Neville Goddard on Jonah 4:9-11 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Jonah 4 in context

Scripture Focus

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 4:9-11

Biblical Context

Jonah's anger over the gourd exposes his attachment to a temporary comfort, while God reveals that mercy belongs to the I AM and extends to Nineveh, a city representative of many souls.

Neville's Inner Vision

Within this brief tale, Jonah stands as your present awareness clinging to a passing comfort—a gourd that shaded him for a night and left him exposed when it withered. God, the I AM within you, asks for a larger scale of vision: is it right to be angry for a mere plant when there resides a multitude of souls (Nineveh) within the same field of consciousness that cannot discern their right hand from their left? The drama is a psychic drama: anger is a state of consciousness you temporarily inhabit; mercy is the real activity of that consciousness when you relinquish preference and recognize the unity of all minds under one divine providence. Nineveh signifies the vast city of neighbors, friends, and strangers within your own mind—every person you meet arising from the same I AM you awaken to. The gourd represents the ego’s small favors and controllable comforts; its decay invites you to abandon the illusion that life depends on such finite gifts. When you affirm that the I AM desires mercy toward all, you align with Providence and experience a freer, more compassionate state of being.

Practice This Now

Imaginative Act: Close your eyes, breathe into the I AM, and revise your mood by declaring, 'I am mercy in action toward all within my one mind.' Feel the gourd fade and see Nineveh's multitude within your awareness as you rest in that mercy.