The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Ninth Lecture

[ 1 ] Building on the starting point we established eight days ago with our examination of the forms of illness and the healthy life of human beings, we will delve more and more deeply into related topics as this winter progresses. All of our reflections will then culminate in an understanding of human nature as a whole that is more precise than we have been able to achieve thus far through the means of anthroposophy. Today, our reflections must include an examination of the nature and significance of the Ten Commandments of Moses, for we will need this later. We will soon have to discuss the profound significance of concepts such as original sin, redemption, and the like, and we will see that these concepts regain their meaning in the light of our latest scientific achievements. To do this, however, we must first examine more closely the fundamental nature of this remarkable document, which dates back to the earliest times of Israelite history and appears to us as one of the most significant building blocks of the temple that was erected as a kind of vestibule to Christianity. It is precisely with such a document that it can become increasingly clear how little the form in which people today know the Bible actually corresponds to this document itself. From the details discussed in the last two public lectures on “The Bible and Wisdom,” you will have gained the sense that it would be incorrect for anyone to say: “Oh, but those are all just isolated [highlighted passages in] the translations; such details surely don’t matter!” It would be a very superficial judgment to treat these matters in this way! Just recall that it was pointed out that the fourth verse of the second chapter of Genesis, when correctly translated, actually reads: “The following will recount the generations—or that which comes forth from heaven and earth,” and that in Genesis the same word is used here for, so to speak, “the descendants of heaven and earth” as it is later where it is said: “This is the book of the generations—or the descendants—of Adam.” The same word appears in both cases. And it is significant that where the origin of humankind from heaven and earth is described, the same word is used as later, when the offspring of Adam is discussed. Such matters are not merely a pedantic correction that would slightly refine the translation, but they strike at the heart not only of our translation but also of our understanding of this primordial document of humanity. And one speaks, so to speak, from the very sources of life of our anthroposophical worldview when one says that it is among the most important tasks of this worldview—indeed, of anthroposophy itself—to render the Bible in a form that truly reflects humanity. Above all, we are interested here in what has been said in general terms, now in relation to the Ten Commandments.

[ 2 ] Today, the majority of people actually regard these Ten Commandments as if they were legal provisions, just as laws are enacted by any modern state. One must admit that these laws, contained in the Ten Commandments, are more comprehensive and general, and that they apply regardless of place or time. People therefore regard them as more general laws, but they do so with the understanding that they are intended to have the same effect or achieve the same goal as the laws enacted by modern legislatures today. In doing so, however, they fail to recognize the very lifeblood that animates these Ten Commandments. And the extent to which it has been misunderstood is evident precisely in the fact that all translations accessible to humanity today have, without even realizing it, incorporated a fundamentally superficial explanation of the matter—one that does not penetrate the spirit of these Ten Commandments at all. If we enter into this spirit, then you will see how the meaning of these Ten Commandments fits into the reflections we have just begun—and in relation to which it seems as though we were making a completely irrelevant digression when we consider the Ten Commandments.

[ 3 ] First of all, by way of an introduction, let us attempt to present the Ten Commandments in German in at least a reasonably accurate manner, and only then move on to the main topic. This—if one may call it that—translation of the Ten Commandments will still require some refinement. But the essence, the true meaning, should first be captured in this version of the Ten Commandments in German, as we shall see shortly. If one translates them according to their meaning—that is, without consulting a dictionary and translating word for word (which, of course, can only result in the very worst outcome, since what matters is the literal meaning and the full spiritual significance the text held in its time)—if, then, one captures the essence, these Ten Commandments would read as follows:

[ 4 ] First Commandment. I am the eternal Divine that you feel within yourself. I brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you could not follow Me within yourself. From now on, you shall not set other gods above Me. You shall not acknowledge as higher gods that which an image shows you—whether it shines in the heavens above, works from within the earth, or acts between heaven and earth. You shall not worship that which, of all these things, is beneath the Divine within you. For I am the Eternal One within you, who works within the body and thus influences future generations. I am a Divine Presence that continues to act. If you do not recognize Me within yourself, I, as your Divine Presence, will disappear from your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and their bodies will wither away. If you recognize Me within yourself, I will live on as you into the thousandth generation, and the bodies of your people will flourish.

[ 5 ] Second Commandment. You shall not speak of Me within you in error; for every error concerning the Self within you will corrupt your body.

[ 6 ] Third Commandment. You shall distinguish between workdays and holidays, so that your existence may become a reflection of My existence. For that which lives within you as I formed the world in six days and dwelt within itself on the seventh day. Therefore, your actions—and those of your son, your daughter, your servants, your livestock, and all that is with you—shall be directed outward for only six days; but on the seventh day, your gaze shall seek Me within you.

[ 7 ] Fourth Commandment. Continue to act in the spirit of your father and mother, so that the property they have acquired through the strength I have formed within them may remain yours as an inheritance.

[ 8 ] Fifth Commandment. You shall not murder.

[ 9 ] Sixth Commandment. Do not commit adultery.

[ 10 ] Seventh Commandment. You shall not steal.

[ 11 ] Eighth Commandment. Do not disparage your fellow human being by speaking untruths about him or her.

[ 12 ] Ninth Commandment. Do not look with envy upon what your fellow human being possesses as property.

[ 13 ] Tenth Commandment. Do not look with envy upon your neighbor’s wife, nor upon his servants or the other beings through whom he finds his livelihood.

[ 14 ] Now let us ask ourselves: What do these Ten Commandments show us above all else? We shall see that they show us everywhere—not only in the first part, but also in the last part, where it seems to be hidden—that Moses is speaking to the Jewish people in the sense that the power which revealed itself to Moses in the burning bush with the words denoting His name: “I am who I am!” is now to be with the Jewish people. - “Ehjeh asher ehjeh!” It is pointed out that, in the course of our Earth’s development, the other peoples have not been able to recognize that “I Am”—the very foundation of the fourth aspect of human beinghood—as intensely or as clearly as the Jewish people are meant to recognize it. That God, who poured a drop of His being into human beings so that the fourth aspect of human existence became the bearer of this drop—the bearer of the “I”—that God became known to His people for the first time through Moses. We can therefore say: The Ten Commandments are based on the following understanding: although that God, Yahweh, had been working and active in the upward development of humanity up to that point as well, But spiritual beings are at work even before they are clearly recognized. What was at work among the ancient peoples of the pre-Mosaic era was indeed an active, working force, but as a concept, as an idea, as an actually effective power within the human soul, it was first proclaimed to his people by Moses. And the task at hand was to make clear to this people what the full, comprehensive effect of feeling oneself as an “I” — to the extent that this was the case with the Jewish people — actually was. In the case of this people, we must regard the Yahweh entity as a kind of transitional being: Yahweh is, on the one hand, the entity that pours the “drop” into the human being’s own individuality. But at the same time, he is the God of the people. The individual Jew still felt connected, in a certain sense, to the “I” that also lived in Abraham’s incarnation and that flowed down through the entire Jewish people. The Jewish people felt connected to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was a transitional period. This was to change only with the proclamation of Christianity. But what is to come to earth through Christ is foreshadowed by the Old Testament proclamations, above all by what Moses has to say to his people. Thus we see the full power of ego-knowledge slowly pouring into the Jewish people in the course of the history described to us in the Old Testament. The Jewish people were to be made fully aware of the effect it has on a person’s entire life when they no longer live in a certain unconsciousness regarding the “I,” but have learned to feel the “I” within themselves, to sense the divine name “I Am Who I Am” in its effect upon the innermost depths of their soul.

[ 15 ] Today, people think of these things in abstract terms. Today, when we speak of the “I” and what is connected with it, it remains merely a word. In the time when this “I” was first proclaimed to the Jewish people in the form of the ancient God Yahweh, people experienced this “I” as the impact of a force that enters into the human being and transforms the entire structure of his astral body, his etheric body, and his physical body. And it was necessary to tell this people: The conditions of your life and health were different when the “I” had not yet taken root in your soul as a realization; before that, the conditions of illness and health for your entire life were different from what they are now. Therefore, it was essential to tell the Jewish people what new conditions they were entering into: that when speaking of gods, they should no longer look up merely to heaven or down merely to the earth, but should look inward into their own souls. Looking into one’s own soul in accordance with the truth brings about a right way of life, extending all the way down to physical health. This awareness is fundamentally at the heart of the Ten Commandments, whereas a false understanding of what has entered the soul as the “I” causes a person to wither away in body and soul and ultimately destroys them. One need only proceed in a documentary manner to realize how little these Ten Commandments are meant to be merely external laws, but rather—as has just been explained—something of the utmost importance for the health and well-being of the astral, etheric, and physical bodies. But where does one read books correctly and carefully these days? One need only turn a few more pages to find that, in a further exposition of the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people, the effect of the Ten Commandments on the whole human being is described. It says: “I will remove every disease from your midst; there will be no miscarriage or infertility in your land, and I will fulfill the number of your days.”

[ 16 ] This means: When the “I” lives out its life in such a way that it becomes imbued with the essence of the Ten Commandments, one of the results will be that you will not die in the prime of your life, but rather, through the correctly grasped “I,” something will flow into the three bodies— the astral body, the etheric body, and the physical body—that will allow you to live to a ripe old age in good health. This is stated quite clearly. But it is necessary to delve very deeply into these matters. Modern theologians, however, cannot do this so easily. For a popular little book—which is otherwise quite capable of causing offense because it can be had for a few pfennigs—also says the following about the Ten Commandments: “One can easily see that the Ten Commandments contain the most fundamental human laws, with the first half consisting of the commandments regarding God and the second half consisting of the commandments regarding fellow human beings.” So as not to be too far off the mark, the author in question says that the fourth commandment must still be added to the first half, which refers to God. How the Lord then manages to make four constitute one half and six the other is just a small sign of how things are done today. Everything else in this book also corresponds to the lovely equation: Four equals six.

[ 17 ] We are dealing with the explanation given to the Jewish people regarding the proper integration of the “I” into the three bodies of the human being. The main point here—and this is immediately evident in the first commandment—is that when you become aware of this “I” as a spark of divinity, you are then in a state where you must perceive within the “I” a spark, an emanation of the highest, most powerful divinity that participates in the creation of the earth.

[ 18 ] Let us recall what we have been able to say about the history of human development. We have been able to say that the human physical body came into being during the ancient Saturn period. Gods worked on it then. Then, on the Sun, the etheric body was added. The further development of both bodies was again the work of spiritual-divine beings. Then, on the Moon, the astral body was incorporated—all as the work of divine-spiritual beings. What then made human beings human in the modern sense was the incorporation of the “I” on Earth. The highest Divinity was active in this process. Therefore, as long as human beings could not become fully conscious of this fourth aspect of their being, they could not have even a glimmer of the highest divinity that participated in their becoming and is present within them. Human beings must say to themselves: Divinities have worked on my physical body, but they are lower than the divinity that has now bestowed the “I” upon me. The same is true of the etheric body and the astral body. Thus, the Jewish people, who were the first to receive the prophetic message about this “I,” had to be told: “Become aware that the peoples around you worship gods who, according to their present level of development, can act upon the astral body, the etheric body, and the physical body. But they cannot influence the “I.” This God, who works within the “I,” has indeed always been there; He has revealed Himself through His actions and creations. But now He proclaims His name to you.

[ 19 ] By acknowledging other gods, human beings are not free beings. They are beings who worship the gods of their lower faculties. But when a person consciously recognizes the God of whom a part resides in his “I,” then he is a free being, a being who stands before his fellow human beings as a free being. Today, a person does not relate to his astral body, etheric body, and physical body in the same way that he relates to his “I.” He is within this “I.” It is the closest thing to him, the one he faces directly. He will only stand in this way toward his astral body once he has transformed it into Manas, and toward his etheric body only once he has transformed it into Budhi—once he has developed it from his “I” into something divine. Even though the “I” arose last, it is nevertheless that in which the human being lives. And when he grasps the “I,” he therefore grasps that in which the Divine confronts him in its immediate form, in its very own form, whereas those forms of his astral body, etheric body, and physical body that he possesses today were formed by previous gods. Thus, in contrast to the Israelite people, the surrounding peoples worshiped those deities who had worked on these lower aspects of the human being. And when an image was made of these lower deities, that image took on the likeness of some form that existed on earth, in the heavens, or between heaven and earth. For everything that human beings possess within themselves is, after all, spread throughout the rest of nature. If human beings create images from the mineral kingdom, these can represent to them only those deities who have worked on the physical body. If they create images from the plant kingdom, these can represent to them only those deities who have worked on the etheric body, for human beings share the etheric body with the plant world. And images from the animal kingdom can symbolize for him only those deities who have worked on the astral body. But what makes human beings the crown of earthly creation is that which they grasp in their “I.” No external image can express this. And so it had to be made clear and emphasized to the Jewish people in the strongest terms: There is something within you that is the direct emanation of the highest of the gods at present. This cannot be symbolized by an image from the mineral, plant, or animal kingdoms, no matter how sublime it may be. All gods who are worshiped in this way are inferior to the God who lives within your “I.” If you wish to worship this God within yourself, then the others must take a back seat; then you will possess the healthy, true power of your “I” within yourself.

[ 20 ] So what is told to us right in the first of the Ten Commandments is connected to the deepest mysteries of human development: “I am the eternal Divine that you feel within yourself. The power that I have placed within your self became the driving force, the power through which you fled from the land of Egypt, where you could not follow Me within yourself.”

[ 21 ] From there, Moses led his people at the command of Yahweh. And to make this perfectly clear to us, it is specifically pointed out that the God Yahweh wanted to make his people a nation of priests. Among the other nations, those who stood in contrast to the people as the free were the priestly sages. These were the free ones who knew the great mystery of the “I,” who also knew the formless “I”-God. Thus, in those lands, there stood in opposition to one another these few “I”-conscious priest-sages and the great, unfree mass, which, so to speak, could only listen to what the priest-sages revealed from the mysteries under the strictest authority. It was not the individual among the people who had such a direct relationship, but rather the priest-sages who mediated it for the individuals. Therefore, all well-being, all salvation depended on these priest-sages: how they established the institutions and organized everything—salvation and health depended on that. I would have much to tell you if I were to describe the deeper meaning of Egyptian temple sleep and its effect on public health, or if I were to describe the simple folk remedies for health that flowed from such a cult as, for example, the Apis cult. In such a people, the entire governance and leadership of the nation was directed toward ensuring that, under the guidance of the initiates, the healing forces for health emanated from these places of worship. This was now to change. The Jews were to become a nation of priests. Each individual was to feel within himself a spark of this God Yahweh and establish a direct relationship with him. The priest-sage was no longer to be the sole mediator. Therefore, the people also had to be instructed accordingly. Attention had to be drawn to the fact that false images—that is, inferior representations of the supreme God—also have an unhealthy effect. This brings us to a subject of which modern people will find it difficult to gain awareness. Today, indeed, monstrous sins are committed in this regard.

[ 22 ] Only those who can penetrate the spiritual sciences know the mysterious way in which health and illness develop. When you walk through the streets of a city and are confronted with the horrors on the bulletin boards and in the store windows, it exerts a chilling influence. Materialistic science has no idea how many germs of disease lie within these abominations. It merely searches for pathogens in bacteria and does not know how health and illness are conveyed to the body indirectly through the soul. Only when humanity becomes acquainted with spiritual science will it understand the significance of a person taking in this or that visual image.

[ 23 ] Above all, the first commandment states that human beings must now be able to conceive of the idea that, beyond everything that can be spiritually expressed through imagery, there may still be an impulse that is non-figurative—one that, at this point of the “I,” borders on the supersensible. “Feel this ‘I’ strongly within you, and feel it in such a way that within this ‘I’ a divine presence interweaves and surges through you—one that is higher than anything you can express through an image; then, in such a feeling, you will have a healing power that will restore your physical body, your etheric body, and your astral body to health!” A strong “I” impulse was to be imparted to the Jewish people, one that brings healing. If this “I” is recognized in the right way, then the astral, etheric, and physical bodies will be well-formed as a result, and this creates a strong life force and a strong healing power that, emanating from each individual, spreads to the entire people. Since a people was counted through a thousand generations, the God Yahweh spoke these words: that through the proper instillation of the “I,” the human being himself becomes a source of radiating health, so that the entire people, as it is expressed, “down to the thousandth generation,” will be a healthy people. But if the “I” is not understood in the right way, the body withers, becomes frail, and falls ill. If the father does not imprint the essence of the “I” correctly upon his soul, his body becomes frail and ill, and the “I” slowly withdraws; the son becomes even more frail, the grandson even more so, and in the end we are left with nothing but a shell from which the God Yahweh has departed. Whatever prevents the “I” impulse from arising gradually causes the body to wither away, right down to the fourth generation.

[ 24 ] Thus we see that it is the teaching about the proper function of the self that is presented to the people of Moses in the first of the Ten Commandments:

[ 25 ] “I am the eternal Divine that you feel within yourself. I have led you out of the land of Egypt, where you could not follow Me within yourself. From now on, you shall not place other gods above Me. You shall not acknowledge as higher gods that which an image shows you—whether it shines high in the heavens, works from within the earth, or acts between heaven and earth. You shall not worship that which, of all these things, is beneath the Divine within you. For I am the Eternal One within you, who works within the body and thus influences future generations. I am a Divine Being whose work endures—not: “I am a zealous God,” for that means nothing here. — If you do not recognize Me as your Divine, I will disappear as your “I” in your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and their bodies will wither away. If you recognize Me within yourself, I will live on as “you” down to the thousandth generation, and the bodies of your people will flourish.”

[ 26 ] Here we see that what is meant is not merely something abstract, but something alive and active that is intended to have an impact on public health. The external process of health is traced back to the spiritual element inherent in it, which is gradually being revealed to humanity. This is specifically alluded to in the second commandment, where it is explicitly stated: You shall not form false conceptions of my name, of that which lives within you as “I”; for a correct conception makes you healthy and full of vitality and is for your salvation, but a false conception causes your body to wither away! - Thus, every member of the Mosaic people was specifically reminded that every time the name of God is spoken, they should take this as a warning: I must recognize the name of that which has taken up residence within me, just as it lives within me, for this is the impetus for healing.

[ 27 ] “You must not speak of Me within you in error; for every error concerning the ‘I’ within you will destroy your body!”

[ 28 ] And then, in the third commandment, there is a clear and stern reminder that when a human being is an active, creative “I”—a true microcosm—just as Yahweh God created for six days and rested on the seventh day, thereby establishing the archetype that humanity is to emulate in its own creative work. The third commandment explicitly states: You, as a human being—by being a true “I”—shall also be an image of your highest God, and in your actions shall act as your God does!—It is thus a call to become ever more like the God who revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush.

[ 29 ] “You shall distinguish between weekdays and holidays, so that your existence may become a reflection of My existence. For that which lives within you as I formed the world in six days and dwelt within itself on the seventh day. Thus, your actions, and the actions of your son, your daughter, your servants, your livestock, and all that is with you, shall be directed outward for only six days; but on the seventh day, your gaze shall seek Me within you.”

[ 30 ] Now the work of the Ten Commandments increasingly focuses on the individual. But always in the background is the idea that it is the enduring power that acts as Yahweh or Jehovah. In the fourth commandment, humanity is led away from its connections to the supersensible toward the outwardly sensible. Something very important is pointed out in this fourth commandment, and this must be understood. When human beings enter into existence as self-conscious “I”s, they enter into this existence in such a way that they need external means to bring this existence into being. They develop what is called individual property and possessions. If we were to go back to ancient Egyptian times, we would not yet find such individual property among the vast majority of the people. We would find that those who decide matters of property are also the priest-sages. But now, when everyone is to develop an individual “I,” they are compelled to intervene in the external world, to have something of their own around them, in order to establish their “I” in the external world. The Fourth Commandment therefore points out that the one who allows the individual “I” to work within himself acquires property, but that this property remains bound to the power of the “I,” which lives on in the Jewish people and is to be passed down from father to son and grandson, and that the property the father possessed would not be subject to the strong power of the “I” if the son did not continue his father’s work under the father’s power. It is therefore said: Let the “I” within you become so strong that it endures, and that the son, with the means he inherits from the father, may also receive the means to integrate himself into the external environment.

[ 31 ] This is how the conservatism of the spirit of property was consciously instilled in the people of Moses during this period. The following laws are also fundamentally based on the awareness that occult forces underlie everything that happens in the world. While today we view inheritance law only in a very external and abstract way, those who correctly understood the Fourth Commandment were aware that spiritual forces are passed down with property from generation to generation, survive from one generation to the next, that they enhance the “I”-force, and that through this, the “I”-force of the individual receives a contribution from the “I”-force of the father. One cannot translate the Fourth Commandment more grotesquely than is usually done; for the meaning is as follows: May the strong “I”-force be developed within you, which lives on beyond you, and may this pass on to the son, so that his “I”-force may be enriched by something that can continue to work within him as the heritage of his ancestors.

[ 32 ] “Continue to act in the spirit of your father and mother, so that the possessions they acquired through the strength I formed within them may remain yours.”

[ 33 ] Furthermore, underlying all the following laws is the principle that a person’s ego-power is enhanced through the proper application of the ego-impulse, but is destroyed through its improper application. The Fifth Commandment expresses something that, in the true sense, can only be understood through esoteric science. Everything connected with killing—with the destruction of other life—weakens the self-aware “I”-force within human beings. Through this, one can increase the forces of black magic within a person; however, in doing so, one merely increases the astral forces within the person by bypassing the “I”-force. Whatever is divine within a person is destroyed by every act of killing. Therefore, this law refers not only to something abstract, but also to something through which occult power flows into a person’s ego impulse when they elevate life, allow life to flourish, and do not destroy life. This is presented as an ideal for the elevation of the individual ego force, and only in less strongly emphasized areas is the same requirement set forth in the sixth and seventh commandments.

[ 34 ] Marriage establishes a center for the ego force. Anyone who destroys marriage is therefore weakened in that which is meant to flow into the ego force. Likewise, anyone who seeks to take something from another’s ego force—and thereby acquire possessions through taking, stealing, and so on—weakens their own ego force. Here, too, the underlying guiding principle is that the “I” must not be weakened. And now, the last three commandments even point out how a person weakens their “I-force” by directing their desires in the wrong way. The life of desire is of great significance for the “I-force.” Love increases the power of the ego, while envy and hatred cause the ego-force to wither away. So when a person hates his fellow human beings, when he belittles their worth by saying something false about them, he thereby weakens the ego-force and diminishes the health and vitality of everything around him. The same is true of envy toward another’s possessions. Even the mere desire for one’s neighbor’s possessions weakens one’s “I” force. And so it is in the Tenth Commandment: When a person looks on enviously at the way another seeks to advance in life, rather than striving for love of the other—and thereby expanding his soul and allowing the power of his “I” to spring forth. Only when we understand this in terms of the special power of Yahweh-God and contemplate His manner of revelation to Moses can we grasp what is now to flow into the people as a special consciousness; and it is established throughout that what is given are not abstract laws, but wholesome ordinances that are beneficial to body, soul, and spirit in the broadest sense. Whoever keeps these commandments not in an abstract way but in a living way contributes to the overall well-being and progress of life. At that time, it could not have been revealed in any other way than by simultaneously providing instructions on how these commandments were to be observed. For the other nations lived in a completely different way from the Jewish people; they had no need for such commandments with such meaning.

[ 35 ] When our scholars today take the Ten Commandments, translate them in a lexicographical manner, and compare them with other laws—for example, the Code of Hammurabi—it simply means that they have no idea of the impulse that really matters. It is not the “Thou shalt not steal!” or “Thou shalt keep this or that holy day!” that matters, but rather the spirit that flows through these Ten Commandments and how this spirit is connected to the spirit of the people from whom Christianity was born. Thus, if one wishes to understand this work of the Ten Commandments at all, one must be able to empathize with everything that could be sensed and felt in the process of becoming self-reliant—the process of each individual in this people becoming a priest. Today is not yet the time to feel this as concretely as the members of that people were able to. That is why all sorts of things are interpreted into it today—things found in dictionaries—which, however, do not correspond to the spirit of the matter. After all, one can always read that the people of Moses are said to have emerged from a Bedouin people and that, therefore, commandments could not have been given as they would have been to an agrarian people. And therefore—so the scholars conclude—the Ten Commandments must have been given later and were subsequently backdated. If the Ten Commandments were what these gentlemen understand them to be, then they would be right. But they simply do not understand. Certainly, the Jews were previously a kind of Bedouin people. But these commandments were given to them precisely so that the people, driven by the power of the “I,” might move toward a completely new era. This is the very best proof that peoples are formed out of the spirit. There is hardly a greater prejudice than when people say: “Yes, in Moses’ time the Jewish people were still a nomadic Bedouin people; what sense would it have made to give the Ten Commandments to such a people!”—It did make sense to give such laws to the Jewish people, precisely so that the “I” impulse could be imprinted upon the people with all its power. They received them because these commandments were meant to give their external life an entirely new form, because a completely new life was to be created from the spirit.

[ 36 ] Thus, in fact, the Ten Commandments have continued to exert their influence, and it is in this sense that even the discerning members of early Christianity speak of the Law of Moses. They therefore found that, through the Mystery of Golgotha, the “I” impulse had become different from what it was in the time of Moses. They said to themselves: The “I” impulse had been imbued with the work of the Ten Commandments; through this, the people became strong when they obeyed the Ten Commandments. Now something else is present. Now the form that underlies the Mystery of Golgotha is present. Now this “I” can look upon what has remained hidden throughout the ages; it can look toward the greatest thing it can attain—that which makes it strong and powerful through following the One who suffered on Golgotha and who is the greatest model for the human being of the future. Through this, for those who truly understood Christianity, Christ took the place of those impulses that had worked preparatorily in the Old Testament.

[ 37 ] So, then, we see that there is indeed a deeper understanding of the Ten Commandments.