Vayetzei (Genesis 28:10-32:3)

This parashah is chock full of fun things.

But let's look at the first four words: "And Jacob want out from Be'er Sheva" (28:10).

When Jacob was mentioned previously (28:5), he was north of Be'er Sheva, living with his parents, and it says "...and he (Jacob) went to Paddan-Aram..."

Paddan-Aram (an Aramaic word, which is also interesting), is NORTH of where Jacob was living with his parents.

Here's a map:

According to the verses, Jacob was with his parents where the bottom arrow is pointing, and 5 verses later he is dwelling south of them, and then has to head north (upper arrow) to get to his final destination.

It's almost as thought the author of this part of the story wasn't interested in having continuity with the other story (which has a few verses breaking them apart when it talks about Esau getting married to his 1st cousin, just as Jacob was planning to do the same).

There are many apologetics about this. One is that Jacob was running away from Esau (the verse doesn't say that, of course), and hiding, and waited to head north again past where Esau lived to get to his uncle's house.

Another is that Shem and Eber had a yeshivah there and Jacob decided to go learn for a few years before heading north. Not to avoid Esau, but to learn things. (Again, there is no verse that indicates that Shem and Eber were hanging out together, or that Jacob knew them, or that they lived in Be'er Sheba.

Be'er Sheba is also interesting because after the Akeida, instead of heading home, as one would expect Abraham and his son and the attendants to do, they also went in a different direction and went to Be'er Sheba instead. Abraham talks to God, then goes to Be'er Sheba, but it doesn't say why. It does seem to be a holy place to YHVH (Genesis 21:33-34).

Later, when he is older, Isaac also goes to Be'er Sheba and encounters YHVH who appears to him (Genesis 26:24).

And as Jacob starts to leave Be'er Sheba, and settles down for the night, he sees YHVH in a dream who introduces Himself (28:13), which causes problems with Exodus 6:3.

So let's go back to the original question, why was Jacob in Be'er Sheba?

Was it to meet YHVH, like his father and grandfather did? Was it to go study Torah with Shem and Eber? Was it to hide from his brother?

Or is this another example of discontinuity due to multiple authors?

The text doesn't say, but I'm leaning towards the latter position.