פרשת כי תבוא תשכ"ט - מקרא ביכורים

And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and dost possess it, and dwell therein;

that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt bring in from thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee; and thou shalt put it in a basket and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there.

And thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him: ‘I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the land which the LORD swore unto our fathers to give us.’

And the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage.

And He hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the land, which Thou, O LORD, hast given me.’ And thou shalt set it down before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God.

ושמחת בכל הטוב AND THOU SHALT REJOICE IN EVERY GOOD THING — From this they (the Rabbis) derived the law that the recital on the occasion of bringing the first fruits is made only during the joyful period of the year — from Pentecost till the Feast of Tabernacles — when a man is gathering in his grain, his fruits, his wine and his oil; but from Tabernacles onwards until Chanucah if he brings these, he does not make the recital (Pesachim 36b).

והיה כי תבוא … וירשתה וישבת בה AND IT SHALL BE, WHEN YOU COME IN [UNTO THE LAND …] AND POSSESS IT AND SETTLE THEREIN — This tells us that they (the Israelites) were not under the obligation to bring first fruits until they had conquered the land and divided it (cf. Kiddushin 37b).

ואמרת אליו AND SAY UNTO HIM that you are not ungrateful (Sifrei Devarim 299:1).

וירד מצרימה AND HE WENT DOWN INTO EGYPT — But there were others, too, “who came against us to destroy us” (cf. the Passover Haggadah), for afterwards Jacob went down into Egypt with his children and these were enslaved there).

אל המקום הזה [AND HE HATH BROUGHT US] UNTO THIS PLACE — This refers to the Temple where the worshipper was standing when he made this declaration.

Treated us badly. The text should say that they acted badly towards us. Rather the Egyptians made us into the wicked ones, who lacked gratitude. They suspected that we would side with their enemies, which had never entered the minds of the Jewish people.