Neville Goddard on Judges 8:18-19 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Judges 8 in context

Scripture Focus

18Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.

19And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.

Judges 8:18-19

Biblical Context

Gideon asks what manner of men were slain at Tabor; Zebah and Zalmunna answer that they were like Gideon, each resembling the children of a king. Gideon then declares they were his brethren, and that if they had saved them alive, he would not slay Zebah and Zalmunna.

Neville's Inner Vision

In this scene, the external battle becomes a mirror of your inner state. The question about the slain at Tabor is a prompt to inspect what qualities of perception you have exercised in your mind. When Zebah and Zalmunna say they were like you, sons of a king, they reveal that every apparent foe is a kinship fragment within your own consciousness. The startling claim, 'They were my brethren, the sons of my mother,' points to the eternal Self—the I AM—that contains all parts of you. The statement, 'if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you,' invites a revision of the inner scene: you do not need to destroy conflicting faculties if you affirm unity and mercy toward them. The LORD liveth emphasizes that awareness itself is alive and watching. Thus, the real conquest is inner recognition: you stop fighting your own kin and let mercy dictate reality, until the entire field of experience is governed by the one Self you truly are.

Practice This Now

Practice: sit quietly and recall a current conflict; imagine the other as a kin within your own consciousness, and declare, 'They are my brethren; I would not harm them.' Feel the I AM steadying this unity until mercy lingers.