Why God Who Owns Everything Asks Israel for an Offering

"And let them take a portion for Me" (Exodus 25:2). The One of whom it is said, "The earth is the LORD's and all that fills it" (Psalms 24:1), "to whom the sea belongs, for He made it" (Psalms 95:5), and, "Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens" (Deuteronomy 10:14), does He have need of flesh and blood? Rather, He desires Israel, to cause His Presence to dwell among them, like a father who longs for his children. Therefore it is said, "And let them take for Me." Now this is an argument from minor to major: if to make a Tabernacle, a glory and an atonement for Israel, the Holy One, blessed be He, said "Speak to the children of Israel" in a language of conciliation, as you say, "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem" (Isaiah 40:2), then the nations who oppress Israel and seize their money against their will, what shall become of them? For whoever seizes money is as though he sheds blood, as it is said, "because of the violence done to the children of Judah, in that they shed innocent blood in their land" (Joel 4:19). A certain heretic said to Rabbi Avin: "Your God is a priest, for it is written, 'And let them take a portion for Me.' When He buried Moses, in what did He immerse Himself? If you say in water, is it not written, 'Who measured the waters in the hollow of His hand?' (Isaiah 40:12)." He said to him: "In fire, for it is written, 'For behold, the LORD will come in fire' (Isaiah 66:15)." "But does immersion in fire count?" He said to him: "The essential immersion is in fire, for it is written, 'And everything that does not come into the fire you shall pass through water' (Numbers 31:23)."