Neville Goddard on Deuteronomy 20:12-14 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Deuteronomy 20 in context

Scripture Focus

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.

Deuteronomy 20:12-14

Biblical Context

Deuteronomy 20:12-14 commands to besiege a resisting city and, once delivered, to kill the male inhabitants and take the rest as spoils.

Neville's Inner Vision

Picture the city as a state of your own mind. When it will not make peace with you, you are being invited to siege it—persist in your I AM awareness until the old belief yields to your new sense of self. The deliverance promised in the text is the moment your inner God asserts itself and the city is placed under your control in imagination. The command to smite the male speaks to severing the stubborn, aggressive tendencies of the old pattern; not with harm, but with a clear, decisive revision that ends its reign in your mind. The women, little ones, cattle, and all the spoil are the fruits remaining after the old order is dissolved—the riches of a new state of consciousness you may take as your own. This is covenant loyalty: to trust the inner law, to rule by the authority of awareness rather than by outward sequence. Your kingdom is the Kingdom of God within; the battles are shifts in mood and belief through which you discover and live your true self.

Practice This Now

Imaginative Act: Close your eyes and declare, 'I am the I AM; I have besieged this old pattern and claim its spoils,' then feel the new state as already real.