But there is perhaps a way to view the second usage other than as superfluity while also eliminating the assumed inconsistency between verses 21 and 33b. Let us recall from the “Overview” above that the dimensions of Noah’s ark (Gen 6,15) were those of the harmonious human body as it emerged from the flood of Atlantis (see also #11 in “Three Bodies” below). Steiner tells us this in the concluding Lect. 1 of Occult Signs and Symbols (OSS), September 13, 1907. Are we not then warranted in giving 33b the following meaning: And the I Am’s physical body was put into a three and a half day deathlike sleep that the I Am might be led into its spiritual dwelling? This distinguishes the deathlike physical state from that of the other three human components that make the spiritual journey.

The Bible’s use of the term “Ark” is complex and varied. See 1 ABD 386-393, “Ark of the Covenant”; which also tells us “there are two Hebrew words translated as ‘ark’ . . . in the English: (1) ’aron. ancient Israel’s most sacred cultic object which was probably originally a box of some sort, and (2) tebah, the boat which Noah built. In addition to the sacred ark, ’aron also refers to a collection box in the temple (2 Kgs 12:10,11—Eng 12:9,10; 2 Chr 24:8,10,11) and the sarcophagus of Joseph (Gen 50:26).”

TORAH is here most helpful. Under Gen 6,14 it says:

ark The vessel, significantly, is called tevah. This key word recurs seven times here in the instructions for building the ark and seven times again in connection with the subsidence of the waters in 8:1-14 [English translations have slightly more in each instance]. Yet tevah, in the sense of an ark, appears again in the Bible only in connection with the salvation of the baby Moses, in Exodus 2:3-5. The term suggests a boxlike craft made to float on the water but without rudder or sail or any other navigational aid. It does not use the services of a crew. The use of tevah is intended to emphasize that the fate of the occupants is to be determined solely by the will of God and not to be attributed to the skill of man. By contrast, the hero of the Mesopotamian stories builds a regular ship and employs boat-men to navigate it.

and under Ex 2,3 it adds:

a wicker basket The receptacle is called a tevah, a term that, in this sense, appears elsewhere in the Bible only as the ark in which Noah and his family were saved from the waters of the Flood. Its use here underscores both the vulnerability of its occupant and its being under divine protection. Evocation of the Flood narrative also suggests, once again, that the birth of Moses signals a new era in history.

Most translations of Ex 2,3 use the term “basket.” Only KJV, NKJV and AMPB in my library use “ark” for Moses’ container. In Num 10,33 we are not dealing with the Hebrew word tebah (or tevah), but the later usage of ’aron may still reflect something of the original concept as cultic usage developed.

7. Num 33,8: “And they set out from before Hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and they went a three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped at Marah.”

This passage is a recap of the flight from Egypt through the sea, a part of the original “three days’ journey” in all the Exodus passages above. The spiritual significance of this whole passage seems almost inexhaustible. In passing through the “midst of the sea”, we are dealing with a “water trial.” It is noteworthy that the first encampment thereafter is at “Marah,” which is probably a reference to the sea (mara, meaning “sea” or water in ancient language sound), and then Elim, which seems to incorporate the word for God (El), and where the most sacred numbers appear, “twelve springs of water” and “seventy palm trees.”⁴ (One should bear in mind that there are three “trials” in the process of initiation, explained by Steiner in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment (KHW), Chap. 3. They are, in order, the “fire trial,” the “water trial” and the “air trial,” corresponding with the first three of the four basic elements. The more advanced two also correspond with the requirements Jesus laid down in Jn 3,5 (“born of the water and the Spirit”) if one is to be “born again” (Jn 3,3) and thus see the Kingdom of God. It is noteworthy also that while “Fire” is the only ether existing in physical Earth (as in our body temperature regulator) and the one where a human being meets spiritual beings (e.g., see the references in “Bush” above), the two above it are Light and Sound (or Chemical) whose respective earthly reflections are Air (Spirit) and Water. The only higher ether is Life, but to get to it one must first pass through (be “born of”) the Light and Sound (Spirit and Water) ethers. This is similar imagery to what John also uses in Jn 14,6, “no one comes to the Father but by me.” This can be seen graphically in the chart concluding I-18. The “Life” of the nation Israel thus commenced only after its “water trial,” i.e., after it was “born of water.”