574. That "flesh" signifies that man had become corporeal, appears from the signification of "flesh" in the Word, where it is used to signify both every man in general, and also, specifically, the corporeal man. It is used to signify every man, in Joel:
I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy (Joel 2:28), where "flesh" signifies man, and "spirit" the influx of truth and good from the Lord. In David:
Thou that hearest prayers, unto Thee shall all flesh come (Ps. 65:2),where "flesh" denotes every man. In Jeremiah:
Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm (Jer. 17:5), where "flesh" signifies man, and "arm" power. In Ezekiel:
That all flesh may know (Ezek. 21:4-5). In Zechariah:
Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah (Zech. 2:13), where "flesh" denotes every man. [2] That it signifies specifically the corporeal man, is evident from Isaiah:
The Egyptian is man and not God, and his horses are flesh and not spirit (Isa. 31:3), signifying that their memory-knowledge [scientificum] is corporeal; "horses" here and elsewhere in the Word denoting the rational. Again:
He shall withdraw to the right hand, and shall be hungry; and he shall devour on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat everyone the flesh of his own arm (Isa. 9:20), signifying such things as are man's own, which are all corporeal. In the same:
He shall consume from the soul, and even the flesh (Isa. 10:18), where "flesh" signifies corporeal things. Again:
The glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; the voice said, Cry; and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass (Isa. 40:5-6), "flesh" here signifies every man who is corporeal. [3] In the same:
In fire will Jehovah dispute, and with His sword with all flesh, and the slain of Jehovah shall be multiplied (Isa. 66:16), where "fire" signifies the punishment of cupidities; the "sword" the punishment of falsities; and "flesh" the corporeal things of man. In David:
God remembered that they were flesh, a breath that passeth away, and cometh not again (Ps. 78:39), speaking of the people in the wilderness desiring flesh, because they were corporeal; their desiring flesh represented that they desired only things corporeal (Num. 11:32-34).
This page is part of 
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church