Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Sforno · Torah

Sforno on Genesis 28:21/ספורנו על בראשית כ״ח:כ״א

אוְשַׁבְתִּי בְשָׁלוֹם. מִן הַחֳלָאִים הַמַּעֲבִירִים גַּם כֵּן אֶת הָאָדָם, וְהוּא רוּחַ רָעָה שֶׁהִזְכִּירוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה.
1ושבתי בשלום, from all the problems besetting man, i.e. a reference to what the Talmud had called רוח רעה.
בוְהָיָה ה' לִי לֵאלֹהִים. אָז יִהְיֶה ה' לְדַיָּן אִם לֹא אֶעֱבְדֵהוּ בְּכָל כֹּחִי, וְהַוָּא"ו כְּמוֹ זֹאת מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת בִּמְקוֹם הִנֵּה. כְּלוֹמַר, הִנְנִי מְקַבֵּל עָלַי מֵעַתָּה שֶׁהָאֵל יִתְבָּרַךְ הַמְרַחֵם יִהְיֶה לִי לֵאלֹהִים וְיִתְנַהֵג עִמִּי בְּמִדַּת הַדִּין.
2והיה ה' לי לאלוקים, then G’d will be a judge, and He can examine to see if I did not fulfill my vow to the best of my ability. The letter ו at the beginning of the word והיה, [where we would perhaps have expected Yaakov to use an ordinary future tense such as יהיה, Ed.], may be in lieu of the word הנה, meaning that Yaakov would already from now on act on the assumption that G’d would provide him with the necessities he had asked for and therefore he was willing to be judged by the attribute of Justice, not relying on the attribute of Mercy.