Inner Siege, Outer Victory

Neville's Inner Vision

Within the text, Abel of Beth-maachah is a city in your own consciousness. Joab’s march through the tribes and the siege are the persistent movements of thought and feeling trying to prove a state of separation. The wall that is battered by the besiegers is the boundary you believed kept you from the kingdom, the limit you took for reality. The bank raised against the city is the mental scaffolding forged from fear, self-justification, and righteousness as weaponry. The people with Joab are the currents of habit that rally behind a single leadership—the impulse to defend an old self-view. Neville’s reading asks you to see this siege as a drama within, not a condemnation from without. The inner kingdom of God is your true city; when you assume a new consciousness, the siege responds to your assumption. See the wall giving way as your belief yields, and the city stands not as battleground but as stage for unity, justice, and accountability, realized through awareness and imagination.