I-68 Analogy of sequential development of Old Testament peoples to the human being; the zodiacal influence reflected throughout

The Gospel of St.Mark, Lect. 6

Steiner points out how the sequence of the development of the Old Testament peoples is analogous to the life of an individual human being in so many ways. We may tabulate it somewhat as follows:

In this pattern, the 12-fold zodiacal influence runs as a thread through body, soul and spirit, as follows:

That the clairvoyance of the spiritual state comes upon the twelve apostles is clearly indicated in Mark’s Gospel (as in Mt and Lk) when the feedings follow immediately upon announcement of the beheading of John the Baptist, showing that the soul of John the Baptist became thereafter the group-soul of the Twelve (and we shall see later the connection of “the Twelve” with the Twelve Sons of the Maccabees). The Elijah connection is made clear by the fact that immediately after the beheading Christ feeds the 5,000, then the 4,000, asking the apostles if it is now clear what has happened (Mk 8,21). What has happened in this context is the bestowal of the soul of Elijah upon the Twelve. The “feedings” are used to illustrate this because they pick up the thread of the “increase in bread” which is found first with Elijah (1 K 17,8-16) and then again with Elisha (2 K 4,1-7) after he had received the spirit of Elijah (2 K 2,9-15). Then follows the clairvoyance of Peter’s confession of the Christ (Mk 8,27-30), the Transfiguration appearance of Moses, Elijah and Christ (Mk 9,2-13), and later the appearance of the resurrected Christ (Mk 16). These might be taken as the manas-buddhi-atma states, respectively, inasmuch as the feedings relate to the Manna experience (Ex 16, Num 11), the designation of Peter as “the Rock” to the experience of the water from the rock (the Christ) in the “Wilderness” (Num 20,11, 1 Cor 10,4), and the Resurrection as the attainment of the full 9-fold status of the Son of Man (Rev 1,12-16).