and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
Hiram of Tyre had kept Solomon's building works going for twenty years, and Solomon settled the account with twenty towns in Galilee. The transfer raises a sharp question: could a king of Israel hand any part of the land over to a foreign ruler at all?
The Deal Behind the Gift
The payment covered more than timber.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinBesides supplying Solomon with timber, he also gave him gold; this amounted to 120 talents of gold. Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in Galilee. When he came to look at them, he was not pleased with them. He called them Cabul, which probably means "as nothing." Solomon may have given these cities to King Hiram for the gold he had received from him. Hiram later gave the cities back to Solomon, most likely after Solomon had paid back the gold Hiram had supplied.
Where These Cities Lay
These twenty towns were the seed of a region that would later carry a very different name.
H. L. RossierHiram had helped freely with the temple and with the king's house. At the end of the twenty years of building, Solomon gave him a territory of twenty cities in the land of Galilee. This was the seed of what was later called "Galilee of the nations" (Isaiah 9:1; Matthew 4:15). At first the territory was part of the borders of Naphtali. Later it spread to include the area of Zebulun, all of "Upper Galilee," reaching to the Sea of Tiberias by way of Capernaum.
Land That Was Never Solomon's to Give
Solomon made a transfer he had no right to make. Israel held the land from God on terms that ruled out permanent sale.
Leslie M. GrantSolomon did not have God's approval in giving away these cities. The Lord had said before, "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me" (Leviticus 25:23). Solomon had no right to give away the least part of the land, for it did not belong to him: it belongs to God.
The same writer asks what this means for believers today:
Leslie M. GrantCan we today give away any part of the inheritance God has given to believers "in heavenly places"? The inheritance belongs first of all to the Lord Jesus, and in grace He shares it with us (Ephesians 1:9-11). We are not free to give away any part of it.
Cabul: What the World Makes of God's Things
Hiram looked over his payment and gave the district a name meaning "amounting to nothing." One writer takes his reaction as typical of how the world treats what Christians value.
H. L. RossierHiram was unable to appreciate what had great value in the eyes of Solomon and of any Israelite. He said, "What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?" And he called them the land of Cabul (amounting to nothing) to this day (v. 13). He gave them this name because "they did not please him." So it always is. The world may act with the best intentions, like Hiram. But when it merely has the use of those good things of Christianity that are our joy — that is, without faith — it finds no delight in them. These things weary the world; they count for nothing in its life. No doubt the world will keep them so that it can boast at times of having them. But it cannot keep them as they first were.
The Chronicles Account Runs the Other Way
Compare this passage with 2 Chronicles 8 and you meet a puzzle. There, Hiram gives cities to Solomon.
Henri L. RossierThe territory of the promised land never had any value for the world. Solomon, for his part, committed real unfaithfulness in taking away Jehovah's land. Chronicles, as always, passes his sin over in silence. Instead of Solomon giving cities to Huram, in verse 2 we see Huram giving cities to Solomon. A day is coming when the world — Tyre stands for the world in the Word — will come with its riches. It will admit that it owes tribute to Christ, and it will offer its finest cities as homes for the children of Israel.
The Despised District God Chose
Hiram's verdict was not the last word on this district.
Thomas GrayHiram called these cities the land of Cabul, which means "as of nothing" or worthless. That is what he thought about Galilee. He did not mind sharing in the splendour of Solomon's house and outward glory. But he counted the reproach of Galilee as worthless. Into these conditions came the Lord Jesus. He grew up in Nazareth in poverty.
Summary
- Debt — Twenty Galilean towns paid Hiram for the timber and gold he supplied over twenty years of building. He later gave them back.
- Deed — The land belonged to the Lord and was never for permanent sale. Solomon had no right to sign any of it away.
- Disdain — Hiram looked at his payment and called it Cabul, "amounting to nothing." That is still the world's verdict on what faith values most.
- Difference — Chronicles turns the picture round: there Hiram gives cities to Solomon. It points to the day when the nations bring their riches to Christ.
- Dignity — The district called worthless became Galilee of the nations. There the Lord Jesus grew up in poverty.