אֵ֣לֶּה הֵ֞ם בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׁמָעֵאל֙ וְאֵ֣לֶּה שְׁמֹתָ֔ם בְּחַצְרֵיהֶ֖ם וּבְטִֽירֹתָ֑ם שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂ֥ר נְשִׂיאִ֖ם לְאֻמֹּתָֽם׃
это сыновья Измаила, и их имена по деревням и по их лагерям; двенадцать князей в соответствии с их народами.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ספר תולדות אדם, “the book relating the descendants of man.” According to Nachmanides this is an allusion to the entire Torah which is perceived as the ספר תולדות אדם. If it were not so, the Torah should not have used the expression ספר, “book,” but should simply have written אלה תולדות אדם, just as we find in Genesis 25,12 when the descendants of Ishmael are enumerated, or in Genesis 25,19 where the descendants of Yitzchak are listed.
Maybe the meaning of the word ספר in this instance is חכמה, “wisdom,” just as we find it in the ספר יצירה where the expression is ספר וספור as we already mentioned on a previous occasion. The “wisdom” referred to is not ordinary human wisdom but celestial wisdom, a wisdom which would have been man’s had he not sinned. The thrust of our verse then would be: “this book contains the wisdom which should have been an integral part of every human being.” The true descendants of man are not his biological children but his accomplishments in the field of Torah knowledge. The tasks that need to be performed on earth which require a human population could be carried out by someone other than man if need be. This is what Ben Azzai had in mind when he explained that he would not preoccupy himself with marrying and begetting children as his longing was concentrated solely on Torah (Yevamot 63). The complete verse therefore means: “for this book which represents the celestial wisdom, something that ought to belong to every human being seeing he had been created בדמות אלוקים עשה אותו, in the likeness of G’d He made him on the very day that G’d created man.” You will now understand why the Torah saw fit to mention the word אדם twice in this verse.
Maybe the meaning of the word ספר in this instance is חכמה, “wisdom,” just as we find it in the ספר יצירה where the expression is ספר וספור as we already mentioned on a previous occasion. The “wisdom” referred to is not ordinary human wisdom but celestial wisdom, a wisdom which would have been man’s had he not sinned. The thrust of our verse then would be: “this book contains the wisdom which should have been an integral part of every human being.” The true descendants of man are not his biological children but his accomplishments in the field of Torah knowledge. The tasks that need to be performed on earth which require a human population could be carried out by someone other than man if need be. This is what Ben Azzai had in mind when he explained that he would not preoccupy himself with marrying and begetting children as his longing was concentrated solely on Torah (Yevamot 63). The complete verse therefore means: “for this book which represents the celestial wisdom, something that ought to belong to every human being seeing he had been created בדמות אלוקים עשה אותו, in the likeness of G’d He made him on the very day that G’d created man.” You will now understand why the Torah saw fit to mention the word אדם twice in this verse.
Rav Hirsch
V. 10. את כל עריהם במושבתם. Habakuk 3, 7 heißt es: ירגזון יריעות ארץ מדין, woraus zu schließen wäre, daß die Midjaniten nach Nomadenart unter Zeltteppichen wohnten. Ein ähnliches scheint sich aus Richter 6, 5 zu ergeben, wo sie, allerdings mit Anschluss anderer Völker, mit ihren Zelten, Herden und Kamelen, das jüdische Land überzogen. Vergl. auch daselbst 7, 12; 8, 21 u. 24, wo sie als ישמעאלים charakterisiert werden, worunter doch wohl Nomadenvölker zu verstehen sind. Wenn demnach hier von ihren Städten und Burgen gesprochen wird, so müssen sie wohl, obgleich überwiegend als Nomaden lebend, doch auch in Städten sesshaft gewesen sein, und erklärte sich damit die Beifügung: במושבתם zu עריהם, die Städte waren da, wo sie, obgleich sonst Nomaden, doch auch feste Wohnsitze hatten, wohin sie sich zu Zeiten zurückzogen. ואת כל טירתם (siehe Bereschit 25, 16). Zugleich sehen wir auch dort, daß die ישמעאלים doch auch feste Plätze hatten.
Rashi
ובתי החצרים BUT THE HOUSES OF THE VILLAGES — Understand this as the Targum does: פצחין i. e. “houses of open cities” such as have no rampart. The term חצר occurs many times in this sense in the Book of Joshua, e.g., (Joshua 13:29) “the cities and the unwalled places thereof (וחצריהם)”; so also (Genesis 25:16) "by their unwalled places (בחצריהם) and by their strongholds” (see Rashi on that verse).