Genesis 30 contains the story of the births of the children—and the competition for Jacob's affections—of the sisters, Leah and Rachel. Because there were so many wives and concubines, conclusions about Joseph's birth order is varied. Here is what I will give you here. Without a doubt, he was Rachel's first son. But he was the seventh born son of the two wives. He was the eighth child to the two wives, because there was one daughter in there (Dinah). And overall, considering the concubines (Bilhah and Zilpah), he appears to have been the eleventh born of Jacob.
Now, I would not say that God is involved in every birth, of all on earth. But it is good to remember that God, indeed, was carrying out His plan to fulfill His purpose. In the lives of these people, He was taking major steps to form the nations with which He would make the covenant. These nations would then be His representatives on earth. Let us go back to the New Testament, to Romans.
