He left Part 1 (Gen 28:10-11)

 

Jacob's Dream

10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.

Jacob left—It need have written simply “Jacob went toward Haran.” Why does it mention his departure? But it intends to tell us that the departure of a righteous person from his city makes an impression. As long as a righteous man is in his city he is its glory and splendour and beauty; when he leaves it, there depart also its glory, its splendour and its beauty. This, too, is the meaning of (Rth 1:7) “And she set out from the place,” stated in reference to Naomi and Ruth (Bereishit Rabbah 68:6).

Jacob left—Owing to the fact that it was because the Canaanite women did not please the eyes of Isaac his father, that Esau went to Ishmael, Scripture broke off the narrative contained, in the section dealing with Jacob, and wrote (above verse 6), “When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob etc.” and when it finished this (the account of Esau’s marriage) it resumes the previous subject.

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And went toward Haran means he went out to go toward Haran.

Chullin 91b:6

Rabbi Yitzḥak says: The verse means that the sun, which set early exclusively for him, also shone early exclusively for him in order to rectify the disparity created by the premature sunset. The Gemara explains when the sun set early for him: As it is written: “Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran” (Gen 28:10). And it is written thereafter: “And he encountered a certain place and slept there, because the sun had set” (Gen 28:11). When Jacob arrived at Haran, he said: Is it possible that I passed a place where my fathers prayed and I did not pray there? When he set his mind to return, the land contracted for him. Immediately the verse states: “And he encountered a certain place,” indicating that he arrived there miraculously.

Sanhedrin 95b:1

is as it is written: “Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran (Gen 28:10), and it is written thereafter, ostensibly after he arrived in Haran: “And he encountered a certain place and slept there, because the sun had set” (Gen 28:11). This means that when Jacob arrived at Haran, he said: Is it possible that I bypassed a place where my forefathers prayed and I did not pray there? He sought to return to Bethel. Once he contemplated in his mind to return, the land contracted for him, and immediately: “And he encountered a certain place,” indicating that he arrived there unexpectedly, sooner than he would have arrived without a miracle.

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Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. GEN 11:31

I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. GEN 32:11

And Stephen said:

“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,” ACT 7:2

Now when some days had passed, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted Festus. ACT 25:13

11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.

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And he came—Similar are (Jos 16:7) “and it touches (וּפָגַע) Jericho”; and (Jos 19:11) “and it touches (וּפָגַע) Dabbesheth.” Our rabbis explained it in the sense of “praying,” just as (Jer 7:16) “And do not intercede (תִּפְגַּע) with me.” Thus we may learn that Jacob originated the custom of the evening prayer. Scripture purposely changed the usual word for “praying,” not writing וַיִתְפַּלֵּל, to teach you also that the ground shrunk before him i.e. the journey was miraculously shortened (Chullin 91b).

And he came to a certain place—Scripture does not mention which place, but it refers to the place mentioned already in another passage, viz., Mount Moriah of which it is stated (Gen 22:4) “And he saw the place from afar.”

Because the sun had set—It should have written, “And the sun set, and he stayed there overnight,” but the words “he stayed there overnight because the sun set,” imply that the sun set unexpectedly—not at its proper time—just in order that he should stay there overnight.

Put it under his head—He arranged them in the form of a drain-pipe around his head for he was afraid of wild beasts (Bereishit Rabbah 68:11). They (the stones) began quarrelling with one another. One said, “Upon me let this righteous man rest his head,” and another said “Upon me let him rest it.” Whereupon the holy One, blessed be he, straightway made them into one stone! This explains what is written (Gen 28:18), “Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head” (Chullin 91b).

And lay down in that place—The word הַהוּא, that, has a limitative force: in that place he lay down to sleep, but during the previous fourteen years when he sat under his teachers in the school of Eber he never slept at night for he was incessantly engaged in the study of the law (Bereishit Rabbah 68:11).