Neville Goddard on Matthew 12:3-5 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Matthew 12 in context

Scripture Focus

3But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;

4How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?

5Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

Matthew 12:3-5

Biblical Context

David ate the showbread during hunger, breaking the letter of the law. Meanwhile, the priests who toil on the Sabbath are blameless under the larger law of mercy.

Neville's Inner Vision

Beloved, in this passage the 'you' is the inner man, the temple of your consciousness. The questioner clings to a rule, yet Jesus reveals that the true law is mercy alive in awareness. David's hunger is not a crime; it is the appetite of life seeking nourishment within the heart. The bread represents the living supply of consciousness—awareness that feeds all beings. The priests who work on the Sabbath symbolize habitual thoughts and practices that keep a form, yet are not dead to the needs of life. When you insist on the outer law, you starve your inner Sabbath; when you allow the inner mercy to move, you align with the primal act of David: the right to live. The Sabbath is not a day, but a state of consciousness wherein you trust the I AM to provide; the blamelessness of the priests shows that appearances may mask a deeper harmony. Your task is to revise any rigid interpretation by invoking mercy as your operating principle, for mercy is the living Spirit that fills the temple with wholeness.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: assume you are the I AM within, feeding your consciousness with the bread of awareness. Feel it real by gently affirming, 'I am mercy in action.'