lord and His kingdom. For it is this alone that determines whether any book is a Book of the true Word.