Genesis 25:16 -
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. Isaiah 42:11 )— and by their castles; —fortified keeps (Murphy); tent villages (Keil); nomadic camps (Kalisch). Cf. Numbers 31:10 ; 1 Chronicles 6:39 ; Psalms 69:26 ; Ezekiel 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; Thucydides another in ancient Attica (2. 15); vide Havernick's 'Introch,' § 18— according to their nations (or tribe divisions).
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