Neville Goddard on Exodus 20:4-5 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Exodus 20 in context

Scripture Focus

4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Exodus 20:4-5

Biblical Context

Exodus 20:4–5 forbids making or bowing to any image, insisting that worship must not hinge on outward forms. True worship arises when the heart aligns with the I AM rather than an idol.

Neville's Inner Vision

To the inner ear this command is not about stone or wood, but about the images you enshrine in consciousness. The 'graven image' is any fixed picture you treat as the source of power—money, status, fear, or a spiritual doctrine—that you bow to as if it were reality. Exodus calls you back to the I AM, the inner awareness that cannot be limited by a created form. When you worship an image, you contract your awareness, and the jealous I AM visits the error into your life as repeating patterns across generations of your psyche. But this is not punishment; it is a reminder that only the living I AM can grant true movement. By withholding worship from any form, you restore vitality to the present moment, and your future becomes a freer expression of consciousness rather than a lineage of seen images. The law clears the ground for a single image—the formless I AM—through which all form flows.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: Sit with eyes closed and revise any troubling image by declaring, 'I am the I AM now; this image has no power over me.' Feel the expansive awareness filling your being as you rest in that truth.