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Deeper Secrets of Human History
in the Light of the Gospel of St. Matthew
GA 117

23 November 1909, Berlin

Lecture III

As a contribution to studies connected with the Gospel of St. Matthew, something was said in the last lecture about the mission of the ancient Hebrew people and how Christ-Jesus sprang from this people. In studying the Gospels our aim is to understand little by little how the different streams of spiritual life converged, in order, eventually, in the great Christian stream, to provide in common for the further evolution of the earth. All that could be done in a brief study was to indicate in merest outline the part played by the ancient Hebrew people in the general evolution of mankind But it is not possible to understand the Gospel of St. Matthew unless we at least give some consideration to certain other aspects of this people.

For the sake of clarity, let us once more remind ourselves of the soul-nature of the Hebrews, upon which their whole mission was dependent. We have seen that their mission differed from that of the other pre-Christian peoples. To the latter, that which they had inherited of the ancient clairvoyance of mankind was still an essential factor. Evidence of this clairvoyant knowledge is to be found among all the peoples of antiquity. We may speak of it as a ‘primeval wisdom.’ It can be described more exactly in the following way.—In old Atlantis, vision of the spiritual world was still the common heritage of men. Although the higher experiences were accessible only to Initiates, every human being had, at the very least, a definite conception of the spiritual world, because in certain intermediary states of consciousness the men of that epoch were still able to see into the spiritual realm. But this faculty had to be replaced by one that to-day is uppermost in man, that of intellectual reasoning, comprehension of the outer world by means of the physical senses; in other words, experience of the outer physical world. This faculty developed slowly, and by degrees, in the course of the pre-Christian era. A considerable residue of the old clairvoyance still survived in the people of ancient India. The teaching imparted by the Holy Rishis was a primeval wisdom, inherited from the far past. So too, in the second Post-Atlantean epoch of culture, what was known to the pupils and followers of Zarathustra in ancient Persia was a legacy of this old clairvoyance. Chaldean astronomy, and also the knowledge possessed by the ancient Egyptians, were both permeated with the ancient wisdom. A science derived from the faculties typical of later Post-Atlantean humanity would have been entirely unintelligible to the Egyptians and the Chaldeans. No science, expressing itself in the form of concepts and ideas of a physical nature, existed in those days. There was no reflective thinking such as we know it to-day.

It is by no means unimportant to be clear in our minds about the difference between a genuine seer of our own time and a seer, let us say, of ancient Chaldea or ancient Egypt. There is a very marked difference. One who in the life and conditions natural in our time unfolds genuine seership, must bring to bear upon the revelations, inspirations and experiences coming to him from the spiritual world, the logical reason he is able to acquire here in the physical world, through the exercise of normal, earthly thinking The experiences of a seer in modern times can never be completely intelligible if they are not received by a soul thoroughly schooled in logical, reasoned thinking. In the modern age these inspirations and revelations from the spiritual world demand that logical thinking shall be brought to bear upon them. A person who has such inspirations to-day, but lacks the will to unfold logical thinking, to develop his earthly faculties healthily and selflessly, can never achieve more than what is called ‘visionary clairvoyance’, which remains obscure and incomprehensible, and is for this reason bound to be misleading. Only a soul possessed of the resolute will to exercise reason can provide the right conditions for inspirations from the spiritual world in the modern age. That is why in a spiritual movement such as ours the greatest possible importance must be attached to the fact that seership shall not be developed, nor the revelations from the spiritual world proclaimed, in an amateurish, unbalanced way. The aim for which we must work is that the soul itself shall bring something to meet the inspirations and revelations. The development of seership demands the effort and exertion required in rational thinking. In our time the two cannot be separated.

For an Egyptian or Chaldean seer it was an entirely different matter. Together with the inspirations—which arrived by quite another path—came the principles of thinking; hence he needed no separate system of thinking. When he had undergone spiritual training the principles of thinking were given to him complete, along with the inspirations themselves. The organism of modern man is no longer suited for this, it has grown out of it; for humanity is always moving on.

Only by bearing this difference clearly in mind can we fully understand what is implied by saying that vestiges of the old clairvoyance still survived in pre-Christian times, with the one exception of the ancient Hebrew people. They were chosen from the first, in order to develop a human organism possessing the faculty of comprehending the outer physical world according to number, measure and weight, so that by this means they might gradually rise from knowledge of the physical world to knowledge of the spiritual reality comprised in the concept of Jahve or Jehovah. The all-essential point here is that in Abraham there had been chosen a man possessing a brain so constituted as to enable him to become the progenitor of a whole people, who would inherit these qualities from him and transmit them to their descendants. Spiritual promptings must be received, not merely as arising from within man, but as a gift from without. All that was derived from Abraham came, primarily, not from within, but as a revelation from without. This is a factor of immense importance, radically distinguishing the character of this people from that of the other peoples of antiquity.

You can well imagine that the old inherited faculties could not disappear all at once, but that vestiges remained, even in this people. It was so in the case of Joseph who in this respect still had much in common with the other peoples. For this reason he could be the link between the ancient Hebrews and the Egyptians, who were the latest to remain in the spiritual stream of the pre-Christian peoples. The development of the new faculties was bound to be only very gradual.

Why was a people prepared in this definite way? Why had a people to be chosen for separation from all the other forms of pre-Christian spiritual life, and why had they to be endowed with faculties of a special kind? All this had to take place to make it possible for mankind to be prepared for that great point of time—already drawing near—when Christ-Jesus was on earth. It was the point of time when all the old clairvoyance, all the conditions determined and restricted by blood-relationship had lost their significance and when something new entered into the life of man, namely, the full activity of the Ego. Through the widespread intermingling of blood, conditions which in earlier times had great meaning and purpose, passed away, but in their place came the possibility of the full activity of the human Ego. Thus the true kingdom of mankind—the Kingdom of Heaven—was added to the other kingdoms.

Now, speaking generally, when anything is born, men are not immediately prone to recognise it as what it really is. They certainly do not immediately recognise happenings of the spiritual life. They are very ready to speak of prophets who will come in the future—this was quite usual in the times both preceding and following the birth of Christianity. In the 12th and 13th centuries there was a veritable mania for prophecy. Here, there and everywhere people came forward proclaiming the imminent return of Christ, pointing to the places where He would appear. In other times, too, isolated phenomena of the kind have occurred. There has been talk about one person or another being the new incarnation of Christ.—No words need be wasted on the subject of such prophecies because even when they are made they bear evidence in themselves of their own defect. One defect they all have: they speak of an event that is to come, but neglect so to prepare men's hearts and minds that they are capable of recognising and understanding it. The position of these people reminds one of the incident of the teacher which Hebbel gives in his diary.—The teacher gives a severe thrashing to a particular pupil because he cannot understand Plato. Hebbel adds, jokingly, that the pupil was the reincarnated Plato himself! This is the sort of thing that happens to people who are constantly talking about a Christ who is to come again. They would be little prepared for the reality, even were it to appear; they would take the Christ for something altogether different from the Christ.

Preparation for the Christ had therefore to be made in advance. This must be realised, before it is possible to understand the Gospel of St. Matthew. Preparation was necessary in order that there might at least be a few human beings capable of understanding the Christ Event, which—to characterise one aspect only—consisted in knowing that Christ was the One Who made it possible for men thenceforth to receive from without, not physical impressions only, but also the Spirit. For this, individual men had to be prepared.

In point of fact, right through Hebrew history, some individuals were, by certain methods, prepared to be able to understand the Christ Event. In the earliest times there were only a few of these men, but they and their way of life must be closely studied if we are to realise what careful preparations were made for the coming of Christ, how the Hebrew people, with the qualities they had inherited from Abraham, were rendered capable of a prophetic understanding of how the human Ego would be brought to man through the Saviour. Those men who were prepared so as to be able to recognise and understand, by clairvoyance, the significance of the Christ, were called Nazarenes.11According to Biblical commentaries, Nazarene means ‘branch’, or ‘separated one’. In lecture VI of the Course entitled The Gospel of St. Matthew, Rudolf Steiner refers to a community of the Essene sect connected particularly with Netzer, a pupil of Jeshu ben Pandira, in Nazareth, or Netzereth. These men were able to perceive clairvoyantly all that had been prepared from the earliest days of the Hebrews, in order that, out of and through this people, the Christ might be born and understood. In a mode of life compatible with the development of clairvoyant insight, these Nazarenes were bound by strict and strenuous rules. These rules, since they belonged to quite another age, differ considerably from those essential for the attainment of spiritual knowledge to-day, although in some respects there is a certain similarity. Much that was of primary importance in the Nazarene training is subsidiary to-day, and much that was subsidiary then would now be essential. Nobody should imagine that methods which in earlier times led to clairvoyant knowledge of Christ would have the effect of leading a man of the modern age to the same momentous recognition.

The first demand made of a Nazarene was total abstention from all alcohol; indeed, the taking of any food prepared with vinegar was most strictly forbidden. Those who obeyed the prescribed rules to the letter were obliged to refrain from consuming anything whatsoever derived from the grape. This was because it was held that in the grape the plant-forming principle has overstepped a certain point, namely the point where the sun-forces alone are working on the plant. In the grape there are at work, not the sun-forces alone, but something that develops inwardly and has already matured by the time the sun-forces are weakening in the autumn. Hence anything deriving from the grape might be drunk only by those who did not aspire to the higher form of clairvoyance, but who worshipped the god Dionysos and were content that their faculties should rise up as it were out of the earth. Further, as long as his preparation and training lasted, the Nazarene was committed never to touch or come into contact with anything that has an astral body and can die; briefly, the Nazarene must avoid anything of an animal nature. In the strictest sense of the word he must be a vegetarian. Therefore in certain regions the strictest Nazarenes fed only on the carob bean, the so-called ‘St. John’s bread; this was a very common food among them. They also fed on the honey of wild bees—not cultivated bees—and other honey-seeking insects. John the Baptist, in later days, adopted this way of life, feeding on the carob bean and wild honey. In the Gospels it is said that his food was locusts and wild honey, but this must be regarded as a mistranslation.—I have elsewhere called your attention to other mistranslations of the same kind.12Locust—the fruit of the carob-tree; a locust-bean. The Greek name äxeis, properly denoting the insect, is applied in the Levant to the carob-pod, from some resemblance in form: and from very early times it has been believed by many that the “locusts” eaten by John the Baptist were these pods. Oxford English Dictionary.

Another of the main stipulations in the preparation for seership was that during the period of their training the Nazarenes must not allow their hair to be cut. The reason for this is intimately connected with the whole process of human evolution. This relationship of hair to human evolution is a fundamental fact. All in man that concerns his true being can be understood only if we try to see it against its spiritual background. Strange as it may sound, in our hair we have a relic of certain rays by which the sun-forces were once instilled into man. What the sun in earlier times thus instilled into man was something living. We find clear illustrations of this in times when man still had consciousness of deeper realities. For example, in many ancient sculptures of lions it is clearly evident that the sculptuor's aim was not simply to copy a lion as we know it to-day with its mane. A sculptor, still cognisant of the traditions born of ancient knowledge, portrayed a lion in such a way as to convey the impression that the hairs in the mane seem to be inserted into the body as if from outside, like instreaming rays of the sun which have, as it were, hardened into hairs. One can therefore well imagine that in ancient time it might have been quite possible, by leaving the hair uncut, to receive certain forces into one's being, especially if the hair was young and healthy.—But even in the times of Hebrew antiquity this was, in point of fact, regarded among the Nazarenes as hardly more than a symbol.

The progress of mankind however, did in fact depend to some measure upon his allowing the spiritual reality behind the sun to stream into his being. The fact that as time went on man was born as a less and less hairy being was symptomatic of his advance from the old, upwelling gift of clairvoyance to reasoned thought concerning the outer world. We must picture the men of the Atlantean and earliest Post-Atlantean epochs with a copious growth of hair—a sign that spiritual light was still shining down upon them in great strength. As the Bible tells, the choice was made between the smooth-skinned Jacob and the hairy Esau. In Esau we must see a descendant of Abraham in whom the last residue of an ancient phase of human evolution still survived, manifesting in his growth of hair. The man possessed of faculties leading him outward into the world around, is represented in Jacob, who was gifted with the qualities of cleverness with all its darker sides. Esau is ousted by Jacob.

Thus in Esau another offshoot of the main line of development is cast aside. From him sprang the Edomites, in whom old, inherited faculties continued to be propagated.—All these things are accurately and beautifully expressed in the Bible.

But now there had to arise in man a new consciousness of the spiritual life, and it had to arise, in a new way, in the Nazarene, through keeping his hair uncut during the time of his preparation. The relation of hair to the light of the spirit in the ancient world is confirmed by the fact that with the exception of an insignificant cipher, “light” and “hair” are expressed in the ancient Hebrew language by the same word. The ancient Hebrew tongue is full of indications of the deepest secrets of human evolution and must be regarded as a momentous revelation of wisdom through language. Such, then, was the purpose underlying the Nazarene custom of allowing the hair to grow long.—To-day, of course, this is no longer essential.

During the time of his preparation the Nazarene had to be led to a very definite clairvoyant experience which would reveal to him that the approach of Christ to mankind was drawing near. The last great Nazarene lived at the time of Christ. His name was John the Baptist. Not only had he himself experienced the complete experience of the Nazarene training but he enabled all those whom he aspired to bring to their true manhood, to experience it likewise.13This statement is corroborated by a passage in Origen's work, Concerning Prayer. “John the Baptist knew certain secret teaching about prayer, which he imparted, probably not to all who were being baptized, but to those who were being instructed in the secret doctrine as a preparation for baptism.” This throws light on the words of the disciples to Christ: “Lord teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.” (St. Luke XI, 1). Rudolf Steiner's statement that John had instructed his disciples about the Lamb also throws light upon the seemingly abrupt announcement by John the Baptist to his disciples, “Behold the Lamb of God.” (St. John I, 29). This complete experience is nothing else than the Baptism of John. It is important to understand exactly what its effect was upon their inner development. What was this Baptism, and to what did it lead? In the first place a man was plunged under water, the effect being that his etheric body in the region of his head was loosened somewhat from the physical body, whereas normally the etheric body is firmly knit with the physical body. It is well known that if a man is on the point of drowning, the whole tableau of his life flashes before him as a result of the loosening of his etheric body. This was what happened in the Baptism given by John. A man beheld his life-tableau, events of his life otherwise completely forgotton. Moreover the nature and constitution of the human in that particular epoch was also revealed to him. The physical body evolves out of the shaping and moulding which it receives from the etheric body, but this member of man's being which gives form to the physical body can be perceived only if it is loosened from the physical body, as happened in the Baptism of John.

If a man had undergone such a baptism three thousand years before our era, he would have become conscious that the highest spiritual condition that can be bestowed upon the human being can only come to him as a heritage from the ancient past—for whatever was given to man out of the spiritual worlds in very ancient times was essentially a heritage. This heritage of the past was portrayed in the etheric body and acted as a formative force upon the physical body. Even to those who had developed beyond the normal stage, such a baptism would have revealed that all their knowledge was founded upon ancient spirit-inspiration. This experience was described as the vision of the soul-nature of the etheric body, in the form of the Serpent. Those who had had this experience were called Children of the Serpent, because they had seen how the Luciferic beings had descended into the being of man; how the etheric body which had given the physical body its form and shape was itself a creation of the Serpent.

Now, however, in a baptism, not three thousand years before John the Baptist, but in his own day, something quite different came to light. Among those who were baptised there were some whose very nature gave evidence of the progress in human evolution: namely, of the vastly increased power of the Ego, derived from its experience of the outer visible world. Moreover the picture arising for them was entirely different from that revealed at the earlier baptisms. Men now beheld the creative forces of the etheric body, no longer in the image of the Serpent, but in the image of the Lamb. (See Appendix III, p. 76) This etheric body was no longer permeated from within by what issued from the Luciferic forces, but was wholly surrendered to the spiritual world which shines into the souls of men through the phenomena of the outer world. In the Baptism of John this vision of the Lamb came to those who were able to understand what at that time Baptism signified. Moreover they knew from what they themselves experienced, that man had become an altogether different, a quite new being. The few who experienced this at the Baptism of John were able to say: A great and momentous event has come to pass; man has become a different being; the Ego has now the rulership on earth!—Among those whom John baptised there were some who had been made ready to understand the signs of the times, to recognise that so supreme an event had come to pass.14Cp. Romans, VIII, 19. “The earnest expectation of the created world waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”

This had always been the goal of the Nazarenes. Through the experience brought by this Baptism they recognised that the coming of Christ was near at hand. This they knew from the form in which the etheric body appeared before them, when loosened in the baptism. It was the mission of John the Baptist to reveal that now the time had come when the Ego could express itself fully in man's nature; thereby he brought the ages of antiquity to their fulfilment. He gathered around him a community to whom he was able to reveal that now, through the emergence of the Ego in the real sense, the Christ Principle could draw into mankind. John the Baptist brought the Nazarene movement to such a height, that, out of his prophecy alone, it found its fulfilment. He gathered around him a community able to understand the approaching Christ Event.—Only in this light are the words spoken by John the Baptist intelligible. Such words must be taken in their deepest meaning. It is quite wrong that students of these matters to-day should regard John the Baptist merely as a raging fanatic, a man who storms at the Pharisees, calling them “a generation of vipers”, and cries out to them: “Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” (St. Matthew III, 9).—John the Baptist would have been no more than a brawler, had he not rejoiced when Pharisees and Sadducees came to him to be baptized. Nevertheless when they come, he inveighs against them. Why is this?

When the inner meaning of these things is understood it is at once obvious that the words are not just outpourings of fanatical abuse, but have profound significance. This, however, can only be understood by reflecting upon a certain feature in the history of the ancient Hebrew people.

From what has been said it will be clear to you that in Abraham there had been chosen a man whose constitution was such that at the right time the Christ could be born of his descendants. But this required the development and elaboration of faculties which had been present in Abraham as rudiments only. We must realise that if these rudiments were to be unfolded it was constantly necessary for certain elements to be eliminated. We have already seen how this happened in the case of Joseph, but there were even earlier examples, such as Esau, from whom the Edomites descended, because in him too an ancient heritage had remained. Only such qualities as were compatible with the goal described were to be preserved. This is indicated in a wonderful way.—Abraham had two sons: Isaac, the son of Sarah, and Ishmael. The Hebrew nation were the descendants of Isaac. In Abraham, however, there were other qualities as well. If these other qualities had been transmitted through the Hebrew generations, the right conditions would not have been achieved. Hence this different element must be radically thrust away into another line of descendants, into the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Hagar, the Egyptian bond-woman. Therefore two lines of descent go out from Abraham, the one through Isaac, and the other through the outcast Ishmael, who having the blood of an Egyptian in his veins, must have in his constitution elements unfitting for the mission of the Hebrew people.

But now something momentous comes to pass! The task of the Hebrew people was to propagate in the direct line of heredity the qualities that were intrinsically their own, and everything that was an ancient heritage, ancient wisdom, had to be imparted to them from without. Hence they had to go to Egypt in order to receive what could be given to them there. Moses was able to impart this to his people because he was an Egyptian initiate. But he certainly could not have done so had he possessed wisdom merely in its Egyptian form. It would be erroneous to imagine that the ancient Egyptian wisdom could be simply grafted on to what flowed down from Abraham. This would not have been compatible with the intrinsic character of the Hebrew people and would have produced an abortive form of culture. Moses brought with him to the wisdom he acquired from his Egyptian initiation something of a quite different nature. Hence he could not simply impart to the Israelites what came from the Egyptian initiation. His first real gift to them was made after the revelation on Sinai, and made outside Egypt.

What, then, is the revelation on Sinai? What was vouchsafed to Moses there, and what was it that he imparted to the Israelites? He imparted something that could well be grafted into the stem of this people because it was related to them in a very definite way. In times past the descendants of Ishmael had wandered away from their country and had settled in the regions now traversed by Moses and his people. Moses found in the Ishmaelites, among whom there was Initiation of a certain kind, those attributes and qualities which had been transmitted to them through Hagar, qualities which were derived from Abraham, but in which were preserved many elements inherited from the ancient past. Out of the revelations that he received from this branch of the Hebrew people, it became possible for Moses to make the revelation of Sinai intelligible to the Israelites. In regard to this there is an ancient Hebrew legend that in Ishmael a shoot of Abraham was cast out into Arabia, that is, into the desert. What sprang from this stock is contained in the teaching of Moses. On Sinai, the ancient Hebrew people received back again, in the Mosaic Law, what had been cast out from their blood: they received it back from without.

Here we also see how in the wonderful mission of the Hebrew people everything had to be given to them; had to be received back at a later stage as a gift. As a gift from without Abraham had, in Isaac, received the whole Hebrew nation. Again, Moses and his people received back from the descendants of Ishmael what had once been thrust out from their midst. During the period of their isolation in the wilderness they had to build up their own constitution, and also receive back as a gift from their God, what they had cast out. So, too, Jacob was in the end reconciled with Esau, thus receiving again what, in Esau, had been cast away.—The Bible must be read with scrupulous attention if the import of the words it contains is to be rightly understood.

The whole history of the Hebrew people is full of significant happenings such as these. The giving of the Law by Moses is connected with something that springs from the descendants of Hagar, whereas the Hebrew blood, which represents the specific Israelitish faculties, springs from Sarah. Hagar or Agar in Hebrew is the same as Sinai, which means the ‘stone mountain’, the great stone. One might say that Moses received the revelation of the Law from the ‘great stone’—a material representation of Hagar. The Law given to this Judaic people did not spring from the highest faculties in Abraham, but from Hagar, from Sinai. Those, therefore, who are followers merely of the Law as given on Sinai—that is, the Pharisees and the Sadducees—are exposed to the danger of their development coming to a standstill. They are those who at the Baptism of John will see, not the Lamb, but the Serpent.

Viewed in this light, what would otherwise seem to be mere abuse on the part of the Baptist becomes a righteous warning to the Pharisees and Sadducees when he cries out to them: ‘Ye who are followers of the Serpent, take heed that in the baptism ye have the true vision’;—that is to say, the vision of the Lamb, not of the Serpent! He also tells them that they must not rely upon the fact that they have Abraham as their father. For this came to their lips as a mere phrase; they were swearing by what had proceeded from the Sinai stone, but had now ceased to have significance. ‘Now’—said the Baptist—‘out of the universe there is drawing near the newborn Ego, and this Ego I make known to you. I declare to you how out of Judaism there will spring the true inheritance which has been carried down the generations, and to which men will swear allegiance, not now by the stone of Sinai, but by that which is everywhere round about us. The children of God will be made manifest, when, behind the material, the spiritual will be visible. Out of these stones God's word is able to raise up children unto Abraham. You speak without understanding when you say: “We have Abraham as our father”.

Only in the light of what has here been said is meaning imparted to these words of the Baptist. Nor are such things disclosed by the Akasha Chronicle alone; they stand in the Bible itself. Compare the words of the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians (IV, 24, 25). What I have told you here is confirmed by St. Paul. He too says that the word Hagar or Agar is identical with Sinai and indicates that what was given on Sinai is a covenant which must be outgrown by those who, through the development of the essential qualities of Abraham in the successive generations, are now to realise what has come into the world through Christ.

This again points to a saying which must in future be understood. It is pitiful indeed that in an age when intelligence has reached such heights, men have yet given so little reflection to such words as: “Repent ye!”According to the real meaning, the translation should be somewhat as follows: ‘Change the tenor of your minds!’ In many passages it is said that John baptised unto repentance, that is to say, he baptized with water in order that a change might take place in the tenor and attitude of the soul. When those who had been baptized came out of the water, it behoved them so to change the tenor of their souls that they no longer looked back to the old traditions, but forward to what the freed Ego, which Christ would give, should contain. The hearts and minds of men were to be turned from the direction leading to the ancient gods into the direction leading to the new divine-spiritual Beings. It was in this sense that the Baptism of John was to bring about a change of heart and soul. John baptized with water in order that there might be called forth in some human beings the power to recognise the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, and with that recognition to understand who Christ-Jesus is.

Herewith something more has been added to what we have already come to know of the mission of the ancient Hebrew people. All these things will lead step by step to a better understanding of Christ. We have seen how the mission of the Hebrews takes shape with most wonderful inner coherence. We have seen how there were present in Abraham, faculties which developed in the Hebrew people through successive generations. This required that many elements should be discarded and that the suitable elements should develop further in the blood, through propagation. That for which this people from Abraham onwards were specially gifted and chosen, was concentrated in one single Being, in Jesus. The Jews had to be maintained in their mission by a teaching; but that teaching had to come from without, and, in point of fact, from what they themselves had once cast out. The elements derived from Ishmael might not remain in the blood, but must be present purely in the domain of knowledge. This the Hebrew people received back again in the giving of the Law by Moses on Sinai. This Law had fulfilled its purpose at the point of time when what had come from the “stone” was no longer needed, but when men possessed what was to be bestowed upon mankind from the universe. Thus slowly and gradually preparation was made for the time when out of the stones, the sons of God—that is, the race of Man—could arise, when, behind all ‘stones’, behind all the earth, the spiritual world should be made manifest.

These are but fragmentary contributions towards an understanding of the mission of the Hebrew people. Only when we fully understand this mission can we begin to comprehend the majestic figure of Christ-Jesus as presented to us in the Gospel of St. Matthew.

Die Vorbereitung Für Das Verständnis Des Christus-Ereignisses. Die Sendung Des Althebräischen Volkes

Als einen Beitrag, der anknüpfte an das Matthäus-Evangelium, haben wir das letzte Mal etwas zu sagen gehabt in unserer Betrachtung über die Sendung des alten hebräischen Volkes, über das Hervorgehen des Christus Jesus aus diesem Volke. Denn es soll uns ja in Anknüpfung an die Evangelien unsere Betrachtung allmählich darüber Klarheit verschaffen, wie die verschiedenen Geistesströmungen zusammengeflossen sind, um dann in der großen christlichen Geistesströmung gemeinsam für die Weiterentwickelung der Erde zu sorgen. Nun konnte in einer kurzen Betrachtung nur ganz skizzenhaft gezeigt werden, welcher Teil in der Gesamtmenschheitsentwickelung zugefallen ist dem althebräischen Volke. Man kann aber das MatthäusEvangelium nicht verstehen, wenn man nicht wenigstens auf einzelne andere Glieder dieses Volkes ein wenig eingeht. Um uns ganz deutlich verstehen zu können, müssen wir uns noch einmal ganz genau vor die Seele rücken, worin die Sendung jenes Volkes eigentlich besteht. Sie haben gesehen, daß sie sich von den Missionen der andern vorchristlichen Völker unterscheidet. Diese sind noch verknüpft mit dem, was man nennen könnte die Ergebnisse des alten Hellsehens der Menschheit. Solche Ergebnisse finden wir bei allen Völkern des Altertums; man könnte dieselben nennen eine uralte Weisheit.

Wollen wir hier ganz sinngemäß charakterisieren, so können wir sagen, in der alten Atlantis haben die Menschen noch allgemein in die geistige Welt hineingesehen. Wenn auch nur die Eingeweihten die höheren Erlebnisse haben konnten, so hatte doch ein jeder wenigstens einen Begriff von der geistigen Welt, weil in gewissen Zwischenzuständen der Mensch der atlantischen Zeit noch hineinschauen konnte in ein geistiges Gebiet. Es sollte diese Fähigkeit aber ersetzt werden durch diejenige, welche heutzutage die hauptsächlichste Fähigkeit des Menschen ist: Verstandestätigkeit, Begreifen der Außenwelt mit den physischen Sinnen, kurz, Leben in der physischen Außenwelt. Langsam und allmählich wurde dies im Laufe der vorchristlichen Zeit heranentwickelt, so daß wir sagen können, beim alten indischen Volke war im Grunde genommen noch ein ausgiebiger Rest des alten Hellsehens vorhanden. Was die heiligen Rishis gelehrt hatten, war auch ein Erbstück aus alter Zeit, war uralte Weisheit. Auch noch in der zweiten Kulturepoche der nachatlantischen Zeit, in der persischen, war das, was die Schüler und Bekenner des Zarathustra wußten, gestützt auf die Erbstücke des alten Hellsehens. Ähnlich ist auch die chaldäische Astronomie von der alten Weisheit durchdrungen, ebenso das, was die alten Ägypter hatten. Eine solche Wissenschaft, welche rechnet mit den nachatlantischen Fähigkeiten des Menschen, wäre sowohl den Ägyptern wie den Chaldäern noch ganz unverständlich geblieben. Wissenschaft, welche in Begriffs- und Ideenbildern sich ausdrückt, die physischer Art sind, gab es damals noch nicht. Solch ein Nachdenken, wie wir es haben, existierte nicht.

Es ist gar nicht unnötig, sich einmal klarzumachen, welches der Unterschied ist zwischen einem wirklichen Seher unserer Zeit und etwa einem altchaldäischen oder altägyptischen Seher. Wer heute, und zwar wirklich aus den naturgemäßen Voraussetzungen unserer Zeit, zum Sehertume kommt, bei dem verhält sich die Sache so: Er bekommt das, was man nennt die Offenbarungen aus der geistigen Welt, was man nennen kann seine Eingebungen, Erfahrungen und Erlebnisse aus der geistigen Welt so, daß er aus seinem gewöhnlichen irdischen Denken heraus durchdringen muß diese Eingebungen mit dem, was er als logisches, vernünftiges Denken hier in der physischen Welt gewinnen kann. Vollständig zu verstehen sind die der heutigen Zeit angehörigen Erfahrungen des Sehers gar nicht, wenn ihnen nicht entgegengekommen wird von einer Seele, die sich erst ordentlich geschult hat an logischem und vernünftigem Denken. Diese heutigen Eingebungen und Offenbarungen bleiben unverständlich; sie verlangen, daß die Seele ihnen sich nähert mit dem logischen Denken. Wer sie heute hat, ohne daß er den Willen hat zum logischen Denken, ohne daß er den Willen hat zur entsagungsvollen, vernünftigen Ausbildung seiner irdischen Kräfte, der kann nur zu dem kommen, was man nennt visionäres Hellsehen, das durchaus nicht vollständig verstanden werden könnte, ein Hellsehen, welches unverständlich bleibt und daher auch irreführend ist. Nur eine Seele, welche den wirklich intensiven Willen hat, zu lernen in einer vernünftigen Weise, kommt in der richtigen Weise den heutigen Eingebungen des Sehertums entgegen. Deshalb muß in einer solchen geistigen Bewegung, wie es die unsere ist, der größte Wert darauf gelegt werden, daß nicht etwa in einseitiger Weise das Sehertum ausgebildet wird und die Offenbarungen der geistigen Welt in einseitiger Weise verkündigt werden, sondern es muß auch darauf hingearbeitet werden, daß die Seele den Eingebungen und Offenbarungen etwas entgegenbringt. Es muß wirklich ebenso logische Arbeit geleistet werden, wenn die Ausbildung des Sehertums gewollt wird. Beide können in unserer Zeit nicht getrennt werden.

Für den ägyptischen oder chaldäischen Seher war das ganz anders. Er bekam mit seinen Eingebungen, die einen ganz andern Weg machten, zugleich die logischen Gesetze. Daher brauchte er keine besondere Logik. Ihrn wurden, wenn er durch eine geistige Schulung durchgegangen war, die fertigen Gesetze schon in den Eingebungen gegeben. Dazu taugt der heutige Organismus nicht mehr. Darüber hat er sich hinausentwickelt, denn die Menschheit schreitet vorwärts.

Wenn man diesen Unterschied genau ins Auge faßt, dann wird es erst ganz verständlich, was es heißt, daß immer noch Reste alten Hellsehens in der vorchristlichen Zeit vorhanden waren, mit der einzigen Ausnahme des althebräischen Volkes, das zuerst ausersehen war, solch einen menschlichen Organismus zu entwickeln, welcher dazu veranlagt war, die äußere physische Welt nach Maß, Zahl und so weiter zu durchschauen und so allmählich von der physischen Welt aufzusteigen zur Erkenntnis des Geistigen, das sich zusammenschloß in dem Bilde des Jahve oder Jehova. Das war das Wesentliche, daß in Abraham ein Mensch auserwählt worden war, dessen Gehirn so gebaut war, daß er der Stammyater eines ganzen Volkes werden konnte, das von ihm aus diese Eigenschaften weiter vererbte. Nicht nur sollten die Eingebungen, die im Inneren aufsteigen, empfangen werden, sondern sie sollten wie eine Gabe angesehen werden, die von außen kommt. Es bekam alles das, was von Abraham stammt, zunächst nicht von innen, sondern alles wie eine Offenbarung zunächst von außen. Damit ist etwas außerordentlich Wichtiges gegeben für die Unterscheidung der ganzen Anlage jenes Volkes von den übrigen Völkern des Altertums; es unterscheidet sich radikal von den übrigen Völkern.

Sie können sich denken, daß nicht auf einmal die alten Fähigkeiten, die alten Erbstücke verlorengehen konnten, sondern daß auch bei diesem Volke noch alte Reste vorhanden blieben. Dies ist angedeutet bei Joseph, der noch mancherlei gemein hatte mit den andern Völkern. Dadurch konnte er das Verbindungsglied bilden zwischen dem alten hebräischen und dem ägyptischen Volke, welches noch ganz in der Geistesströmung der vorchristlichen Völker drinnensteckte. Erst nach und nach konnten sich die neuen Fähigkeiten entwickeln.

Warum wurde ein Volk gerade so vorbereitet? Warum mußte ein Volk dazu ausersehen werden, herausgetrennt zu werden aus dem gesamten übrigen vorchristlichen Geistesleben, und warum sollte es ganz besondere Fähigkeiten bekommen? Aus dem Grunde mußte dies geschehen, damit die Möglichkeit gegeben war, Menschen vorzubereiten auf den großen Zeitpunkt, der gerade damals eintrat, als der Christus Jesus auf die Erde kam. Es war das der Zeitpunkt, wo alle alte Hellsichtigkeit und Blutsverwandtschaft ihre Bedeutung eingebüßt hatte und etwas Neues eintrat für den Menschen, nämlich der völlige Gebrauch des Ich. Durch die radikale Blutsmischung ging verloren, was in alten Zeiten große Bedeutung hatte, dafür aber trat der volle Gebrauch des menschlichen Ich ein. So ward das eigentliche Menschenreich oder das Reich der Himmel zu den übrigen Reichen noch hinzugeboren.

Nun sind im allgemeinen die Menschen durchaus nicht geneigt, wenn etwas Neues geboren wird, das auch wirklich zu erkennen. Diejenigen Ereignisse, die im Geistigen vorgehen, erkennen die Menschen nicht so ohne weiteres. Sie reden zwar immer leicht von irgendwelchen künftigen Propheten, die da kommen sollten. Das war üblich in der vorchristlichen wie in der nachchristlichen Zeit. Im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert gab es eine wahre Sucht nach Prophetie. An verschiedenen Orten traten Menschen auf, verkündigten, daß der Christus in der nächsten Zeit wiederkommen werde, wiesen hin auf die Orte, wo er erscheinen werde. Auch in andern Zeiten traten vereinzelt solche Erscheinungen auf. Man sprach davon, daß dieser oder jener die Inkarnation eines neuen Christus sein werde. Selbstverständlich brauchen keine Worte verloren zu werden über solche Prophezeiungen, denn selbst wenn sie eingetroffen wären, so würden sie deutlich die Mängel an sich getragen haben. Solche Prophezeiungen haben nämlich einen ständigen Mangel: sie reden prophetisch von dem, was da erscheinen soll, aber sie versäumen, die Menschen so vorzubereiten, daß diese erkennen, was da kommen wird, und die Gemüter in solch eine Verfassung zu bringen, daß sie das Erscheinende wirklich verstehen könnten.

Den Menschen, denen solches verkündet wurde, mußte es ergangen sein wie jenem Gymnasiallehrer, von dem Hebbel in seinen Tagebuchnotizen berichtet: der Lehrer prügelt nämlich einen Schüler, weil er den Plato nicht verstehen konnte. Hebbel fügt witzig hinzu, daß dieser Schüler der reinkarnierte Plato sei. So ergeht es tatsächlich den Menschen, die immer reden von einem wiedererscheinenden Christus. Es würde ihnen so ergehen, daß sie wenig vorbereitet wären auf den Inhalt, selbst wenn er erschiene. Solche Menschen würden den Christus für etwas ganz anderes halten als für den Christus.

Es sollte nun aber vorgesorgt werden. Und das muß man zum Verständnis des Matthäus-Evangeliums wissen, damit wenigstens einige Menschen da seien, welche das Christus-Ereignis verstehen können, das ja, wenn wir es von dieser Seite charakterisieren wollen, darin besteht, zu wissen, daß der Christus derjenige war, der den Menschen die Möglichkeit brachte, nunmehr nicht bloß physische Eindrücke zu empfangen, sondern von außen zu empfangen den Geist. Dazu sollten einzelne Menschen vorbereitet werden. So wurden denn in der Tat im ganzen hebräischen Altertum in einer gewissen Beziehung einzelne Menschen darauf vorbereitet, ein Verständnis zu gewinnen für das Christus-Ereignis. Diese Menschen - es waren ihrer nur wenige im alten hebräischen Volke - muß man sich einmal näher betrachten, wenn man verstehen will, wie die Vorbereitungen auf den kommenden Christus gepflogen wurden, wie das Volk mit seinen von Abraham herunter vererbten Eigenschaften fähig gemacht wurde, prophetisch zu verstehen das durch den Heiland gebrachte Menschen-Ich. Diejenigen Menschen, welche vorbereitet wurden, hellseherisch wissen und erkennen zu können, was der Christus eigentlich bedeutet, nennt man Nasiräer. Diese konnten hellseherisch einsehen, was sich im alten hebräischen Volke vorbereitete, damit aus diesem Volke heraus der Christus geboren und verstanden werden konnte. Diese Nasiräer waren in bezug auf ihre Lebensweise, die in Hinsicht auf ihre innere Gestaltung durch ihre hellseherische Entwickelung gegeben war, an strenge Regeln gebunden, an Regeln, welche, weil sie einer ganz andern Zeit angehörten, ziemlich stark sich unterscheiden etwa von den Regeln, durch die man heute zur Entwickelung geistiger Erkenntnisse kommt, die mit jenen doch noch eine gewisse Ähnlichkeit haben. Manches ist beim Nasiräat wichtig, was heute nur Nebenbedingung ist, manches ist nebensächlich, was heute Hauptsache wäre. Daher soll niemand glauben, daß das, was früher dazu führte, hellsichtig ein Christus-Kenner zu werden, im Sinne eines heutigen Menschen zu demselben wichtigen und ausgiebigen Erkennen führen würde.

Das erste, was vom Nasiräer verlangt ward, war die völlige Enthaltung von allen alkoholischen Getränken. Es war ferner strengstens verpönt, etwas zu genießen, was mit Essig zubereitet war. Für die, welche die Vorschriften sehr strenge hielten, war es ferner nötig, zu meiden alles das, was von der Weinbeere kam, weil man sich sagen konnte, in der Weinbeere sei das pflanzenbildende Prinzip über einen gewissen Punkt hinausgeschritten, über den Punkt nämlich, der dadurch gegeben ist, daß die Sonnenkräfte bloß auf die Pflanze wirken. In der Weinrebe aber wirken nicht bloß die Sonnenkräfte, sondern schon etwas, das sich innerlich entwickelt, was reift schon bei jener jährlich schwächer werdenden Sonnenkraft, die im Herbste waltet. Daher gab, was mit der Weinrebe zusammenhing, nur einen Trank für diejenigen, die nicht hellseherisch im höheren Sinne werden wollten, die bloß den Gott Dionysos verehrten und gleichsam aus der Erde aufsteigen ließen ihre Fähigkeiten.

Ferner war der Nasiräer gebunden, solange seine Vorbereitung im Nasiräat dauerte, nicht in Berührung zu kommen mit alldem, was sterben kann und im Besitz eines astralischen Leibes ist; kurz, alles was tierisch ist, das sollte der Nasiräer vermeiden, mit sich in Berühtung zu bringen. Er mußte Vegetarier sein im strengsten Sinne des Wortes; daher haben in gewissen Gegenden die strengsten Nasiräer zu ihrer einzigen Nahrung das Johannisbrot gewählt. Dieses Johannisbrot war ein besonders häufiger Nahrungsartikel für diejenigen, welche das Nasiräat anstrebten. Dann ernährten sie sich aber auch von dem Honig wilder Bienen, nicht der Zuchtbienen, und sonstiger honigsuchender Insekten. Eine solche Lebensweise wählte später auch der Täufer Johannes zu seiner eigenen, indem er sich nährte von Johannisbrot und wildem Honig. In den Evangelien steht, er hätte Heuschrecken und wilden Honig gegessen; dies ist aber als ein Übersetzungsfehler anzusehen, denn in der Wüste hätte er schwerlich Heuschrecken fangen können. Auf ähnliche Fehler habe ich Sie früher schon aufmerksam gemacht.

Bei den Nasiräern war es eine Hauptsache, zur Vorbereitung auf ihr Hellsehertum die Haare nicht schneiden zu lassen, solange sie in dieser Vorbereitung waren. Das hängt intim zusammen mit der ganzen Entwickelung der Menschheit. Man muß eben den Zusammenhang des Haarwuchses mit der gesamten Menschheitsentwickelung ins Auge fassen können. Alles, was am Menschen an Wesenheit vorhanden ist, kann nur verstanden werden, wenn man es aus dem Geiste heraus zu begreifen sucht. So sonderbar es für den Menschen klingt: in unseren Haaren haben wir einen Rest gewisser Strahlungen zu sehen, durch die vorher Sonnenkraft in den Menschen hineingetragen wurde. Früher war dies etwas Lebendiges, was die Sonnenkraft in den Menschen hineintrug. Daher finden Sie dies da, wo man ein Bewußtsein an tiefere Dinge noch hatte, in gewisser Beziehung noch ausgedrückt: bei alten Löwenplastiken sieht man oft deutlich, daß der Bildhauer nicht einfach einen heutigen Löwen mit seiner mehr oder weniger pudelähnlichen Mähne kopieren wollte. Derjenige, welcher noch die gute Tradition aus alten Erkenntnissen hatte, stellte den Löwen so dar, daß man den Eindruck hatte, hier seien die Haare gleichsam wie von außen in den Körper hineingesteckt, ähnlich wie Sonnenstrahlen, die hineindringen und in den Haaren gleichsam verhärtet wären. So konnte sich also der Mensch sagen, daß es vielleicht in alten Zeiten durchaus noch möglich war, durch das Stehenlassen der Haare Kräfte in sich aufzunehmen, besonders wenn die Haare frisch und gesund sind. Aber schon im hebräischen Altertum, bei den Nasiräern, hat man darin kaum noch mehr als ein Symbolum gesehen.

Daß man das, was geistig hinter der Sonne liegt, in sich einströmen ließ, darin bestand wirklich in einer gewissen Beziehung der Fortschritt der Menschheit. In dem Fortschritt von den alten im Menschen aufsteigenden hellseherischen Gaben zu dem Kombinieren und Denken über die Außenwelt war bedingt, daß er immer weniger als ein behaartes Wesen auftrat. Die Menschen der atlantischen und der ersten nachatlantischen Zeit hat man sich vorzustellen mit reichem Haarwuchs, ein Zeichen dafür, daß sie von dem Geisteslicht noch stark überstrahlt worden sind. Die Wahl wurde getroffen, wie die Bibel erzählt, zwischen dem unbehaarten Jakob und dem behaarten Esau. In dem letztern sehen wir einen Menschen, der abstammte von Abraham und letzte Reste einer alten Menschheitsentwickelung in sich hatte, die zum Ausdruck kamen in seinem Haarwuchs. Derjenige Mensch, der solche Eigenschaften hatte, daß er sich in die Welt hinausentwickelte, war in Jakob dargestellt. Er besaß die Gaben der Klugheit mit all ihren Schattenseiten; Esau wird von ihm beiseite geschoben. So wird in Esau wiederum ein Sproß von der Hauptlinie abgeschoben. Von Esau stammen die Edomiter ab, in welchen sich noch alte menschliche Erbschaften fortpflanzten.

In der Bibel sind tatsächlich alle diese Dinge sehr schön ausgedrückt. Es sollte nun wieder ein Bewußtsein im Menschen entstehen von dem, was Geistesleben ist, und auf eine neue Art sollte es entstehen im Nasiräer, dadurch daß er die langen Haare trug während seiner Vorbereitungszeit. Im Altertum ist das Verhältnis der Haare zum Licht des Geistes sogar dadurch ausgedrückt, daß Licht und Haar mit Ausnahme eines geringfügigen Zeichens durch dasselbe Wort dargestellt werden. Überhaupt weist die althebräische Sprache auf die tiefsten Geheimnisse der Menschheit hin. Sie muß als so etwas wie eine gewaltige Sprachoffenbarung der Weisheit betrachtet werden. Das war der Sinn der Tatsache, daß die Nasiräer sich lange Haare wachsen ließen. Heute braucht dies allerdings nicht mehr als Hauptsache betrachtet zu werden.

Während der Vorbereitungszeit sollte der Nasiräer zu einer ganz bestimmten hellseherischen Erfahrung gebracht werden, welche eine Vorstellung davon verschaffen sollte, wie nahe die Menschheit schon dem Zeitpunkt des Herannahens des Christus sei. Derjenige, welcher zur Zeit des Christus der letzte große Nasiräer war, wird genannt Johannes der Täufer. Er hatte den Abschluß des Nasiräats nicht nur an sich erlebt, sondern ihn auch alle diejenigen erleben lassen, die er zu Menschen machen wollte. Dieser Abschluß ist aber nichts anderes als die Johannestaufe. Wir müssen sie nur so recht in ihrem Entwickelungswerte verstehen lernen. Was ist nun diese Taufe und wozu führte sie? Sie bestand zunächst darin, daß der Mensch unter Wasser getaucht wurde, wodurch sich sein Ätherleib am Kopfe etwas vom physischen Leibe lockerte, während sonst der Mensch den Ätherleib fest mit dem physischen Leib verbunden hat. Sie wissen ja, daß der Mensch beim Ertrinken infolge Lockerung seines Ätherleibes auf einmal sein ganzes Lebenstableau vor sich sieht. So sah der Mensch bei der Johannestaufe auch sein Lebenstableau; er sah die Eigentümlichkeiten seines ganzen Lebens, was sonst vergessen geblieben wäre. Er sah aber auch, was eigentlich der Mensch in dem betreffenden Zeitalter war. Der physische Leib wird herausentwickelt aus dem Ätherleibe als seinem Bildner. Dieses Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit jedoch, das den physischen Körper bildet, konnte nur beobachtet werden, wenn man es herauslockerte aus dem physischen Leibe. Dies geschah bei der Johannestaufe.

Wenn ein Mensch diese Taufe dreitausend Jahre vor unserer Zeitrechnung erlebt hätte, so würde er sich bewußt geworden sein, daß das beste Geistige, das dem Menschen gegeben werden kann, kommen muß als ein altes Erbstück, denn es war ja eigentlich noch Erbstück, was aus den geistigen Welten in alten Zeiten gegeben wurde. Dieses war als Bild im Ätherleib und formte an dem physischen Leib. Gerade auch bei denjenigen, die über das normale Menschentum hinaus entwickelt waren, würde es sich bei dieser Taufe gezeigt haben, daß all ihr Wissen auf alter Eingebung beruht hätte. Solches bezeichnete man als das Erblicken der ätherischen Seelennatur in Form der Schlange. Man nannte die, welche das erlebt hatten, die Kinder der Schlange, weil sie durchschaut hatten, wie sich die luziferischen Wesenheiten in die Menschen hinuntergesenkt haben. Was den physischen Leib formte, war ein Geschöpf der Schlange.

Jetzt aber, bei einer Johannestaufe nicht dreitausend Jahre vor Johannes dem Täufer, sondern zu seiner Zeit, stellte sich etwas ganz anderes heraus: daß nämlich unter denen, die getauft wurden, schon solche waren, die in ihrer Natur zeigten, daß die Entwickelung der Menschheit fortgeschritten ist, daß das Ich, welches von der Außenwelt befruchtet ist, jene große Gewalt hatte. Da zeigte sich auch ein ganz anderes Bild, als es sich früher bei der Johannestaufe gezeigt hatte: der Mensch sah die schöpferischen Kräfte des Ätherleibes nicht mehr in dem Bilde der Schlange, sondern in dem Bilde des Lammes. Dieser Ätherleib war nicht mehr durchdrungen von innen her mit dem, was von den luziferischen Kräften kam, sondern er war ganz hingegeben der geistigen Welt, die durch die Erscheinungen der Außenwelt hineinscheint in die Seele des Menschen. Dieses Erblicken des Lammes war das Erlebnis bei der Johannestaufe, das diejenigen hatten, welche wirklich verstehen konnten, was die Johannestaufe damals bedeutete. Diese waren es aber auch, die sich sagen konnten, der Mensch sei ein ganz anderer, ein neues Wesen geworden. Die wenigen, die das erlebten bei der Johannestaufe, konnten sagen: Ein großes, gewaltiges Ereignis ist eingetreten, der Mensch ist ein anderer geworden; das Ich hat jetzt die Herrschaft gewonnen auf Erden! — Es waren die Leute, die Johannes taufte, dazu vorbereitet worden, die Zeichen der Zeit zu verstehen, zu verstehen, daß ein solch großes Ereignis gekommen ist.

Dies war immer die Aufgabe der Nasiräer. Sie wurden durch die Taufe dahin gebracht, daß sie immer wußten, wie nahe das Kommen des Christus ist. Dies erkannten sie an der Beschaffenheit des Ätherleibes bei der Lockerung während der Taufe. Johannes der Täufer sollte zeigen, daß nun die Zeit gekommen war, wo das Ich sich einleben konnte in die Menschennatur. Dadurch war er der Erfüller der alten Zeit. Er durfte eine Gemeinde um sich sammeln, welcher er zeigen konnte, daß das Christus-Prinzip durch die Wendung zum Ich nun einziehen konnte in die Menschheit. Johannes der Täufer hat das Nasiräat im höchsten Sinne ausgebildet, so daß es von einer Prophetie zur Erfüllung wurde. Er bildete eine Gemeinde um sich, die das nahende Christus-Ereignis verstehen konnte. So nur sind jene Worte zu verstehen, die der Täufer spricht. Gerade solche Worte sind unendlich tief zu nehmen, und es geziemt sich wahrhaftig nicht mehr von einem Menschen, der heute sich mit solchen Dingen beschäftigen will, in Johannes dem Täufer nichts anderes zu sehen als einen zeternden, fanatischen Menschen, der nur über die Pharisäer schimpft, sie ein Otterngezücht nennt und ihnen zuruft: «Bildet euch nichts darauf ein, daß ihr Abraham zu eurem Vater habt, Gott kann dem Abraham aus diesen Steinen Kinder erwecken.» Johannes der Täufer wäre wahrlich ein sonderbarer Keifer gewesen, wenn er sich nicht auch darüber gefreut hätte, daß auch Pharisäer und Sadduzäer zu ihm kamen, um sich taufen zu lassen. Indessen, beschimpft er sie sofort bei ihrer Ankunft? Wozu das?

Wenn man die Dinge aus ihrem Inneren heraus versteht, so zeigt sich sehr bald, daß nicht bloß fanatische Schimpferei dahinter liegt, sondern daß in der Tat eine hohe Bedeutung und ein tiefer Sinn dahinter liegt. Diesen Sinn aber kann man nur verstehen, wenn man auf einen besondern Zug des althebräischen Volkes eingeht. Schon aus dem Gesagten können Sie entnehmen, daß in Abraham ein solcher Mensch ausgewählt worden ist, der so organisiert war, daß im rechten Zeitmomente aus seinen Nachkommen der Jesus herausgeboren werden konnte. Dazu aber mußte das, was erst Anlage bei Abraham war, entwickelt werden. Wir müssen uns darüber klar sein, daß zur Entfaltung dieser Anlage nötig war, daß immer einiges ausgestoßen wurde. Wir haben schon gesehen, wie Joseph abgestoßen worden ist. Aber auch schon früher war manches abgestoßen worden, zum Beispiel Esau, der Stammvater der Edomiter, weil in ihm auch ein altes Erbstück übriggeblieben war. Nur das sollte nämlich erhalten bleiben, was in der gekennzeichneten Richtung veranlagt war. Dies ist in wunderbarer Weise darin ausgedrückt, daß Abraham zwei Söhne hatte, Isaak, den Sohn der Sarah auf der einen Seite, und Ismael. Von Isaak stammt das althebräische Volk ab. In Abraham waren aber noch andere Eigenschaften. Würden diese sich durch die Generationen hinunter vererben, so käme nicht das Richtige zustande. Daher mußte jenes andere radikal hinausgestoßen werden in eine andere Nachkommenschaft, in die Ismaels, den Sohn der ägyptischen Magd Hagar. Zwei Abstammungslinien gehen also von Abraham aus, die eine über Isaak und die andere über den verstoßenen Ismael, der das Blut einer Ägypterin in sich hat und die für die Mission des hebräischen Volkes nicht tauglichen Eigenschaften auf sich nehmen mußte.

Nun aber geschieht etwas ganz Besonderes. Das hebräische Volk sollte in der Vererbungslinie das Richtige fortpflanzen, und das, was altes Erbgut, alte Weisheit ist, muß ihm von außen übermittelt werden. Die alten Hebräer mußten nach Ägypten gehen, um das aufzunehmen, was sie dort aufnehmen konnten. Moses konnte dies dem Volke geben, weil er ein ägyptischer Eingeweihter war. Er hätte es freilich nicht geben können, wenn er es nur in der ägyptischen Form gehabt hätte. Es wäre falsch, sich vorzustellen, daß einfach die altägyptische Weisheit hineingepfropft worden sei in das, was von Abraham herunterströmte. Das würde sich nicht vertragen haben mit der Kultur des hebräischen Volkes, dies würde eine Kulturmißgeburt gegeben haben. Moses brachte noch etwas ganz anderes zu seiner ägyptischen Einweihung hinzu. Daher konnte er auch das, was er aus der ägyptischen Einweihung heraus bekam, nicht so einfach den Israeliten geben. Er gab ihnen erst etwas, als er die Offenbarung am Sinai erhalten hatte, also erst außerhalb Ägyptens.

Was ist denn die Offenbarung vom Sinai? Was bekam Moses da, und was gab er dem Volke? Er gab ihm etwas, das wohl auf den Stamm dieses Volkes gepfropft werden konnte, weil es mit ihm in einer ganz bestimmten Weise verwandt war. Es waren einst die Nachkommen des Ismael ausgewandert und hatten sich angesiedelt in den Gegenden, welche nun von Moses mit seinem Volke durchzogen wurden. Jene Eigenschaften, die über Hagar zu den Ismaeliten gingen, welche zwar noch verwandt waren mit Abraham, aber dazu viele alte Erbstücke sich mit bewahrt hatten, die fand Moses dort bei den Ismaeliten, welche eine Art von Eingeweihten hatten. Aus den Offenbarungen dieses Zweiges entnahm er die Möglichkeit, den Israeliten die Offenbarung vom Sinai verständlich zu machen. Daher lautet eine alte Legende des hebräischen Volkes: Es ward hinausgestoßen ein Sproß des Abraham in Ismael nach Araba. Das heißt in die Wüste, Was innerhalb dieses Stammes erwuchs, war ebenfalls enthalten in dem Lehrgut des Moses. Das althebräische Volk bekam auf dem Sinai das als Lehre wieder zurück durch Moses, was es ausgestoßen hatte aus seinem Blute; von außen bekam es dieses wieder zurück.

Darin sieht man wieder die wunderbare Sendung des hebräischen Volksstammes, daß ihm alles so gegeben werden sollte, daß er es nachher als ein Geschenk wieder zurückzuerhalten hat. Als ein Geschenk von außen empfing Abraham in Isaak das gesamte hebräische Volk; wiederum bekommt Moses und sein Volk von den Nachkommen des Ismael das, was es ausgestoßen hatte, wieder zurück. Es sollte in Absonderung nur diese seine ihm eigene Organisation ausbilden und als Geschenk seines Gottes zurückempfangen, was es ausgestoßen hatte. So versöhnte sich später auch Jakob mit Esau wieder, wodurch das hebräische Volk wiederum das zurück erhielt, was es einst in Esau ausgeschieden hatte.

Man muß eben die Bibel sehr sorgfältig lesen, um die Tragweite der Worte darin richtig würdigen zu können. Solche Dinge ziehen sich als charakteristischer Zug durch die ganze Geschichte des hebräischen Volkes hin. Von den Nachkommen der Hagar stammt etwas ab, das mit der Gesetzgebung des Moses zusammenhängt, während abstammt das Blut, das die eigentlich israelitischen Fähigkeiten des Moses repräsentiert, von der Sarah. Agar oder Hagar heißt im Hebräischen auch Sinai, was bedeutet der Steinberg, der große Stein. Man könnte auch sagen, von dem großen Stein, der eine äußere Ausprägung war von Hagar, bekam Moses seine Gesetzesoffenbarung. Das, was dieses jüdische Volk als Gesetzgebung hatte, stammte nicht aus den besten Eigenschaften des Abraham, das stammte ab von Hagar, vom Sinai. So daß diejenigen, welche die Anhänger der bloßen Gesetzgebung sind, wie sie vom Sinai herstammte, die Pharisäer und Sadduzäer, der Gefahr ausgesetzt sind, in ihrer Entwickelung stehenzubleiben. Sie sind diejenigen, welche bei der Johannestaufe nicht das Lamm sehen wollen, sondern die Schlange.

So verwandelt sich das, was sonst bloß Gekeife des Täufers wäre, in eine schöne Ermahnung der Pharisäer und Sadduzäer, wenn er ihnen zuruft: Ihr, die ihr Anhänger der Schlange seid, gebt acht, daß ihr wirklich in der Taufe das Richtige schaut. - Nämlich nicht die Schlange, sondern das Lamm. Er sagte ihnen ferner, sie brauchten sich nichts darauf einzubilden, daß sie Abraham zum Vater hätten, denn dies sei bei ihnen ein bloßes Wort; sie schwörten auf das, was vom Stein Sinai käme, aber das hätte aufgehört, eine Bedeutung zu haben. Nun aber wird aus der Welt etwas herantreten als neugeborenes Ich, und dieses Ich zeige ich euch, sagte der Täufer: Ich zeige euch, wie das aus dem Judentum herauswachsen wird, was wirklich durch die Generationen heruntergetragen worden ist und was nicht mehr auf den einzigen Stein Sinai schwören wird, sondern auf das, was überall um uns herum ist. Gottes Kinder können dadurch erscheinen, daß hinter dem Sinnlichen das Geistige erschaut wird. Aus diesen Steinen kann Gottes Wort dem Abraham Kinder erwecken! Ihr versteht jenen Ausspruch gar nicht: «Wir haben Abraham zum Vater.»

Erst aus dem hier Gesagten heraus gewinnt jenes Wort seine volle Bedeutung. So etwas braucht nicht nur aus der Akasha-Chronik herausgeholt zu werden, sondern es steht schon in der Bibel. Vergleichen Sie, was im Galaterbrief der Apostel Paulus darüber sagt. Hier ist dasjenige, was eben ausgesprochen worden ist, auch vom Apostel Paulus bestätigt. Auch er sagt, daß Hagar oder Agar dasselbe Wort sei wie Sinai, und daß das, was dort am Sinai gegeben worden ist, ein Testament ist, über das diejenigen hinauswachsen sollen, die durch Heranbildung der eigentlichen Anlagen des Abraham durch die Generationen hindurch verstehen sollen, was durch Christus in die Welt gekommen ist.

Damit ist zu gleicher Zeit wiederum auf ein Wort hingewiesen, das man künftig verstehen muß. Es ist so schade, daß man in einer Zeit, wo scheinbar die Intelligenz so hoch gewachsen ist, über so wenig noch nachgedacht hat, so zum Beispiel über das Wort: «Tut Buße!» Seiner Bedeutung nach würde es etwa zu übersetzen sein: Bewirkt in euch die Änderung des Sinnes. An den verschiedensten Stellen wird gesagt, daß Johannes taufte zur Buße, das heißt zur Änderung des Sinnes, mit Wasser. Als die Täuflinge aus dem Wasser herausstiegen, sollten sie den Sinn ändern, nicht mehr zurückschauen auf die alten Traditionen, sondern vorausblicken auf das, was das frei gewordene Ich, das gegeben ward in Christo Jesu, besaß. Der Sinn sollte aus der Richtung der alten Götter nach der Richtung der neuen geistigen Wesenheiten oder Götter gelenkt werden. In dieser Weise war Sinnesänderung das Ziel der Johannestaufe. Johannes taufte deshalb mit Wasser, um in einigen Menschen die Kraft hervorzurufen, daß sie erkannten, daß das Reich der Himmel nahe herbeigekommen sei, und damit sie verstehen konnten, wer der Christus Jesus sei.

Hiemit ist noch einiges hinzugefügt zu dem, was wir kennengelernt haben als die Sendung des althebräischen Volkes. Das alles wird dazu führen, nach und nach auch den Christus besser zu verstehen. Gar wunderbar gliedert sich diese Sendung zusammen. Wir haben gesehen, wie in Abraham das veranlagt war, was sich in dem Volke durch Generationen hindurch weiter entwickelte. Dazu mußte manches abgestoßen werden, und die geeigneten Fähigkeiten mußten im Blute, in der Vererbung weiterentwickelt werden. Man konnte solche Fähigkeiten nur von außen hereinbekommen. Das aber, wozu dieses Volk von Abraham her veranlagt und ausersehen war, wurde konzentriert in einem Wesen, in Jesus.

Die Juden brauchten das, woran sie sich halten konnten, als eine Lehre; immer mußte es ihnen von außen kommen, und zwar kam es aus dem, was von ihnen selber abgestoßen worden ist. Im Blute durfte das nicht bleiben, was auf Ismael überging, bloß in den Erkenntnissen durfte es sein. Daher empfing es das hebräische Volk in der Gesetzgebung des Moses am Sinai wieder. Diese hatte ihren Sinn erfüllt, als die Zeit gekommen war, in der man nicht mehr brauchte, was von dem Stein gekommen war, sondern wo man das hatte, was aus der ganzen Welt der Menschheit zukommen sollte. So wurde langsam vorbereitet die Zeit, in der aus den Steinen die Söhne Gottes, das heißt die Menschen entstehen konnten, wo hinter allen Steinen, ja hinter der ganzen Erde die geistige Welt sich eröffnete.

Alles dies sind nur Teilstücke zum Verständnis der Mission des hebräischen Volkes. Nur wenn man diese Mission ganz versteht, kann man auch verstehen die große Gestalt des Christus Jesus, wie sie im Matthäus-Evangelium vor uns steht.

Preparing to Understand the Christ Event. The Mission of the Ancient Hebrew People

As a contribution following on from the Gospel of Matthew, we had something to say last time in our consideration of the mission of the ancient Hebrew people and the emergence of Christ Jesus from this people. For, in connection with the Gospels, our consideration should gradually clarify how the various spiritual currents flowed together to then work together in the great Christian spiritual current for the further development of the earth. Now, in a brief consideration, we could only show in a very sketchy way what part of the overall development of humanity fell to the ancient Hebrew people. But one cannot understand the Gospel of Matthew unless one goes into at least a few of the other members of this people. In order to understand this clearly, we must once again bring to the forefront of our minds what the mission of this people actually consists of. You have seen that it differs from the missions of other pre-Christian peoples. These are still connected with what might be called the results of the ancient clairvoyance of humanity. We find such results in all the peoples of antiquity; one might call them an ancient wisdom.

If we want to characterize this in a meaningful way, we can say that in ancient Atlantis, people still generally had insight into the spiritual world. Even if only the initiated could have higher experiences, everyone at least had some concept of the spiritual world, because in certain intermediate states, people of the Atlantean era could still look into a spiritual realm. However, this ability was to be replaced by what is now the main ability of human beings: intellectual activity, understanding the external world with the physical senses, in short, life in the physical external world. This developed slowly and gradually during the pre-Christian era, so that we can say that the ancient Indian people still had a substantial remnant of the old clairvoyance. What the holy rishis taught was also a legacy from ancient times, ancient wisdom. Even in the second cultural epoch of the post-Atlantean period, the Persian epoch, what the disciples and followers of Zarathustra knew was based on the heritage of ancient clairvoyance. Similarly, Chaldean astronomy is imbued with ancient wisdom, as is what the ancient Egyptians had. Such a science, which calculates with the post-Atlantean abilities of human beings, would have remained completely incomprehensible to both the Egyptians and the Chaldeans. Science, which expresses itself in concepts and ideas that are of a physical nature, did not yet exist at that time. Such thinking as we have did not exist.

It is not at all unnecessary to clarify the difference between a real seer of our time and, say, an ancient Chaldean or Egyptian seer. Anyone who today, truly from the natural conditions of our time, becomes a seer, experiences the following: He receives what are called revelations from the spiritual world, what can be called his inspirations, experiences, and adventures from the spiritual world, in such a way that he must penetrate these inspirations from his ordinary earthly thinking with what he can gain here in the physical world through logical, rational thinking. The experiences of the seer of today cannot be fully understood unless they are met by a soul that has first been properly trained in logical and reasonable thinking. These present-day inspirations and revelations remain incomprehensible; they require the soul to approach them with logical thinking. Those who have them today without the will to think logically, without the will to train their earthly powers in a self-denying and reasonable manner, can only arrive at what is called visionary clairvoyance, which cannot be fully understood, a clairvoyance that remains incomprehensible and therefore also misleading. Only a soul that has a truly intense will to learn in a reasonable way can respond in the right way to the present-day inspirations of clairvoyance. Therefore, in a spiritual movement such as ours, the greatest importance must be attached to ensuring that clairvoyance is not developed in a one-sided manner and that the revelations of the spiritual world are not proclaimed in a one-sided manner, but that the soul also responds to the inspirations and revelations. If the training of clairvoyance is desired, then logical work must also be done. In our time, the two cannot be separated.

For the Egyptian or Chaldean seer, it was quite different. With his inspirations, which took a completely different path, he also received the logical laws. Therefore, he did not need any special logic. Once he had undergone spiritual training, the finished laws were already given to him in his inspirations. Today's organism is no longer capable of this. It has evolved beyond this, for humanity is progressing.

If one considers this difference closely, it becomes quite understandable what it means that remnants of ancient clairvoyance still existed in pre-Christian times, with the sole exception of the ancient Hebrew people, who were the first to be chosen to develop a human organism that was predisposed to see through the outer physical world according to measure, number, and so on, and thus gradually ascend from the physical world to the knowledge of the spiritual, which was united in the image of Yahweh or Jehovah. The essential thing was that in Abraham a man had been chosen whose brain was so constructed that he could become the progenitor of an entire people who inherited these qualities from him. Not only were the inspirations that arose within to be received, but they were to be regarded as a gift coming from outside. Everything that came from Abraham did not initially come from within, but rather as a revelation from outside. This is extremely important for distinguishing the entire disposition of this people from the other peoples of antiquity; it differs radically from the other peoples.

You can imagine that the ancient abilities, the ancient heirlooms, could not be lost all at once, but that old remnants remained even among this people. This is hinted at in Joseph, who still had many things in common with the other peoples. This enabled him to form a link between the ancient Hebrew and Egyptian peoples, who were still completely immersed in the spiritual currents of the pre-Christian peoples. Only gradually could the new abilities develop.

Why was one people prepared in this way? Why did one people have to be chosen to be separated from the entire pre-Christian spiritual life, and why should it be given very special abilities? This had to happen so that it would be possible to prepare people for the great moment that was just coming when Christ Jesus came to Earth. It was the moment when all the old clairvoyance and blood ties lost their meaning and something new entered into human life, namely the complete use of the I. Through the radical mixing of blood, what had been of great importance in ancient times was lost, but in its place came the full use of the human I. Thus the actual kingdom of man, or the kingdom of heaven, was added to the other kingdoms.

Now, in general, people are not at all inclined to truly recognize something new when it is born. People do not readily recognize events that take place in the spiritual realm. They always talk lightly about some future prophets who are supposed to come. This was common in both the pre-Christian and post-Christian eras. In the 12th and 13th centuries, there was a veritable craze for prophecy. People appeared in various places, proclaiming that Christ would return in the near future and pointing to the places where he would appear. Such phenomena also occurred sporadically in other times. People spoke of this or that person being the incarnation of a new Christ. Of course, no words need be wasted on such prophecies, for even if they had come true, they would have clearly revealed their own shortcomings. Such prophecies have a constant flaw: they speak prophetically of what is to come, but they fail to prepare people so that they recognize what is coming and to bring their minds into such a state that they can truly understand what is appearing.

The people to whom such things were proclaimed must have fared like the high school teacher Hebbel reports in his diary notes: the teacher beats a student because he could not understand Plato. Hebbel wittily adds that this student was Plato reincarnated. This is indeed what happens to people who always talk about a reappearing Christ. They would be so unprepared for the content, even if it appeared. Such people would consider Christ to be something completely different from Christ.

But precautions should now be taken. And this must be understood in order to understand the Gospel of Matthew, so that at least some people may be there who can understand the Christ event, which, if we want to characterize it from this point of view, consists in knowing that Christ was the one who brought to human beings the possibility of no longer receiving merely physical impressions, but of receiving the spirit from outside. Individual people had to be prepared for this. And so, throughout Hebrew antiquity, certain individuals were prepared in a certain way to gain an understanding of the Christ event. These individuals—there were only a few of them among the ancient Hebrew people—must be examined more closely if we want to understand how the preparations for the coming Christ were made, how the people, with their characteristics inherited from Abraham, were enabled to understand prophetically the human ego brought by the Savior. Those people who were prepared to know and recognize clairvoyantly what Christ actually means are called Nazarenes. They were able to see clairvoyantly what was being prepared in the ancient Hebrew people so that Christ could be born and understood from among this people. These Nazirites were bound by strict rules regarding their way of life, which was determined by their inner constitution as a result of their clairvoyant development. Because these rules belonged to a completely different time, they differ considerably from the rules by which spiritual knowledge is attained today, although they still bear a certain resemblance to them. Many things that are important in Nazirite life are only secondary conditions today, and many things that are secondary today would be primary. Therefore, no one should believe that what led to clairvoyant knowledge of Christ in the past would lead to the same important and extensive knowledge for people today.

The first thing required of the Nazirites was complete abstinence from all alcoholic beverages. It was also strictly frowned upon to enjoy anything prepared with vinegar. For those who kept the rules very strictly, it was also necessary to avoid anything that came from the grape, because it could be said that in the grape, the plant-forming principle had gone beyond a certain point, namely the point given by the fact that the forces of the sun act only on the plant. However, it is not only the forces of the sun that act on the grapevine, but also something that develops internally, something that ripens under the annually weakening force of the sun that prevails in autumn. Therefore, what was connected with the grapevine was only a drink for those who did not want to become clairvoyant in the higher sense, who merely worshipped the god Dionysus and, as it were, let their abilities rise from the earth.

Furthermore, as long as his preparation in the Nazirite vow lasted, the Nazirite was bound not to come into contact with anything that could die and was in possession of an astral body; in short, the Nazirite was to avoid coming into contact with anything animal. He had to be a vegetarian in the strictest sense of the word; therefore, in certain regions, the strictest Nazirites chose carob as their sole food. This carob was a particularly common food for those who aspired to Naziritehood. But they also fed on the honey of wild bees, not domesticated bees, and other honey-seeking insects. John the Baptist later chose this way of life for himself, feeding on carob and wild honey. The Gospels say that he ate locusts and wild honey, but this should be regarded as a translation error, for he could hardly have caught locusts in the desert. I have already drawn your attention to similar errors.

For the Nazirites, it was essential that they did not cut their hair while preparing for their clairvoyance. This is closely related to the entire development of humanity. One must be able to see the connection between hair growth and the entire development of humanity. Everything that exists in the human being can only be understood if one tries to comprehend it from the spirit. As strange as it may sound to humans, in our hair we have a remnant of certain rays through which the sun's energy was previously carried into the human being. In the past, this was something living that carried the sun's energy into humans. That is why you still find this expressed in a certain way where people still had an awareness of deeper things: in old lion sculptures, you can often clearly see that the sculptor did not simply want to copy a modern lion with its more or less poodle-like mane. Those who still had the good tradition from ancient knowledge depicted the lion in such a way that one had the impression that the hair was inserted into the body from the outside, similar to sunbeams penetrating and hardening in the hair. This allowed people to believe that in ancient times it was still possible to absorb forces by leaving the hair untouched, especially if it was fresh and healthy. But even in ancient Hebrew times, among the Nazirites, this was seen as little more than a symbol.

Allowing what lies spiritually behind the sun to flow into oneself was truly a sign of the progress of humanity. The progress from the clairvoyant gifts that arose in ancient humans to combining and thinking about the outside world meant that they appeared less and less as hairy beings. The people of the Atlantean and early post-Atlantean periods must be imagined with rich hair growth, a sign that they were still strongly illuminated by the light of the spirit. The choice was made, as the Bible tells us, between the hairless Jacob and the hairy Esau. In the latter we see a man who was descended from Abraham and had in himself the last remnants of an ancient human development, which found expression in his hair growth. The man who had such qualities that he developed out into the world was represented in Jacob. He possessed the gifts of wisdom with all its dark sides; Esau is pushed aside by him. Thus, in Esau, a branch of the main line is again cast off. The Edomites are descended from Esau, in whom old human inheritances still continued.

All these things are indeed beautifully expressed in the Bible. A new awareness of what spiritual life is should now arise in human beings, and it should arise in a new way in the Nazirite, through his wearing of long hair during his period of preparation. In ancient times, the relationship between hair and the light of the spirit was even expressed by the fact that light and hair, with the exception of a minor sign, were represented by the same word. In general, the ancient Hebrew language points to the deepest mysteries of humanity. It must be regarded as something like a powerful linguistic revelation of wisdom. That was the meaning of the fact that the Nazirites let their hair grow long. Today, however, this no longer needs to be regarded as the main thing.

During the preparatory period, the Nazirite was to be brought to a very specific clairvoyant experience, which was to give him an idea of how close humanity was to the coming of Christ. The one who was the last great Nazarite at the time of Christ is called John the Baptist. He had not only experienced the completion of the Nazarite vow himself, but also allowed all those whom he wanted to make human beings to experience it. This completion is nothing other than the baptism of John. We only need to learn to understand it properly in terms of its developmental value. What is this baptism and what did it lead to? It consisted first of all in the person being immersed in water, whereby their etheric body was loosened somewhat from the physical body at the head, whereas otherwise the etheric body is firmly connected to the physical body. You know that when a person drowns, they suddenly see their entire life tableau before them as a result of the loosening of their etheric body. In the baptism of John, human beings also saw their life picture; they saw the peculiarities of their entire life, which would otherwise have been forgotten. But they also saw what human beings actually were in the age in question. The physical body is developed out of the etheric body as its formative element. However, this member of the human being, which forms the physical body, could only be observed when it was loosened from the physical body. This happened during the baptism of John.

If a person had experienced this baptism three thousand years before our era, they would have become aware that the best spiritual gift that can be given to human beings must come as an ancient heirloom, for it was actually still an heirloom that was given from the spiritual worlds in ancient times. This was present as an image in the etheric body and shaped the physical body. Especially in those who had developed beyond normal humanity, this baptism would have shown that all their knowledge was based on ancient inspiration. This was referred to as seeing the etheric soul nature in the form of a serpent. Those who had experienced this were called the children of the serpent because they had seen how the Luciferic beings had descended into human beings. What formed the physical body was a creature of the serpent.

Now, however, at a baptism of John not three thousand years before John the Baptist, but in his own time, something quite different came to light: namely, that among those who were baptized there were already those who showed in their nature that the development of humanity had progressed, that the I, which is fertilized by the outer world, had that great power. A completely different picture emerged than had previously been seen at the baptism of John: human beings no longer saw the creative forces of the etheric body in the image of the serpent, but in the image of the lamb. This etheric body was no longer permeated from within by what came from the Luciferic forces, but was completely devoted to the spiritual world, which shines into the human soul through the phenomena of the outer world. This vision of the lamb was the experience at the baptism of John that those who could truly understand what the baptism of John meant at that time had. But it was also they who could say that human beings had become completely different, new beings. The few who experienced this at the baptism of John could say: A great, mighty event has taken place, man has become different; the I has now gained dominion on earth! — The people whom John baptized had been prepared to understand the signs of the times, to understand that such a great event had come.

This was always the task of the Nazarenes. Through baptism, they were brought to the point where they always knew how close the coming of Christ was. They recognized this in the nature of the etheric body as it loosened during baptism. John the Baptist was to show that the time had now come when the I could settle into human nature. In this way, he was the fulfiller of the old era. He was allowed to gather a community around him to whom he could show that the Christ principle could now enter into humanity through the turning toward the I. John the Baptist developed the Nazarite order in the highest sense, so that it became a prophecy fulfilled. He formed a community around him that could understand the approaching Christ event. Only in this way can the words spoken by the Baptist be understood. Such words are to be taken as infinitely profound, and it is truly no longer fitting for a person who wants to concern themselves with such things today to see in John the Baptist anything other than a ranting, fanatical man who only rails against the Pharisees, calling them a brood of vipers and shouting at them: “Do not imagine that you have Abraham as your father; God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” John the Baptist would have been a strange grumbler indeed if he had not also rejoiced that Pharisees and Sadducees came to him to be baptized. However, does he rebuke them immediately upon their arrival? Why would he do that?

When one understands things from within, it soon becomes clear that this is not merely fanatical ranting, but that there is in fact a high significance and a deep meaning behind it. But this meaning can only be understood if one considers a special trait of the ancient Hebrew people. From what has already been said, you can see that Abraham was chosen because he was organized in such a way that, at the right moment, Jesus could be born from his descendants. But for this to happen, what was only a seed in Abraham had to be developed. We must be clear that in order for this potential to unfold, it was necessary that certain things be rejected. We have already seen how Joseph was rejected. But even earlier, certain things had been rejected, for example Esau, the forefather of the Edomites, because an old heirloom remained in him. Only that which was predisposed in the designated direction was to be preserved. This is wonderfully expressed in the fact that Abraham had two sons, Isaac, the son of Sarah, on the one hand, and Ishmael on the other. The ancient Hebrew people are descended from Isaac. But Abraham had other qualities as well. If these had been passed down through the generations, the right thing would not have come about. Therefore, the other qualities had to be radically cast out into another line of descendants, that of Ishmael, the son of the Egyptian maidservant Hagar. Thus, two lines of descent originate from Abraham, one through Isaac and the other through the rejected Ishmael, who has the blood of an Egyptian woman in him and had to take on the qualities that were unsuitable for the mission of the Hebrew people.

But now something very special happens. The Hebrew people were to pass on the right things in their line of descent, and what was ancient heritage, ancient wisdom, had to be transmitted to them from outside. The ancient Hebrews had to go to Egypt to take in what they could there. Moses was able to give this to the people because he was an Egyptian initiate. Of course, he could not have given it to them if he had only had it in the Egyptian form. It would be wrong to imagine that ancient Egyptian wisdom was simply grafted onto what flowed down from Abraham. That would not have been compatible with the culture of the Hebrew people; it would have been a cultural miscarriage. Moses added something else entirely to his Egyptian initiation. Therefore, he could not simply give the Israelites what he had received from the Egyptian initiation. He only gave them something after he had received the revelation at Sinai, that is, only outside of Egypt.

What is the revelation from Sinai? What did Moses receive there, and what did he give to the people? He gave them something that could be grafted onto the tribe of this people because it was related to them in a very specific way. The descendants of Ishmael had once emigrated and settled in the areas that Moses and his people were now passing through. Those characteristics that had passed from Hagar to the Ishmaelites, who were still related to Abraham but had preserved many ancient heirlooms, Moses found there among the Ishmaelites, who had a kind of initiated class. From the revelations of this branch, he drew the possibility of making the revelation of Sinai understandable to the Israelites. Hence an ancient legend of the Hebrew people says: A branch of Abraham was cast out in Ishmael to Arabia. That is, into the desert. What grew up within this tribe was also contained in the teachings of Moses. The ancient Hebrew people received back on Mount Sinai through Moses what they had cast out of their blood; they received it back from outside.

Here we see again the wonderful mission of the Hebrew tribe, that everything was to be given to them so that they could later receive it back as a gift. As a gift from outside, Abraham received the entire Hebrew people in Isaac; in turn, Moses and his people receive back from the descendants of Ishmael what they had rejected. They were to develop in isolation only this organization that was unique to them and receive back as a gift from their God what they had rejected. In this way, Jacob later reconciled himself with Esau, whereby the Hebrew people received back what they had once rejected in Esau.

One must read the Bible very carefully in order to appreciate the full meaning of its words. Such things run like a thread through the entire history of the Hebrew people. Something that is connected with the legislation of Moses comes from the descendants of Hagar, while the blood that represents the actual Israelite abilities of Moses comes from Sarah. Agar or Hagar is also called Sinai in Hebrew, which means the stone mountain, the great stone. One could also say that Moses received his revelation of the law from the great stone, which was an external manifestation of Hagar. What this Jewish people had as their law did not come from the best qualities of Abraham, it came from Hagar, from Sinai. So those who are followers of the mere law as it came from Sinai, the Pharisees and Sadducees, are in danger of remaining at a standstill in their development. They are the ones who, at the baptism of John, do not want to see the Lamb, but the serpent.

Thus, what would otherwise be mere nagging on the part of the Baptist is transformed into a beautiful admonition to the Pharisees and Sadducees when he calls out to them: You who are followers of the serpent, take heed that you really see the right thing in baptism. Namely, not the serpent, but the lamb. He also told them that they should not be proud of having Abraham as their father, for this was merely a word among them; they swore by what came from Mount Sinai, but that had ceased to have any meaning. But now something will come forth from the world as a newborn self, and I will show you this self, said the Baptist: I will show you how that which has truly been handed down through the generations will grow out of Judaism, and which will no longer swear by the single stone of Sinai, but by that which is all around us. God's children can appear through seeing the spiritual behind the sensual. From these stones, God's word can awaken Abraham's children! You do not understand that saying at all: “We have Abraham as our father.”

Only from what has been said here does that word gain its full meaning. Something like this does not need to be taken from the Akashic Records, but is already written in the Bible. Compare what the Apostle Paul says about this in the Epistle to the Galatians. Here, what has just been said is also confirmed by the Apostle Paul. He also says that Hagar or Agar is the same word as Sinai, and that what was given there at Sinai is a testament that those who, through the development of Abraham's true nature through the generations, are to understand what came into the world through Christ, are to grow beyond.

At the same time, this points to a word that must be understood in the future. It is such a pity that in a time when intelligence seems to have grown so high, so little thought has been given to words such as “Repent!” According to its meaning, it could be translated as: Bring about a change of mind within yourselves. In various places it is said that John baptized with water for repentance, that is, for a change of mind. When those who were baptized came out of the water, they were to change their minds, no longer looking back to the old traditions, but looking ahead to what the liberated self, which was given in Christ Jesus, possessed. The mind was to be directed away from the old gods and toward the new spiritual beings or gods. In this way, a change of mind was the goal of John's baptism. John therefore baptized with water in order to bring forth in some people the power to recognize that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and so that they might understand who Christ Jesus was.

This adds something to what we have learned about the mission of the ancient Hebrew people. All of this will gradually lead to a better understanding of Christ. This mission is wonderfully structured. We have seen how what was predisposed in Abraham developed further in the people through generations. To this end, many things had to be rejected, and the appropriate abilities had to be developed further in the blood, in heredity. Such abilities could only be obtained from outside. But what this people was predisposed and chosen for from Abraham was concentrated in one being, in Jesus.

The Jews needed something to hold on to as a doctrine; it always had to come from outside, and indeed it came from what they themselves had rejected. What had passed on to Ishmael could not remain in the blood, it could only be in the realm of knowledge. Therefore, the Hebrew people received it again in the legislation of Moses on Mount Sinai. This had fulfilled its purpose when the time came when what had come from the stone was no longer needed, but when people had what was to come from the whole world of humanity. Thus, the time was slowly prepared when the sons of God, that is, human beings, could arise from the stones, when behind all stones, indeed behind the whole earth, the spiritual world opened up.

All this is only a fragmentary understanding of the mission of the Hebrew people. Only when this mission is fully understood can one also understand the great figure of Christ Jesus as he stands before us in the Gospel of Matthew.