Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 25:16

"These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments. Twelve princes according to their nations." — Genesis 25:16 (ASV)

By their towns, and by their castles. — There were no towns and castles in the wilderness of Paran, but we know for certain that the first of these words signified an unwalled village. (See Leviticus 25:31, where it is exactly described; also Psalm 10:8, Isaiah 42:11.) It was, however, a settled and permanent place of dwelling. The other word rendered here as castle, but used as the equivalent of tent in Psalm 69:25, is really a cluster of tents—the encampment of a tribe, and movable.

This word occurs in Numbers 31:10; 1 Chronicles 6:54; and Ezekiel 25:4. As is well known, the Arabs are divided into two classes. First, there are the tent-dwellers, who are always moving from station to station, though they seldom cross certain established limits. Second, there is the agricultural class, who have fixed habitations; these are regarded as inferiors and are probably the remnants of a conquered race.

To this day, they pay a sort of tribute, or protection money, to the nobler Arabs. We find, then, this distinction already existing when this Tôldôth was written; 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 on 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 to him.