Moses

Moses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, Tomb (1505-1545) for Julius II, San Pietro in Vincoli (Rome)

Moses (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁ֔ה Mosheh, Greek: Μωϋσῆς, Μωσῆς Mō(y)sēs, Arabic مُوسَى Mūsā, Yiddish: Moische) is the prophet of Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, appearing in the 5 Books of Moses, and the leader of the people of Israel on their migration from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land (Exodus from Egypt, circa 13th century BC). The Jews celebrate this liberation from captivity every year with the festival of Pesach. In Islam, Moses (Musa) is considered an important prophet; especially the story of his confrontation with the Pharaoh and his court magicians appears frequently in the Koran.

According to Rudolf Steiner, Moses had been a disciple of Zarathustra in an earlier incarnation, together with Hermes. He was initiated into the mysteries of time and had been given the etheric body of Zarathustra for the fulfilment of his mission for his new earthly life as Moses. This enabled him to look back with spiritual senses on the history of creation to the time when the earth had separated from the sun.

„Hermes was the great teacher and sage of the Egyptian mysteries. Hermes was born with Zarathustra's astral body; thus he became the bearer of great wisdom.

The second intimate disciple was instructed in those things which are especially expressed in the etheric body, that is, deeper qualities. In the following embodiment, this disciple received the etheric body of Zarathustra. The religious documents tell us things about this which only become understandable through these explanations. The disciple had to revive in a very special way at his rebirth, the etheric body had to be strong before the astral body revived. This is achieved by what was connected with the birth of Moses - for he is the reborn disciple. The fact that he was placed in a box in the water, and so on, had the purpose of fully awakening the etheric body as a child. Through this Moses was enabled to look back in memory over times far past, to write down the genesis of the earth in pictures, to read in the Akasha Chronicle.“ (Lit.:GA 109, p. 18)

The depiction of Moses with two horns in some older Christian works of art (as here in Michelangelo's depiction) goes back to a spelling mistake in the Latin Bible (cornuta, horned, instead of coronata, crowned). The corona, the halo, points to Moses' clairvoyant abilities. But the depiction with the two horns is also quite justified from a spiritual-scientific point of view, because they are a reference to the two-petalled lotus flower, which was strongly developed as Moses' clairvoyant organ.

Literature

• Rudolf Steiner: Das Prinzip der spirituellen Ökonomie im Zusammenhang mit Wiederverkörperungsfragen, GA 109 (2000), ISBN 3-7274-1090-6 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.