These [are] the sons of Ishmael, and these [are] their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.
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 , Lat. per castella et oppida.
See, also, for “encampments,” the trth 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.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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, tirotham, their towers, probably mountain tops, fortified rocks, and fastnesses of various kinds in woods and hilly countries.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
These [are] the sons of Ishmael,…. The twelve before mentioned, Ge 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
Ge 17:20; where is the prophecy, and here an accomplishment of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(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 classesthe 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 Tldth 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.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
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 , peoples, or tribes sprung from one common mother, .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 25:16. By their towns Villages, composed of tents pitched together, Jer 49:31. Some of these people however dwelt in walled towns. See Num 31:10. They had also castles, fortified places, erected in the desarts, to which they repaired in time of danger, Isa 42:11 such castles are among them to this day. See note on ch. Gen 17:20.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
castles: The word tiroth, rendered “castles,” is supposed by some to denote here “towers,” fortified rocks, or mountain-tops, and fastnesses of various kinds in woods and hilly countries; but it rather means, “shepherds’ cots,” surrounded by sufficient enclosures to prevent the cattle from straying, as the cognate Syriac word teyaro, and Arabic tawar, signify “a sheep-fold.”
twelve: Gen 17:20, Gen 17:23
Reciprocal: Gen 37:25 – Ishmeelites 1Ch 6:54 – castles