כלי יקר — והיה כי תבוא אל הארץ... וירשתה וישבת בה

Q — Why does the bikkurim mitzvah open with the phrase 'וירשתה וישבת בה' — a phrasing that appears elsewhere only in the parshat hamelech? And why is this the trigger for the first-fruit declaration?

A — Kli Yakar reads the doubled language 'וירשתה וישבת בה' as a diagnostic. Once Yisrael inherits and settles ('ישמן ישראל ויבעט'), the natural drift is to forget that the land is a *gift* and treat it as an inheritance and a fixed possession — 'בחרבם ירשוה.' The first verse spells out both the truth ('אשר ה' אלהיך נתן לך נחלה') and the misreading ('וירשתה וישבת בה'). The bikkurim mitzvah counteracts the drift: bringing the first fruits to the kohen and reciting the declaration is precisely the ritual of acknowledging — every year — that the land is given, not seized. Rambam (Moreh 3:39) gives the same טעם. The orthography of the verse holds the diagnosis and the cure.