Ezekiel 4:1-17: Anxiety and Human Dung

Neville Goddard taught that the Bible is not a record of historical events, but a psychological drama—a symbolic revelation of states of consciousness. In this light, Ezekiel 4 is not a tale of a prophet performing strange acts, but a profound allegory about the inner processes of spiritual awakening and the discipline of the imagination.

This chapter represents the symbolic drama of the divided self, and the way in which imaginal discipline, inner scrutiny, and the correction of belief must be undertaken to move from the old man (enslaved by outer appearances) to the awakened one (master of inner vision).

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Verses Ezekiel 4:1–3: Drawing and Besieging the City

“Take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. Lay siege to it…”

This introduces a profound psychological operation. The clay tablet symbolises the mind in its receptive, mouldable state—especially the subconscious, which receives impressions and gives form to them. Drawing the city of Jerusalem upon it is the act of facing and identifying the current inner structure of belief, the state of being that has been ruling within.

Jerusalem, in its corrupted or besieged form, symbolises a fragmented or misaligned state of consciousness—one that may once have held truth but is now ruled by false assumptions, fear, or outer dependency. Laying siege to it represents the focused discipline of imagination: an intentional confrontation with the limiting beliefs that have dominated the inner world.

Neville often said that change in consciousness is the only reality. Here, the “siege” is not aggression but persistent attention—the concentrated effort to bring awareness to the dominant state of mind that must now be dismantled.

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Verses Ezekiel 4:4–8: Lying on His Side for Israel and Judah

“Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it…”

These symbolic acts show the bearing of inherited belief. Israel, in many of Neville’s interpretations, symbolises the one who strives with God but has not yet recognised that the striving is inward. Lying on the left side, traditionally symbolic of the passive or subconscious realm, suggests enduring the subconscious patterns inherited from collective belief.

The duration—390 days for Israel, 40 days for Judah—symbolises two phases of inner purification. Using the Mathers table, 390 breaks down into Shin (ש = 300) and Tzaddi (צ = 90). Shin represents fire—the transformative force of imagination that burns away the false. Tzaddi, meaning fishing hook, suggests the ability to draw unseen realities into experience. Together, they show Israel undergoing a long purification: the fire of awakening (Shin) gradually teaching the soul to use imagination (Tzaddi) to draw from within, rather than depend on outer law.

In contrast, Judah’s 40 days correspond to Mem (מ), the letter of water, the subconscious, and inner gestation. Judah means praise, representing a more intimate and receptive state. Rather than being purified by fire, Judah is transformed by surrender—through praise and trust, the subconscious becomes ready to bring forth the imagined desire.

Lying bound with ropes speaks to the constraints of these inner states—how old thought patterns can bind the imagination until they are deliberately recognised and undone. The prophet must “bear” the weight of these states, much as each individual must take responsibility for their inner world.

Neville would say this shows the process of dying to the old man, the fixed psychological conditioning that must be endured before the new can emerge.

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Verses Ezekiel 4:9–13: The Defiled Bread and the Mixed Meal

“Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils… bake it using human dung...”

This portion deals with the mental food—that is, the beliefs, impressions, and habitual assumptions with which the imagination is fed. The mixed ingredients suggest confusion: truth mingled with error. These are not single grains, not pure ideas, but a tangled collection of inherited traditions, fears, doctrines, and divided beliefs.

That the bread must be baked on human dung intensifies the symbolism. Human dung, as a fuel source, symbolises man-made thought, the limited reasoning of the senses. Neville taught that relying on sense evidence (rather than imagination) is the source of spiritual bondage. Baking the bread on this fuel reveals the defilement of one’s spiritual diet when it is processed through worldly, fear-based reasoning.

In protest, Ezekiel asks to use cow dung instead—a symbolic appeal to cleanse the process. Cow dung, while still earthly, can symbolise a more natural state—perhaps the instinctive, less corrupted aspect of imagination, in contrast to purely human rationalism.

This entire image communicates that unless inner discipline is exercised, our imaginations consume and process falsehood, reinforcing broken states of being.

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Verses Ezekiel 4:14–17: Anxiety, Rationing, and Scarcity

“They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and in dismay...”

This is the picture of spiritual famine. When the imagination is conditioned by fear, judgment, and outer facts, it ceases to flow freely. Instead, one measures every act of belief, every desire, every hope—with anxiety.

This scarcity points to a state of consciousness that has become enslaved by appearances. Instead of freely imagining one’s desire, the mind begins to ask: “But how could that happen? Isn’t that unrealistic? What if I’m wrong?”

Neville would say this represents the desert of doubt, where the Word (the creative power of I AM) is no longer abundant. This rationing is not from God but from the individual's own inner division—the inability to believe fully in the unseen.

As this condition deepens, the collective inner world (Jerusalem) becomes weak, confused, and spiritually starved.

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Conclusion: The Inner Drama of Purification and Awakening

Ezekiel 4, when viewed through Neville Goddard’s understanding, is not a record of divine punishment but a symbolic map of the interior life—the process by which one confronts, bears, and transforms inherited inner patterns.

• The city is the current state of mind.

• The siege is the focused effort to confront it.

• The lying on the side is the endurance of old beliefs.

• The bread is the mental food that must be purified.

• The scarcity is the famine that arises when imagination is bound by fear.

Neville would say: “To change your life, you must change your imagination. But first, you must see what you're imagining.” Ezekiel 4 is a dramatic call to become conscious of what has ruled your inner world, and to submit it to the fire of imagination until it becomes pure.