Reading Numbers 31 through a symbolic, metaphysical perspective — especially in light of Neville Goddard’s teachings — shifts the focus away from literal violence. Instead, it reveals an internal drama: the battle between disciplined imagination and the beliefs, assumptions, and emotions that oppose it.
Context
In Numbers 31, Moses commands the Israelites to take vengeance on the Midianites for seducing them into idolatry. After the battle, the soldiers return with captives. Moses becomes furious that they have spared the women and orders the execution of all males and non-virgin females — only the virgin girls are to be kept alive.
Taken literally, this passage is deeply troubling. But when approached symbolically — recognising the Bible as a psychological drama — it portrays the inner warfare required to uphold a chosen assumption and maintain dominion over imagination.
Symbolic Interpretation: The Law of Assumption in Action
The Midianites: Foreign Assumptions and Divided Attention
The Midianites represent confusion, distraction, and divided desires — states of consciousness that tempt us to stray from a clear assumption. In Numbers 25, the seduction into Baal worship symbolises imagination pulled outward to appearances rather than inward to the wish fulfilled.
In Goddard’s language, this is the fatal moment when we look to facts instead of remaining faithful to our inner conviction.
The War: Purging Conflicting States
This is not a literal war but an inner cleansing.
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Killing the males: Male figures often represent active, conscious thoughts. Here, they symbolise doubts, logical objections, and reactive thoughts that oppose your assumption. These must be firmly silenced.
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Killing the non-virgin women: Women symbolise the subconscious, emotional side of the mind. Non-virgins represent emotional patterns already joined to false assumptions — beliefs formed through old conditioning and external influence. These must be released.
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Sparing the virgins: The virgins represent pure, unconditioned receptivity within the subconscious — open states that can be impressed with new assumptions. These untouched aspects of the psyche are essential for creating the desired reality.
Moses’ Anger: The Demand for Loyalty
Moses symbolises the inner law — the unwavering discipline required to keep faith with the assumption. His anger is not cruelty but the uncompromising demand for fidelity to the inner vision. To assume the wish fulfilled means total commitment, with no compromise or divided allegiance.
Spoils of War: Redeemed Creative Energy
The gold and silver taken as spoils represent psychic energy once wasted on fear, doubt, and fragmented thoughts. Once these false patterns are purged, this energy is reclaimed and redirected toward building and sustaining the new assumed state. What once fed division now enriches unity and creative power.
In Summary
Far from a tale of literal vengeance, Numbers 31 symbolically portrays the inner discipline necessary to live by the Law of Assumption:
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We must uproot every thought and emotion that contradicts our chosen state.
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Only the untouched, receptive parts of the subconscious can receive and support new creations.
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Our inner world must be guarded actively, not passively, with unwavering clarity and commitment.
This is the true “holy war”: the struggle to protect imagination, remain loyal to the unseen, and refuse every seduction back into doubt and fragmentation.