Bereshit chapter 34 records the rape of Dina and the subsequent massacre of the people of Shekhem by Shimon and Levi. When did this incident occur? If one follows the chronological order of the Torah, then it occurred when Yaakov was returning from Haran before he returned to his father in Hevron, 35:27. Yet, with this reckoning, Yaakov's children would have been very young at the time.
Yaakov spent twenty years in Haran, 31:38,41, and his children were born starting from his eighth year in Haran. Thus when Yaakov left Haran, Reuven, Yaakov's oldest son, would have been around 12. How long did it take for Yaakov to go from Haran to Shekhem? 33:17,18 record that after Yaakov's encounter with Esav on his return from Haran, he built a house in Sukkot, and then afterwards he went to Shekhem. This implies that he stayed some time in Sukkot. Rashi (on 33:17) based on the Talmud claims he stayed there 18 months, and in total, Rashi (on 28:9) records that it took Yaakov two years to return home. This could be, but it also could have been much less, a few months. Yet, even with Rashi's dating, still Shimon, who was approximately a year young younger than Reuven would have been around 13, and Levi who was approximately two years younger than Reuven would have been around 12 when the incident of Shekhem occurred, see Nazir 29b. Could such youths have killed an entire city? Would Hamor have negotiated with such young lads?
How old was Dina? We do not know when Dina was born. 30:21 records that she was born after Lea's sixth son, Zevulun, but how much afterwards? Ibn Ezra (on 30:21) notes that some claim that she was a twin with Zevulun which means she would have been around six when Yaakov left Haran. However, as we discuss on 30:23, "A bulging family," it is also possible that she was born after the seven years that Yaakov worked for Rahel, but her birth was recorded with the other births. Furthermore, 32:12,23, which do not refer to her, imply that she was born after Yaakov met Esav. In all of these scenarios, she would have been very young at the time when Shekhem the son of Hamor raped and desired to marry her, 34:2,3.
Ibn Ezra (on 33:20) notes the incongruity of the ages, and he explains that Yaakov must have spent a long time in Shekhem. With this understanding, the incident with Dina occurred at the end of this period. Yet, this also seems unlikely since Yaakov would have had to stay many years (maximum 11) in Shekhem. Yaakov was returning home from Haran. Would he have delayed so long to return home? Furthermore, 48:7 informs us that Rahel died when Yaakov was on his way back from Haran, but if he stayed many years in Shekhem, as Ibn Ezra suggests, then her death which is recorded after Yaakov left Shekhem, 35:17-19, could not be considered as being on the way back from Haran.
I think chapter 34 is not recorded in chronological order, and the question is when does the narrative re-start? One possibility is that 35:6 renews the description of Yaakov's return home from Lavan, and the second possibility is that 35:8 renews the journey. A difference between them is whether the building of the altar in 35:7 was on the way home (the first possibility) or after the events in Shekhem (the second possibility). Another related difference between the two possibilities is how many times did Yaakov go to Bet-El. According to the first possibility, three time, once when he ran away from Esav, once after he bought the land in Shekhem, and once after the massacre in Shekhem, while according to the second possibility, twice, once when he ran away from Esav, and once after the massacre in Shekhem
With either possibility, the chronology would be that after meeting Esav, Yaakov bought land in Shekhem, and built an altar, 33:19,20 and then he continued on his journey home, 35:6 or 35:8.
The incident with Shekhem occurred sometime during the twenty two years when Yosef was in Egypt, and all of Yaakov's children were grown-ups. The Torah did not record the incident in its chronological order in order not to interrupt the story of Yosef. (This would be similar to the mention of Yitzhak's death 35:28,29, which we know occurred 12 years after Yosef was sold into slavery, and Terah's death in 11:32 even though it happened 60 years after Avraham came to the land of Israel.) With this understanding, Yosef was not involved in this incident in Shekhem since he was in Egypt and maybe Yehuda was also not there since he had left the family for some period of time, 38:1.
This chronology explains four other anomalies in the text. One, Yaakov is very passive during the incident in Shekhem. 34:5 records that when he heard about the actions of Shekhem the son of Hamor he was silent, and he was not involved in the negotiations at all. Only in the end, when he realized what a disaster took place, did he criticize Shimon and Levi, and even then he let them have the last word. Why was Yaakov so passive? It is true that Yaakov had a passive personality (see our discussion on 25:27 "Yaakov's personality,") but one would have thought that when his daughter was raped this would have caused him to "break out" as he did when Lavan searched his possession. However, if chapter 34 occurred after the sale of Yosef, then Yaakov was depressed and even more passive than his usual self, and hence he was quiet when he heard about the rape.
A second difficulty is that 37:12 records that the brothers went to graze their sheep in Shekhem and this is difficult if chapter 34 had already occurred since 35:5 records that the surrounding towns wanted to revenge the deaths of the people of Shekhem, see Rashbam on 37:13. Why would the brothers go there? The answer is that they were going to their land by Shekhem which Yaakov had bought and the massacre had not yet happened.
A third question is that 35:1 records that G-d told Yaakov to go to Bet El to build an altar. The usual understanding (see Rashi on 35:1) is that G-d was commanding Yaakov to fulfill his vow which he had made when he running away from Esav, 28:10-22. Why did Yaakov need G-d to prompt him to fulfill the vow? Why did Yaakov not fulfill the vow on his own after his successful encounter with Esav?
Many have criticized Yaakov for not fulfilling his vow. Bereshit Rabbah 81:2 records, “Yaakov’s ledger was examined because he delayed the fulfillment of his vow.” Rashi (on 35:1, also see Radak and Hizkuni on 35:1) writes more explicitly, “Because you have delayed to fulfill your vow to sacrifice to me at Bet-El, you have been punished by the troubles with Dina.” Yet, this punishment seems unrelated to the “sin,” since Yaakov sinned but Dina was also punished for Yaakov’s actions. Furthermore, once Yaakov went to Bet-El, G-d confirmed many blessings, 35:9-13, which is incompatible with the idea that Yaakov had sinned.
Abravanel suggests that Yaakov did not sin but that he had a different understanding of the vow. In the vow, Yaakov had stated that the condition of the vow was that he would return to his father’s house, 28:21. Hence, Yaakov thought that the conditions of the vow had not yet been fulfilled since Yaakov had still not returned to Yitzhak, as Yaakov was in Shekhem while Yitzhak was in Hevron, 35:27. Yaakov was intending to fulfill the vow, but only after he saw Yitzhak. G-d did not want Yaakov to wait, and thus G-d prompted Yaakov to fulfill the vow even before he came home. This approach is appealing, but one would have thought that the problem of coming home safely was Yaakov’s fear of Esav, and hence once Yaakov’s encounter with Esav ended safely, then there was no longer an appreciable danger that Yaakov would not return home safely.
With the suggested chronology above, Yaakov did not delay in fulfilling his vow. According to the first possibility, that the chronological narrative resumes in 35:6, then after Yaakov went to Shekhem, 33:18-20, he went to Bet-El, where he built an altar 35:6,7. G-d’s command in 35:1 to go to Bet-El was not for Yaakov to fulfill his vow since he had fulfilled the vow when he returned from Haran, but to pray to G-d after the massacre of the people of Shekhem, either for protection after the massacre or as a form of repentance. Note that in 35:1, G-d does not refer to the vow in chapter 28, but only to His appearance to Yaakov when he was running away from Esav. Just like G-d had protected Yaakov from Esav, so too Yaakov needed G-d’s protection from the people who lived around Shekhem, 35:5. With this understanding 35:5 is the end of the incident in Shekhem, and the Torah does not record Yaakov's (third) arrival in Bet-El after the incident in Shekhem.
With the second possibility, that the chronological narrative resumes in 35:8, Yaakov also did not delay fulfilling his vow, but he thought that the building of the altar in Shekhem, 33:20 was the fulfillment of his vow in 28:20-22, see our discussion above on 33:18-20, "A detour to Shekhem." The building of the altar in 35:7 was then in response to G-d's command in 35:1.
A fourth question is that 35:1 records that G-d not only told Yaakov to go to Bet-El, but also to live there. This has perplexed the commentators (see Ramban and Seforno on 35:1) since we see that Yaakov continues on from Bet-El to go to Yitzhak in Hevron, 35:8-27. Our chronology provides an answer because Yaakov could have stayed a long time in Bet-El since the travelling in the ensuing narrative from 35:8 onwards is when Yaakov was returning home and is not related to the period after the massacre in Shekhem.
35:1 also provides some hints as to where Yaakov lived when Yosef was in Egypt. Yaakov was living in Hevron when Yosef was sold to Egypt, 37:14. It is possible that afterwards the family stayed in Hevron, and would periodically return to Shekhem to the plot of land that Yaakov bought. With this possibility, it was during one of these visits years later that the incident recorded in chapter 34 occurred, and then in 35:1 G-d was telling Yaakov to go to Bet-El and stay there until he was ready to return to Hevron. A different possibility is that after Yosef disappeared, Yaakov moved to Shekhem either to look for Yosef or just because he needed to get away. After the incident with Shekhem, Yaakov realized that he was in great danger, 34:30, so G-d told him to go Bet-El and live there. With this understanding, it is possible that Yaakov lived in Bet-El until he went to Egypt.
To conclude, I believe that 34:1-35:5 or 34:1-35:7 are recorded out of chronological order, and the events recorded in the intervening section occurred when Yosef was in Egypt. Accordingly, when Yaakov returned from Haran, he went to Shekhem for a very short period, 33:18-20, and then he continued going south to Hevron to see his father.