Neville Goddard on Deuteronomy 12:2-6 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Deuteronomy 12 in context

Scripture Focus

2Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

3And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

4Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.

5But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:

6And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:

Deuteronomy 12:2-6

Biblical Context

The verse commands you to remove external idols and their altars, then present offerings at the place the Lord will choose, where His name dwells.

Neville's Inner Vision

Here the outer ritual of destruction becomes an inner cleansing. The 'land' you possess is your field of experience, and the 'gods' of the nations are the false beliefs and identities you have inadvertently worshipped. To 'utterly destroy' their places, altars, groves and images is to strip away these illusions from your mind, not to fight people or places. The injunction 'ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God' signals that you now seek not a temple of externals but the one God—the I AM—within the heart. The 'place which the LORD your God shall choose' is the inner sanctuary of awareness where His name is registered; in that quiet center you 'bring your burnt offerings' and 'tithes'—your time, attention, vows, and first thoughts—consecrated to the I AM. By repeatedly returning to that state, your inner world becomes the temple where true worship occurs, and the outward transitions of life reflect this shift. You are learning to worship from consciousness, not as an act in the world but as the world itself arising from a changed awareness.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: Close your eyes and declare, 'I am that I AM,' and feel yourself entering the inner sanctuary. Revise any sense of lack by offering it to God as already fulfilled, and dwell in that state until it feels true.