Reuben and the Refusal to Cleave to Desire
In Neville Goddard’s teaching, Scripture is a psychological drama. It isn’t history—it’s the unfolding of consciousness within you. Genesis 35:22—“Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine”—symbolises the refusal to separate from old mental patterns and spiritually unite with a new, living desire.
This is not merely a moral transgression. It is a metaphysical mistake.
Reuben: The First Glimpse of Creative Power
Name meaning: רְאוּבֵן (Re’uven) means “Behold, a son!”—from ra’ah (to see) and ben (son).
Symbolism: The initial awareness that imagination has creative power—the spark of I see.
But: As Neville often warned, seeing isn’t enough. Without discipline and direction, awareness becomes unstable.
Reuben represents that early stage in spiritual awakening—when we become aware of imagination’s power but haven’t yet learned how to align it with a single, generative aim.
The Father’s Bed: A Return to the Old Identity
In Neville’s metaphysics, “the father” symbolises the I AM—your awareness of being.
To “go up to the father’s bed” is to return to outdated assumptions, inherited patterns, and beliefs you were conditioned to accept.
Rather than cleaving to a new desire, Reuben goes back to the symbolic source of his old identity.
This action directly violates the spiritual law of Genesis 2:24:
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
The verse is not about human marriage—it is about spiritual union. To manifest a desire, you must forsake the old conditioning (“father and mother”) and join yourself in imagination to a new state (“wife”) until you and the desire are one.
Reuben’s failure is that he doesn’t leave. He remains tethered to the assumptions that formed him—lying in the same bed, so to speak—and thus never achieves union with a renewed self.
Bilhah and the Mind’s Concubines
Bilhah means “bashful” or “weak”—a symbol of a lesser, uncommitted state of consciousness.
Concubines, in the language of Neville’s metaphysics, are fragmented desires—side-thoughts, minor aims, or fallback identities that the mind entertains when it's not fully committed to transformation.
Instead of cleaving to a central aim (a true “wife”), Reuben slips into a compromised state.
He unites with a lesser mental image, not the living embodiment of desire.
The Law of Assumption Rejected
Neville taught: “Assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled.”
This requires leaving the old self behind—abandoning familiar patterns and fully inhabiting the new assumption.
Reuben, unstable as water, fails to make that leap. He tries to carry the old identity into a new future, and so his assumption remains partial—contaminated by the very patterns he should have left.
The Forfeiture of the Birthright
The birthright symbolises creative dominion: the authority to consciously shape your world.
Reuben forfeits this by attempting to mix the new with the old—uniting with imagination’s power while still tethered to inherited mental states. He doesn’t truly “leave and cleave.”
As a result, the authority passes to Joseph (imagination aligned with divine will) and Judah (praise and devotion to the I AM).
Only those who unite fully with desire—without turning back—can claim the birthright.
Conclusion: Leave and Cleave
Reuben’s story teaches us that true manifestation demands separation from the old self.
You must leave behind the father’s bed—the entrenched, inherited assumptions—and cleave unto your chosen desire until it becomes your reality.
Genesis 2:24 gives the law:
Leave the father and mother.
Cleave to the wife (your chosen desire).
Become one flesh—one identity.
Until you do this, you remain divided.
You may see the promise, like Reuben, but you will not inherit it.
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