Either decay (Nabal) or regeneration (Judah into the Messiah’s lineage)
The Bible is not a record of ancient history, but a map of the soul.
When approached symbolically — as Neville Goddard taught — it reveals not external events, but inner movements. It chronicles the unfoldment of consciousness: the interplay of belief, resistance, submission, and transformation within the individual.
This exploration follows a subtle thread woven through the sheep imagery in Scripture: Nabal and Judah during sheep-shearing, and the prophetic words from Isaiah 53, echoed in Acts 8 —
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter…”
At first glance, these moments may seem unrelated. But under the law of the subject — that all is within, and every character is a state of consciousness — they form a coherent and revelatory pattern.
Beyond Flocks and Feasts: What Is Truly Sheared?
We are invited to look past the surface of flocks and feasts, beyond the silence of the lamb, to see what is really being sheared:
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The old man
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The outdated belief
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The hardened ego
Each story reveals what happens when the subconscious is laid bare — whether it yields foolishness and decay, or new life and breakthrough.
1. The Sheep as Symbol: The Submissive Subconscious
In Neville’s teachings, sheep represent the submissive nature of the subconscious — docile, compliant, led by the dominant state (the shepherd or conscious direction).
When Neville says,
“Man is all imagination, and God is man and exists in us and we in Him,”
he places the authority of reality in the imaginal act. The “sheep” are impressions, assumptions, or accepted beliefs that become incarnate, often without protest — just as sheep do not resist shearing or slaughter.
2. Shearing Sheep: Nabal and Judah
Judah (Genesis 38:12–13) and Nabal (1 Samuel 25) are both described during sheep-shearing time. This is no coincidence — it is highly symbolic.
Sheep-shearing in the Bible typically signals:
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A moment of reckoning or exposure
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Harvest of subconscious fruit (manifestation)
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A turning point in state — either decay (Nabal) or regeneration (Judah moving into the Messiah’s lineage via Tamar)
Neville-wise interpretation:
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Nabal’s sheep-shearing feast:
He refuses David’s request, symbolising the refusal to recognise the new, anointed state of being (David).
Nabal means “fool” — he represents the egoic, hardened state that rejects the imaginal seed.
His “heart dies within him” when he finally perceives what he rejected — symbolising the old man collapsing. -
Judah’s sheep-shearing:
Leads to his union with Tamar, disguised as a harlot — representing a hidden desire or subconscious condition breaking through, bringing about Perez ("breakthrough").
This is the moment when praise (Judah) initiates the birth of new awareness.
Sheep-shearing is the stripping away of coverings, the subconscious yielding what has been planted — foolishly or wisely.
3. “Led as a Sheep to the Slaughter” (Isaiah 53 / Acts 8)
This is the most poignant sheep image, appearing in the Ethiopian eunuch’s reading just before his baptism — a moment of personal transformation:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearers is silent...”
Neville interprets Jesus as the personification of the awakened imagination. This verse becomes a psychological portrait of the moment imagination consents to the crucifixion — being fixed in a belief or assumption in silence.
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“He opened not his mouth” = Acceptance. The imaginal act is planted quietly, without arguing against the senses.
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“In his humiliation his justice was taken away” = The external world misunderstands the imaginative act; justice belongs to the inner seed.
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“Who shall declare his generation?” = Imagination’s offspring is unknown until it appears in reality.
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“For his life is taken from the earth” = Withdrawal from outer appearances, so the seed can germinate within.
This mirrors Neville’s teaching on dying to the old man: the assumption must be accepted inwardly as true, without arguing against appearances. You rest in acceptance that imagination creates reality.
Bringing It Together: The Law of the Subject
Neville’s law teaches you are always the operant power. Everyone in the Bible — from Judah to Nabal to the suffering servant — represents subjective states within you.
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Nabal = The foolish ego, clinging to external safety, refusing to share or accept the new imaginal potential (David), losing his life in the process.
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Judah = Praise; in the sheep-shearing story, he initiates a symbolic shift. His encounter with Tamar shows praise bringing breakthrough (Perez).
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The silent lamb = Imagination in full submission; it does not argue or defend but assumes and dies to the old.
Neville Goddard Quote to Underscore the Theme:
“Dare to assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled and continue therein. For the assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact.”
The “sheep to the slaughter” is that assumption dying to what it appears to be — silent before facts — sheared (exposed, humiliated, misunderstood) before it resurrects.
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