Jacob's Delayed Vow

There's a challenging beneath-the-surface teaching about Jacob that's found in the rabbinical writings. It has to do with the vow Jacob makes back in Genesis 28, and how Jacob does not do what he promised to God until Genesis 35.

The story begins after Jacob leaves his parents and flees from his brother's wrath for the stealing of the firstborn blessing. While on his journey, Jacob falls asleep and then dreams of a staircase that went from earth all the up into heaven, with angels going up and back down the steps. There, in the dream, God reveals himself to Jacob, saying "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying." Jacob makes a vow with the following conditions: If God remains with me, protects me, brings me food and clothing, and allows me to return to my father's house, then this God shall be my God, and I will establish this place as God's house.

But as we know, Jacob meets Rachel and offers to work for seven years for her hand in marriage. There's another seven years that occurs because of the whole ordeal with Leah, and then Jacob ends up working for his father-in-law for another six years. Jacob spends twenty full years in Haran before God urges him to move back to the land of his father. When Jacob realizes that his relationship with Laban is going south, God meets him and uses language that should trigger a response from Jacob. It's part of the language from his vow to God.

A couple of chapters later, Jacob arrives in Canaan safely, as promised. The words here are the same words that Jacob included in his vow: "to arrive safely." But there's a glaring statement in the text that the readers should notice. So far, God has done everything that Jacob has asked of him in his vow, but rather than going back to Bethel to build a house for God, Jacob first builds a house for himself. Not only does this create further delay, it's written in contrast to the way of Jacob's people: they are wanderers and nomads, not house builders. This adds to delay, or perhaps misplaced priorities.

The story continues with Genesis 34, which tells the tragic story of Dinah. Rashi, drawing on Midrash, suggests that the incident is tied to Jacob's failure to do what he said he would do, and that he is partially responsible for putting Dinah in harm's way. If they don't outright blame Jacob, they certainly write up lessons about the importance of keeping vows, and that a delayed vow is almost as bad as a broken one.

It's after this horrible event that God brings himself back into the story to remind Jacob of his vow. God, in very plain language, points back to Jacob's vow.

It's important to reiterate that the Scriptures do not state that Jacob is responsible for what happened to Dinah. It does clearly state that Shechem is responsible. But there is something woven into the text that seems to tell an important story: Jacob, who is aware of the vow he made (because God used language that echoed the vow), hesitated. He knew what he was supposed to do, yet he held back. After Shechem violated his daughter, Jacob carried a great weight... and perhaps he felt it was his fault. So even if the readers cannot rightly blame Jacob, it may be right to see that Jacob blames himself, which may be even worse.