Neville Goddard on Exodus 20:4-6 - 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;

6And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:4-6

Biblical Context

The passage forbids making or bowing to any image and warns that God will visit iniquity on those who hate Him; mercy is shown to those who love Him by keeping His commandments.

Neville's Inner Vision

Within this command, the graven image is not a statue but a pictured limitation you have allowed to rule your inner life. The God who says 'I, the LORD' is the I AM you call forth in awareness. Jealousy here is not envy but the insistence that nothing but your true self, the living presence, stand on the throne of your mind. When you bow to a likeness—money, success, status, or fear—you are worshiping a counterfeit, and your world takes on the form of that image. The law promises mercy to those who love and keep the commandments, meaning those who live in accord with the I AM and refuse to let any image dethrone it. If you revise the image by declaring, 'I am the I AM. This inner presence governs me now,' you release the energy of mercy into your life. Your imagination becomes the tool by which you displace the old statue with the living reality you are.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: In a quiet moment, assume the I AM is governing this circumstance. Replace the image with the living presence and feel the truth as already real.