Genesis 46:18
These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah… The house of a nomadic patriarch included his wives, his children, his servants, and their children. Each of his wives had her own sub-house made up of her own children, her handmaids, and her handmaids’ children if they were also the patriarch’s concubines. Elsewhere the Torah explicates that the wives and children of a servant belong to the master if the wife is also a servant of the same master. If an infertile (or under-fertile) woman gave her servant girl to her husband as a concubine, the servant’s children were born free and belonged to the free woman as if they were her own, although their inheritance was somewhat in doubt if there were natural children besides. They inherited, but not necessarily as firstborn.
In this passage, the children of Jacob’s four wives are sorted first by their mothers and then by their birth order. Leah’s children are given first, followed by Zilpah’s, Rachel’s, and finally Bilhah’s. This illustrates the internal structure of Jacob’s house according to his wives. Zilpah and her children were a subdivision within Leah’s house, because Zilpah was always Leah’s servant even while a concubine to Jacob. The same is true of Rachel and Bilhah.
On another level, this organization illustrates another structure within the nation of Israel. When the Hebrews left Egypt, they brought with them a mixed multitude of gentiles who came to be associated with one tribe or another, eventually becoming indistinguishable in every way. They were attached to Israel by faith in God’s promises and by their presense at Sinai. How tribal identities were determined or assigned I have no idea, but that they were, I have no doubt. By the time Israel entered the promised land, there was no more mixed multitude, but only the twelve tribes.
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