Комментарий к Берешит 46:18

THESE ARE THE SONS OF ZILPAH, etc. 19. THE SONS OF RACHEL JACOB’s WIFE, etc. It is customary for Scripture to first enumerate the sons of the mistresses together, just as it said in the Seder Vayishlach Yaakov²¹⁶Above, 35: 23-26. and in the Seder V’eileh Shmoth bnei Yisrael,²¹⁷Exodus 1: 2-4. or else to enumerate them according to the order of their birth, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth,²¹⁸Above, 43:33. as Scripture did when they were blessed by Jacob in the Seder Vayechi Yaakov.²¹⁹See my Hebrew Commentary (p. 295) where the point is made that Ramban refers only to Joseph and Benjamin. Either Scripture mentions them at first together with the sons of Leah, as it did in Seder Vayishlach and in Shmoth, or according to their age, as it did in Vayechi. Ramban is attempting to explain why they are mentioned here after Zilpah’s children. Here, however, because Scripture’s purpose was to enumerate their numbers and to state that with seventy souls they went down to Egypt, it gave precedence to those who were more numerous. This was why Scripture mentioned Rachel among the concubines, and hence it was necessary to mention her with respect, saying, Jacob’s wife, as I have mentioned above.²²⁰Above, 37:2.

אלה בני זלפה, “These are the sons of Zilpah;” Although it is the Torah’s style to list the names of the children of Yaakov’s principal wives, Leah and Rachel, together, as was done in Parshat Vayishlach, and as occurred when they received their respective blessings in Parshat Vayechi, here when the main consideration is numbers, the Torah listed Zilpah’s offspring before that of Rachel as the latter produced only 14 of the 70, whereas Ziplpah produced 16. Since she had been mentioned as part of the שפחות, handmaids, the Torah adds the title נשי יעקב, “Yaakov’s wives” in order to accord them the honour they deserve.

Im Geschlechtsregister wird darauf hingedeutet, dass, wenn Silpa und Bilha Frauen Jakobs geworden sind, dies nur auf Veranlassung ihrer "Herrinnen" selbst geschehen. Ebenso wird bei Rahel angedeutet, dass sie die einzige Gattin seiner Wahl gewesen.