“And if I return in peace to my father's house, and Hashem will be my Elokim (G-d).” (Bereshit 28:21)
It must be clarified why Yaakov added: “and Hashem will be my Elokim,” if he had already been promised that Hashem would be with him at all times when he set out for Haran, as HaKadosh Baruch Hu told him (v. 15): “Behold, I am with you,” and similarly Yaakov himself requested (v. 20): “If Hashem is with me and will guard me on this way...” Why did he ask again that, upon his return, “Hashem will be my Elokim”?
It can be explained according to the Gemara (Ketubot 110b): “One who dwells outside the land [of Israel] is as if he has no G-d.” According to this, we can say that, at first, Yaakov asked for protection for the time when he would be abroad, and Hashem did indeed promise it to him. However, even when Hashem protects him, the entire time he is outside the Land of Israel, he is considered as one who “has no G-d.”
That is why Yaakov concluded by saying that when he returns to his father's house, in the Land of Israel, then Hashem will be my Elokim — for one who dwells in the Land of Israel is like one who has Elokim; whereas when he is abroad, he is considered as if he does not have Him. [Therefore, when Yaakov Avinu said “and Hashem will be my Elokim,” he was referring specifically to the time of his return to the Land of Israel, not to the period when he would reside in Haran.]
Zera Shimshon, Parashat Vaetchanan, art. 1
