Genesis 25:16

Gen 25:16 These [are] the sons of Ishmael, and these [are] their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.

Ver. 16. These are their names by their towns.] Which they called after their own names, as Cain did, that first built the city Enoch, after his son’s name; that he might be styled "Lord Enoch of Enoch." So, the many Alexandrias, Caesareas, Augustas, &c. See Psa 49:11.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25:16 Ishmael’s twelve sons fulfilled God’s promise of blessing (17:20).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 16. These are their names] By which their descendants were called. Their towns - places of encampment in the wilderness, such as have been used by the Arabs from the remotest times. Their castles, טירתם tirotham, their towers, probably mountain tops, fortified rocks, and fastnesses of various kinds in woods and hilly countries.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(16) By their towns, and by their castles.—Towns and castles in the wilderness of Paran there were none, but we know for certain that the first of these words signified an unwalled village. (See Lev_25:31, where it is exactly described; also Psa_10:8·, Isa_42:11.) It was, however, a settled and permanent place of dwelling. The other word rendered here castle, but used as the equivalent of tent in Psa_69:25, is really a cluster of tents, the encampment of a tribe, and movable. It occurs in Num_31:10; 1Ch_6:54; Eze_25:4. As is well known, the Arabs are divided into two classes—the dwellers in tents, who are ever moving from station to station, within certain limits, nevertheless, which they seldom pass over; and the agricultural class, who have fixed habitations, are looked upon as inferiors, and probably are the remains of a conquered race. To this day they pay a sort of rent, or black-mail, to the nobler Arabs. We find, then, this distinction already existing when this Tôldôth was drawn up; the agricultural Arabs dwelling in unwalled villages, while the nomad tribes pitched now here, and now there, their clusters of black camels’-hair tents. And thus we have in these words proof that Ishmael and his subjects were not all upon the same level; for while he, his sons, and his noblest retainers would dwell in tents, the inhabitants of the villages would be men of inferior origin, compelled to submit themselves to him.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. by their villages, and … encampments] The distinction is, probably, between settled habitations in open unwalled villages, and circles of black tents in which the Bedouins dwell. This distinction between the permanent and the movable dwellings of the Ishmaelites is not reproduced in the versions. LXX ἐν ταῖς σκηναῖς … ἐν ταῖς ἐπαύλεσιν, Lat. per castella et oppida.

See, also, for “encampments,” the tîrôth of the Midianites (Num_31:10) and of “the children of the east” (Eze_25:4).

twelve princes] See note on Gen_25:2. The fulfilment of Gen_17:20 (P). The “princes” are “leaders,” or Sheikhs, of clans.

nations] A technical term for “clan” (’ummah = ’ummat in Arabic); cf. Psa_117:1 : elsewhere only Num_25:15 = “a father’s house.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

These are the sons of Ishmael,.... The twelve before mentioned, Gen 25:13,

these are their names, by their towns and by their castles; their towns and their castles being called after their names, some of which we are able to trace at this distance, as the above notes show:

twelve princes according to their nations; these were princes, or heads of tribes, and there were twelve of them, and continued so, see Gen 17:20; where is the prophecy, and here an accomplishment of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

By their castles; or, the castles, towns, and tribes of principal note, received their names from these twelve princes, or phylarks, whose authority is still recognized among all the tribes of the Arabs. (Thevenot.) (Haydock) --- The towns of these people were easily built, and more easily destroyed; for they consisted only of tents, Jeremias xlix. 31. Their castles were perhaps only sheep-folds, as the original Tiroth may signify; or they were a sort of watch-towers, to prevent the sudden attack of an invading enemy, and to serve also for a retreat. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

16. By their towns, and… castles — Rather, in their village and in their encampment. “It is generally known, that the Arabs are, according to their mode of life, divided into two chief classes: those of towns or villages, and those of the deserts, or the dwellers in tents. The latter, of course nomadic in their habits, are the Bedouins and Scenitae. It is not improbable that these two different classes are alluded to in the words, ‘By their villages and by their tents.’ The roaming Bedouins regard the agricultural population with a certain contempt as slaves of toil and drudgery. They seldom cultivate the land which they may have inherited or won by their valour; but rent it out for a fixed annual sum to peasants subordinated to them in a kind of vassalage.” — Kalisch.

Twelve princes — Ishmael, like Israel, had twelve sons, who became the princes and heads of so many tribes.

Nations — אמות, peoples, or tribes sprung from one common mother, אם.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, unwalled encampments, from hatzar, to surround; used of the movable villages of nomadic tribes (cf. Isa_42:11) and by their castles; fortified keeps (Murphy); tent villages (Keil); nomadic camps (Kalisch). Cf. (Num_31:10; 1Ch_6:39; Eze_25:4) twelve princes this does not imply that Ishmael had only twelve sons, like Israel a very suspicious circumstance (De Wette); but only that these twelve became phylarchs (Havernick). The Egyptian dedecarchy rested on a like earlier division of names. Homer mentions a similar case among the Phoenicians (Odyss., 8. 390); Thucydides another in ancient Attica (2. 15); vide Havernick"s "Introch," according to their nations (or tribe divisions).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

בחצריהם BY THEIR ENCLOSURES — Unwalled towns. In the Targum it is rendered by בפצחיהון because they are מפוצחים, which means “open”; similar in meaning to (Psalms 98:4) ‘‘Open your mouths (פצחו) and sing for joy”.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

אלה, the general rule follows the individual components of the general rule. This is a method employed by the Torah on many occasions.

ואלה שמותם, the Torah reminds us that whenever a person or a people mentioned in Scripture bears any of these names of the princes of Ishmael, he or they are descendants of Ishmael even if many generations previous.

בחצריהם ובטירותם, wherever they had claimed their ancestral inheritance they existed in splendour and numerical prominence. The word חצר refers to an open, unwalled city, whereas the word טירות refers to cities which were surrounded by walls.

שנים עשר נשיאים לאומתם, twelve princes corresponding to the number of their families (tribes). Each one of the ones named by the Torah was a tribal chief, member of a family which grew into a mighty tribe bearing the name of their first founder. We find further detailed examples of these tribes in Chronicles I 5,19. A number of these tribes have been mentioned in different contexts in the Books of the Prophets.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.