Neville Goddard on Deuteronomy 20:10-18 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Deuteronomy 20 in context

Scripture Focus

10When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.

11And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

12And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:

13And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

14But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

15Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

16But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

17But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

18That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 20:10-18

Biblical Context

It presents a process: proclaim peace to a city; if accepted, the people become tributaries and serve you; if not, you besiege it and destroy what you must. Near and far cities are treated differently, illustrating how some beliefs must be uprooted while others are integrated.

Neville's Inner Vision

Your scriptural command reads like a map of inner warfare, but the battlefield is consciousness. The city stands for a fixed mental habit or idol you have mistaken for reality. Proclaiming peace is the act of assuming a state of harmony that already exists in your I AM. If the city answers peace and opens, its inhabitants become tributaries—your faculties align, cooperate, and you move with ease. The surrounding spoils are the energy once spent in resistance, now redirected to your purpose. When you are told to slay the male and utterly destroy certain peoples, translate that into the inner purification of aspects of yourself that block love and alignment with God. The contrast between near and far cities reflects how some false pictures are intimate and must be dissolved now, while others linger as distant beliefs awaiting a sustained revision. This is not cruelty but inner order: when you acknowledge the already-present truth of your God-self, you incur no sin; you simply alter your inner climate and watch reality respond.

Practice This Now

Close your eyes and identify one recurring limiting belief as a 'city.' Proclaim peace to it and feel the I AM already ruling there; imagine the belief dissolving into harmony and serving your higher goals.