Although Rabbi Frand did not give a live shiur tonight, he did pre-record a a shiur on the OU Torah site which can be found at https://outorah.org/p/118096, which I have attempted to reproduce to the best of my ability in this post. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggid shiur.
R' Frand noted that the first mitzva in the parsha is the mitzva of using the oil to light the menorah every day (the mitzva is more fully discussed in Parshas Beha'alosecha). R' Frand quoted the Gemara in Shabbos 22 which asks why there was a need for the mitzva of lighting the menorah in the Mishkan and Beis Hamikdash - does Hashem need the illumination? And Hashem provided the light when they were in the midbar anyway as Hashem is the light of the world! The Gemara answers that the menorah is a testament to the world that Hashem dwells among the Jews.
There is a Medrash in Beha'alosecha which asks a similar question, relating a conversation where the Jews ask - why are we lighting the menorah when You are the light of the world? The Medrash relates that Hashem said to the Jews - I want to give you the opportunity to return the favor. I had the lights on for you in the desert - now you can return the favor.
R' Frand observed that sometimes when a person does a favor for someone else, he wants the recipient to remember the favor and perhaps to feel beholden to the doer. By asking the Jews to do this, he gave them the opportunity to feel they had repaid the favor.
R' Frand then quoted R' Yerucham (Mirrer Mashgiach) who stated that when someone does a favor and the recipient wants to repay and is told "forget about it", while it appears to be great, its not. Let the person repay the favor so that they don't feel beholden. This is what Hashem did.
R' Frand then made reference to the Haftorah of Parshas Nasso which discusses the birth of Shimshon and the angel telling his parents of the impending birth and the rules to be followed. They then ask the angel his name and then bring sacrifices. When they brought the sacrifice the angel disappeared and never reappeared and because of this Manoach knew that he was an angel. But why does this mean that he must be an angel? Because he did not come back for the bris or any other event to get a "thank you." Most humans want to be able to lord over the other person that they had done a favor, but angel would not.
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