Neville Goddard on 2 Samuel 24:10-17 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read 2 Samuel 24 in context

Scripture Focus

10And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

11For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

12Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

13So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

14And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

15So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

16And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

17And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.

2 Samuel 24:10-17

Biblical Context

David sins by numbering the people and then repents, acknowledging his error. Gad warns of three judgments, David accepts mercy by choosing to fall into the LORD's hand, and the pestilence is stayed as he intercedes for Jerusalem.

Neville's Inner Vision

Viewed through the lens of consciousness, this narrative is a law in action. Sin is a state of awareness that forgets the I AM; counting people becomes counting a separate power rather than recognizing unity with God. The pestilence is the inner consequence of that forgetfulness, and the three options Gad presents symbolize three possible revisions you can make in the moment of awareness: scarcity, external pursuit, or inner devastation. David’s choice—trusting the LORD’s mercies and relinquishing the need to control outcomes—embodies how to end the old state. When he prays and the angel stands, God does not change the divine nature but transforms the prevailing state of mind, and the destruction halts as the mind returns to its true identity. The scene with the sheep and the people testifies that mercy and accountability coexist when the observer returns to the I AM and chooses to feel mercy as present now. This is Neville’s reminder: the outer world reflects inner state; revise that state and the world follows.