פּירוש אויף בראשית 28:7

וישמע יעקב AND THAT JACOB HEARKENED — This is to be connected with the proceeding statement, (v. 6) thus: And when Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and that he had sent him away to Padan-aram … and that Jacob had hearkened to his father and had gone to Padan-aram and that the daughters of Canaan were evil … then he also determined to take a wife from his own family and went to Ishmael.

“Jacob obeyed his father” [28:7]. Jacob obeyed and went to Paddan-aram. Bahya asks a question. If Isaac and Rebecca had told Jacob to go to Paddanaram, why did the Holy One punish Jacob that he tarried in the house of Laban and did not honor his father? We find that Joseph the Righteous One was lost to his father for twenty-two years and Jacob did not receive any honor from Joseph, because Jacob did not honor Isaac for twenty-two years, because he was in the house of Laban. The explanation is that Isaac sent Jacob that he should marry Laban’s oldest daughter, who was Leah, and should not tarry there long. Jacob liked Rachel and tarried because of Rachel and that is why the Holy One punished him.⁸⁹Bahya, Genesis, 28:6.

The Imre Noam gives an explanation. Jacob was hidden for fourteen years in Shem’s house of study. Esau’s anger subsided and Rebecca heard from Esau that he did not want to do anything to Jacob. Rebecca sent Deborah to Jacob that he should come home. Deborah found Jacob in the house of Laban, the first year that he had come to the house of Laban. Jacob tarried in the house of Laban for twenty-two years and did not honor his father and mother. Therefore, the Holy One punished him that Joseph also did not honor Jacob for twenty-two years. The Holy One punished him, measure for measure.⁹⁰Imre Noam, Genesis, 27:44.