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.