Now let us look at the eight Biblical passages that speak of the “three days’ journey.” We shall see that these eight involve only the accounts of, or surrounding, the three Biblical personages of Jacob, Moses and Jonah, who appear to have undergone this method of initiation into the Mysteries. Elsewhere we shall see that Steiner indicates that most of the Hebrew prophets did not undergo initiation into the Mysteries in their Biblical incarnations, but embodied the deep spiritual insight vested in their etheric bodies by having done so in one or more prior incarnations. (And those prophets who went to Babylon were presumably also exposed there to the teachings of Zarathas, an initiate many times over, as to which see both “middle period prophets” and “The Nativity” herein.) However, it is clear that Elijah and Elisha were initiated, and probably this is true of most of those who could be referred to as the earlier “non-writing” prophets in Israel (although Solomon and perhaps Samuel and others were vested with the type of atavistic clairvoyance of which Steiner speaks in the above passages). The interesting reference in Ezek 14,14,16,18,20 to “Noah, Daniel, and Job” speaks of prehistorical “prophets” or at least of those who predated the Hebrew period, stood outside of its lineage, or were merely proverbial, as Biblical commentaries generally suggest (one or more of which categories may also include Jonah).

In the order of appearance, these eight instances are as follows:

1. Gen 30,36: “And he [Laban] set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob; and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flock.”

This occurs when the last of Jacob’s twelve sons had been born and Jacob was planning his return with his family to his homeland and needed to make adequate provision therefor. An obviously spiritual journey for Jacob (Israel) is about to begin—a most appropriate time for initiation. While Laban is said to have set the “three days’ journey” distance between them, it may have several “initiation” meanings: 1. Laban himself was initiated; 2. Laban caused or permitted Jacob to be initiated; or 3. Laban himself initiated Jacob so as to send him on his spiritual journey properly. The last seems the more probable since the relationship between Jacob and Laban seems similar to that between Moses and his father-in-law, Jethro, in Midian before the exodus.

2. Ex 3,18: “And they will hearken to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, we pray you, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’"

Moses, who almost certainly had already been initiated by the priests in Egypt, was further prepared by his flight into the “Wilderness” of Midian after “killing” the Egyptian. It seems equally certain that Jethro-Reuel, “the priest of Midian,” was an initiate of the Midianites. This passage (Ex 3,18) is part of Moses’ momentous initial (clairvoyant) trip to “the mountain of God” (Sinai-Horeb; see “Mountain” and “High Mountain”), and God himself speaks to Moses telling him what to say to Pharaoh. He was to say that the people of Israel needed to be initiated, i.e. to make a “three days’ journey into the wilderness,” or at least to be underthe leadership of those (Moses, Aaron, etc.) who had been. The term had nothing to do with any physical distance from the scene of captivity to Sinai. Rather, it had to do with what was necessary to make them a spiritual vessel worthy of molding the earthly vehicle (Jesus) who was to receive the Christ Spirit.

3. Ex 5,3: “Then they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has met with us; let us go, we pray, a three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.’”

Here Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh for the first time with the request imposed upon them by God in Ex 3,18.

4. Ex 8,27: “We must go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he will command us.”

Pharaoh had proposed that Israel sacrifice to their God “within the land” (vs 25), to which Moses and Aaron speak as above, after which Pharaoh conditionally permits their request, “only you shall not go very far away. . . . ” This was “Egypt” saying to Israel that it should not progress beyond the spiritual level of “Egypt.” But Israel had the divine mission of preparing the vessel to receive the Christ Spirit and much was required therefor that could not be found in that condition. The “three days’ journey” passage itself is still playing out the scenario introduced in Ex 3,18. It is particularly important to remember that “Egypt” itself was strictly led by its initiated priesthood, who had made their own “three days’ journey,” and that the journey into the “Wilderness” was unique and characterized Israel’s spiritual obligation. That archaeology has been surprisingly unable to meaningfully confirm the “Wilderness” years of Israel, or even the precise location of Sinai, is itself strong indication of the primarily spiritual nature of the “forty years” of wandering in the Wilderness.

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6. Num 10,33: “So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them.”

Again, we are dealing with a spiritualization process of Israel, not with a geographical distance. The repetition of “three days’ journey” in 33b is called “dittography,” or unnecessary repetition, by 3 Interp and the Notes at 4 AB 316, though they recognize that the second usage “does not reconcile the statement with vs 21.” In vs 21 the Kohathites are said to have “carried the holy things” while “the tabernacle was set up before their arrival.” In vs 33b the ark is said to have gone “before them” alright, but it did so “in the three days’ journey” (emphasis mine), thus, as seemingly recognized, keeping the second usage from being redundant. The “in,” or wording of similar import, is found in most translations (e.g., KJV, NKJV, NJB, NIV, NACB, AMPB, CEV and LB), being omitted only in RSV (above), NRSV and AB. In any event, even omitting it the second time it appears in vs 33 does not lessen the term’s Biblical significance.