Neville Goddard on Joshua 9:4-5 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Joshua 9 in context

Scripture Focus

4They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

5And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy.

Joshua 9:4-5

Biblical Context

The men of Gibeon disguise themselves as ambassadors from afar, wearing worn gear and mouldy bread to mislead Israel about their origin and intentions.

Neville's Inner Vision

Consider the Gibeonite ambassadorship as a symbolic inner drama. The disguises—the old sacks, torn wineskins, worn shoes, and mouldy bread—are not history but stale mental pictures clinging to the mind, attempting to pass as proof of a new direction. The 'wilily' craft exposes how the mind clothes a claim in appearances to pass for truth. Yet you are the I AM, the living awareness that makes the scene possible. Discernment arises when you shift your state rather than argue with forms: assume the higher reality of your inner governor, revise the scenario to align with that reality, and feel it real that truth already governs you. When a masquerade arrives, measure it by its obedience to inner guidance and love, not by cloth. Allow the old images to dissolve as you remain steadfast in the I AM. Your life expands to the degree you keep this inner state intact, and outer signs will follow from within, not dominate your inner truth.

Practice This Now

Imaginative_act: Sit in quiet and assume the inner truth: I am the I AM; my decisions flow from inner guidance. Visualize the disguised ambassadors dissolving into ordinary beings and feel it real that your discernment is already operating through you.