The Torah keeps its genealogies lean, but they are never decorative. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 25:13 records the names of Ishmael's firstborn children: "Neboi, and Arab, and Abdeel, and Mibsham," followed by eight more in later verses. Twelve sons in all.
Twelve. The same number as the tribes of Jacob. The Targum does not comment on the parallel, but it is impossible to miss. Abraham had promised God he would make Ishmael "a great nation" (Genesis 17:20), and the twelve princes of Ishmael are the fulfillment of that promise. The covenant went to Isaac, but the blessing of multiplication was given to both sons.
Read the Aramaic form of the names carefully. Neboi. Arab. Abdeel. Mibsham. These are the names of tribes and territories that will populate the deserts east and south of the Land of Israel for centuries. The Targum is not listing strangers. It is listing cousins.
The Torah's narrative restraint is instructive. It does not linger on Ishmael's descendants the way it will linger on Israel's. But it names them. Each son has his name preserved. Each becomes a prince of a tribe. Abraham's prayer at Genesis 17:18 — "Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee!" — echoes through this list. He did live. His children live. Their names are in the Torah.
The Maggid's observation is simple and important. Jewish tradition has always been able to hold two truths at once. The covenant is specific. But the dignity of the non-covenantal lines is also real. Ishmael's twelve sons are named in the Torah not as rivals but as relatives. What God gives to the covenant family does not require erasing the blessing given to everyone else.