וַתִּגַּ֧שְׁןָ הַשְּׁפָח֛וֹת הֵ֥נָּה וְיַלְדֵיהֶ֖ן וַתִּֽשְׁתַּחֲוֶֽיןָ׃
Then the maids, with their children, came forward and bowed low;
וַתִּגַּ֧שׁ גַּם־לֵאָ֛ה וִילָדֶ֖יהָ וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲו֑וּ וְאַחַ֗ר נִגַּ֥שׁ יוֹסֵ֛ף וְרָחֵ֖ל וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲוֽוּ׃
next Leah, with her children, came forward and bowed low; and last, Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed low.
Genesis 33:6-7 (Revised JPS, 2023)
This is impossible to catch in the English, but in the Hebrew, there’s something that happens here that seems rather important.
In English:
the maidservants and their children bowed low
Leah and her children bowed low
Joseph and Rachel bowed low
It looks like everyone bowed low. But this is not the case.
With the maidservants, “they bowed” is a feminine plural (וַתִּשְׁתַּחֲוֶיןָ). Grammatically, this CANNOT include males.
With Rachel and Leah, “they bowed” is a masculine plural (וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ) , which can include males and females.
Therefore, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher) did not bow in this text.
At least one commentator suggests that being children of a maidservant made them… lesser, and not worth bowing. Whatever the reason, the text seems very keen to point this out.