Neville Goddard on Jonah 4:4-11 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Jonah 4 in context

Scripture Focus

4Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?

5So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

6And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

7But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

8And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

9And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.

10Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

11And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

Jonah 4:4-11

Biblical Context

Jonah staunchly resists mercy, sits in a shade, and enjoys a gourd for comfort. God then withers the gourd and sends wind and sun, prompting Jonah to question his anger and God's broader mercy toward Nineveh.

Neville's Inner Vision

In this tale you discover the I AM within as the true governor of your world. Jonah represents a current state of consciousness clinging to a temporary shade of comfort—a gourd conjured by imagination to ease grief. The gourd’s brief shelter, its withering, and the scorching wind are your inner weather when you refuse to revise your judgment. Nineveh stands for the vast inner city of possibilities that cannot discern between right and left unless illuminated by awareness. God’s challenge—’Should not I spare Nineveh?’—is a call to remember that mercy is not earned by labor but realized by awakening. When you stop protecting a petty shade and open to the greater compassion, you recognize that your inner weather can be governed by mercy itself through the imagery of imagination. The narrative invites you to relinquish personal grievance and align with a larger, inclusive sense of providence that touches all parts of your inner world.

Practice This Now

Close your eyes and assume the role of the inner governor: declare, 'I am mercy within me, and I spare Nineveh in my mind.' Feel the shift as you revise the scene to embrace compassionate action for every part of your inner city.