Why does the Torah list the children of Rachel in between those of the two maidservants (rather than together with those of Leah, or listing all of Yaakov's children according to age)?
Ramban: Since the Torah is enumerating the 70 souls that went down to Egypt, it prefers to list the families according to size.
Why does the Torah refer specifically to Rachel as "the wife of Yaakov"?
Rashi #1 : Because she was the mainstay of his house. 1
Ramban: Because, having placed Rachel in between Bilhah and Zilpah, 2 it boosts her status by referring to her as Ya?akov's wife.
Seforno: Because his main objective was to mary Rachel - Moreover, she bore to Ya?akov the elite of the tribes - Yosef, who was worthy of fathering twelve tribes - like his father Ya?akov, and Binyamin, about whom the Gemara writes in Bava Basra, 143b - that he died due to ?the plan of the snake? (without sin). 3
