8263. 'I will sing to Jehovah' means that glory belongs to the Lord alone. This is clear from the meaning of 'singing to Jehovah' as ascribing glory to the Lord, dealt with just above in 8261, that is, as saying that glory belongs to Him. The reason why it belongs to Him alone is that in the Word 'Jehovah' means the Lord, 8261, so that He alone is God. Various places throughout the Word say that glory and honour must belong to God alone. Anyone unacquainted with the inner teachings of the Word may suppose that the Lord desires and loves glory in the way a person in the world does; and he may suppose this because glory is appropriate to Him above all others in the universe. But the Lord does not desire glory for His own sake, only for the sake of the person who ascribes it to Him. A person who ascribes glory to Him does so because he venerates Him as the One who is supreme and humbly regards himself as nothing in comparison. And since reverence and humility are both present when a person ascribes glory to the Lord, he is in a fit state to receive the inflow of goodness from the Lord, and so also of love towards Him. This is why the Lord desires a person to ascribe glory to Him, see 4347, 4593, 5957. Regarding the flow of goodness from the Lord, that it enters a humble heart, 3994, 7478.

5957. 'And to his father he sent as follows' means what was freely given to spiritual good. This is clear from the representation of Israel, to whom 'father' refers here, as spiritual good from the natural, as in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833; and from the meaning of 'sending' as freely giving. For everything that flows from the Lord by way of the internal into the external or natural - even into spiritual good, which is 'Israel', since it derives from the natural - is freely given. The Lord does, it is true, demand humility, worship, thanksgiving, and much else from a person, which seem like repayment, so that His gifts do not seem to be free. But the Lord does not demand those things for His own sake, for the Divine derives no glory at all from a person's humility, worship, or thanksgiving. It is utterly inconceivable that any self-love should exist within the Divine, causing Him to require such actions for His own sake. Rather, they are required for man's own sake, for if someone possesses humility he is able to accept good from the Lord, since in that case he has been parted from self-love and its evils which stand in the way of his accepting it. Therefore the Lord desires a state of humility in a person for that person's sake, because the Lord can flow in with heavenly good when that state exists in him. The same applies to worship and thanksgiving.