Neville Goddard on Ezra 2:42-43 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Ezra 2 in context

Scripture Focus

42The children of the porters: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, in all an hundred thirty and nine.

43The Nethinims: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth,

Ezra 2:42-43

Biblical Context

Ezra 2:42-43 records the porters and temple servants named in the census, signaling orderly care for the temple doors and service.

Neville's Inner Vision

Ezra's list is not a record of outward names, but an inner census of states I allow at the gates of my mind. The porters—Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, Shobai—are the gatekeepers I have admitted to stand at the threshold, the impulses and habits I permit to guard the sanctuary of my awareness. The Nethinims—Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth—are the serviceable thoughts, the daily acts of reverence that attend to the temple's needs. To name them is to claim them as present possibilities, not distant stories. In this moment I recognize the presence of God through the discipline of inner worship: holiness as a separating of the sacred from the profane, and work as the expression of inner vocation. If I dwell in the I AM—feeling the gate swing on its hinge, the heart alert, the mind aligned with divine order—these dispositions shift, the gates open or close, and the inner temple becomes a dwelling place for the Presence. The verse invites me to order my consciousness so the sacred is the natural atmosphere of my life.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: Close your eyes and imagine the named porters standing at the gate of your inner temple. Assume a present I AM state, such as 'I am the gatekeeper of my temple,' and feel it real as you revise your attention.