Neville Goddard on Exodus 31:12-17 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Exodus 31 in context

Scripture Focus

12And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

13Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.

14Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

15Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

16Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

17It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

Exodus 31:12-17

Biblical Context

God commands the Sabbath as a holy sign and perpetual covenant. It rests the seventh day while the six days are for work, marking sanctification and separation between God and Israel.

Neville's Inner Vision

Within this text, the Sabbath is a state of consciousness, not a distant ritual. The sign means your I AM, your essential awareness, sanctifies by resting in itself. The six days of work are the outward movements of the ego; the seventh day is the inward rest where you are refreshed by the realization that the LORD of your consciousness sustains you. To defile the Sabbath is to press on in thought and action without pause, to forget the I AM that sanctifies. To observe it as merely a rule is to miss the invitation to return to the inner covenant, where heaven and earth are created again by your awareness. The perpetual nature of the covenant says: you can renew this inner rest forever, simply by choosing to rest in awareness and let the sense of separation dissolve into unity.

Practice This Now

Sit quietly and assume you are already living from the seventh-day rest; feel the stillness as your natural state, and declare, 'I AM the sanctifier of my life.' Hold that feeling for several minutes, letting ongoing thoughts yield to the inner rest, and observe how your days shift to alignment with that inner sign.