Neville Goddard on Deuteronomy 24:1-4 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Deuteronomy 24 in context

Scripture Focus

1When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

2And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.

3And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;

4Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Deuteronomy 24:1-4

Biblical Context

The passage permits a husband to divorce if he finds some uncleanness. It allows the wife to remarry and forbids the former husband from taking her again after she has moved on; it also warns not to defile the land.

Neville's Inner Vision

All scripture, in Neville's view, is a record of states of consciousness. The husband and wife stand for inner dispositions of the soul, the 'uncleanness' a belief that a part of you has failed. To write a bill of divorcement is to revise your identification with that belief, to refuse to dwell in it any longer. When she departs and becomes another's wife, the mind is free to entertain a new form of awareness, a fresh project or ideal, without needing to drag the old identity along. If the latter husband hates her, or dies, the first husband cannot take her again—this is the inner law that after a release you cannot force the old state back into form; you must allow your inner land to remain undefiled by lingering doubt. The land you inherit is your field of consciousness; its purity depends on your fidelity to the present I AM. The exhortation is not a social command but an invitation to loyalty to the truth of your current state. By ceasing to cling to past judgments, you keep the covenant with your inner life and prepare the soil for new manifestations.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: In stillness, write in your mind a bill of divorcement to the old belief that you are lacking, and feel its release; then imagine a fresh marriage of consciousness with your I AM, dwelling in wholeness and feel it real.