Genesis 46:18
These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls. These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.
Genesis 46:18 stands in the record of Jacob and his household going down to Egypt, naming sixteen descendants of Zilpah, the handmaid whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, as those she bore to Jacob. Their numbering belongs to the history of Jacob's family and the origin of the twelve tribes, continuing the same history from the story of Abraham through the sojourn of the tribes in Egypt. It forms part of the detailed count of the seventy who went down to Egypt, a count that names sixty-eight men, with their wives and daughters additional and not included in that total.
The list counts Zilpah's descendants among the family totals yet does not include everyone who went with Jacob, since it includes his sons and grandsons and two women, while other daughters, granddaughters, and some children of grandsons also went. The word souls here means persons, so the sixteen are Zilpah's sons and daughters in Jacob's family reckoned as sixteen people, not as beings living separately from their bodies. Their inclusion contributes to the record of Jacob's family and shows God's care in preserving the people from whom the promised Seed would come.
God by providence directed Israel in going and so sent His children into Egypt, though no Scripture states this directly, with a twofold purpose to preserve His own people from famine and try them and to keep representatives of divine truth constantly before Egypt. As the history of Joseph in this chapter shows, God's guidance can lead by a roundabout path and still bring a person safely to the purpose He has intended.