“Now it happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house (Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are to this day. Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.”
I Kings 9:10-14 NKJV
a. Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold: Tyre – the prominent city in the land just north of Israel (modern Lebanon) – was noted for its fine wood.
b. King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee: This was not good. Hiram was indeed a friend to both David and Solomon, but the land of Israel was given to Israel by divine decree. Trading Israel’s land for a glorious temple and palace was not a good deal.
i. However, the transaction may be described here to show that Solomon was a shrewd dealer and got the better of Hiram in these arrangements. It seems that Solomon gave Hiram some fairly insignificant settlements and received a large amount of gold in return.
ii. “To pay for the gold Solomon mortgaged twenty ‘settlements’ (rather than towns, for irim is used of any group of habitations from a hamlet to a metropolis).” (Wiseman)
iii. “It is clear that Hiram considered the cities to be worthless, and taunted Solomon for giving him ‘good-for-nothing’ towns. Hiram nicknamed the cities Kabul, which literally means ‘good-for-nothing.’ Even though he was displeased with the trade, Hiram went ahead with it in good humor and sent Solomon 120 talents of gold” (Dilday). A talent is calculated to be about 70 pounds of gold. Dilday estimated the value of this gold at more than $50 million (something close to $161 million at 2015 prices).
c. But they did not please him: We don’t know exactly why Hiram was displeased with these cities. Perhaps he was displeased with his compromise, knowing that Solomon did something his father David never would. (Guzik)
Kabul
“good-for-nothing” I have to admit that there are times I feel like I’m “good for nothing”, but I remind myself that this earth is not my home.
I look forward to going home to heaven and seeing the place that Jesus has prepared for me!
“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2 NKJV
What about you?
Blessings
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