Neville Goddard on Genesis 18:23-33 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Genesis 18 in context

Scripture Focus

23And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

24Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

26And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

27And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes:

28Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

29And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake.

30And he said unto him, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

31And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.

32And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.

33And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

Genesis 18:23-33

Biblical Context

Abraham approaches God and asks that the righteous not be destroyed with the wicked; he bargains down from fifty to ten, seeking mercy for the city.

Neville's Inner Vision

Within the text, the city is your inner state; Abraham's dialogue with the Lord mirrors your interior conversation with the I AM. Dust and ashes symbolize mortal thought; yet the petition arises from a conviction that righteousness exists wherever you focus. The repeated lowering of the number fifty, forty-five, etc., is the refining of belief—until you reach a ten—showing that the power to alter circumstances rests in the quality you insist upon within. When the Lord says, I will not destroy it for ten's sake, the message is not external mercy alone but the alignment of your inner witness with the universal law that mercy follows recognition. The intercessor is not petitioning God as an Other; he is training your mind to acknowledge a reality already true in consciousness. So, you can use this scene to practice: assume a state of righteousness in your own inner city, and by steady inner conversation with the I AM, invite mercy and balance into outer life.