Neville Goddard on 1 Samuel 15:20-23 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read 1 Samuel 15 in context

Scripture Focus

20And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.

22And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

1 Samuel 15:20-23

Biblical Context

Saul claims obedience to the LORD, but his deeds show a deeper misalignment—ritual without inner obedience. Samuel asserts that obedience to the inner voice matters more than offerings.

Neville's Inner Vision

Here the kingdom Saul wears is not a place but a state of consciousness. He says he has obeyed the voice of the LORD, yet the spoil he embraces and the people’s restless pride betray a dissonance between action and inner authority. In the Neville Goddard frame, the 'voice of the LORD' is the I AM within, the ever-present directive of your own being. When you justify outward acts by a hollow ritual, you are denying the living law of your consciousness. Samuel’s question—“to obey is better than sacrifice”—reveals that the true sacrifice is not burnt offerings but the surrender of personal will to the inner command. Rebellion and stubbornness are not mere character flaws; they are rebellious states of mind, as if you worship your own image more than the inner truth. When you align with the inner voice, you discover a sacred authority within—your personal kingship is the integrity of your inner state, not the external office. Let imagination be your sacrament: picture yourself abiding in the I AM, and observe the outer life conform to that inner law.

Practice This Now

Practice: assume you are already obeying the inner voice. Feel the I AM directing you now, and revise any belief that outward ritual alone controls reality.