SEV Biblia, Chapter 9:13
Y dijo: ¿Qué ciudades son éstas que me has dado, hermano? Y les puso por nombre, la tierra de Cabul, hasta hoy.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 9:13
Verse 13. Called them the land of Cabul] Whether this epithet was given to this land by Hiram as a mark of disapprobation, or what is its proper meaning, the learned are not agreed. That there was a country of this name in the promised land in the time of Joshua, is evident enough from Josh. xix. 27, as it was one part of the boundary of the tribe of Asher; hence some interpret the word border or boundary, and so, the Septuagint understood it, for they have translated the Hebrew word orion, which signifies the same. The margin gives another meaning.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 13. And he said , etc.] By letter to him: what cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother ? so he called him, being not only his neighbour, but his ally, in friendship and covenant with him; and this he said of them not by way of complaint, or contempt, as unworthy of his acceptance; for so munificent a prince as Solomon would never offer to a king to whom he was so much obliged anything mean and contemptible; but as being unsuitable to him, however valuable they might be in themselves, or of advantage to others: and he called them the land of Cabul unto this day ; or rather the words should be rendered impersonally, “they were called so”; for Hiram could not call them by this name to the times of the writer of this book; nor is there any reason to think he would give them any name at all, and much less a contemptible one, as this is thought to be, when he did not choose to accept of them. Some interpret the word shut up, or unfruitful, sandy, dirty, clayey; so in the Talmud it is said to be a sandy land, and called Cabul, because a man’s foot was plunged in it up to his ankles, and is represented as unfruitful. Josephus says, in the Phoenician tongue it signifies “not pleasing”, which agrees with what Hiram says, ( 1 Kings 9:12). Hillerus interprets it “as nothing”, they being as nothing to Hiram, of no use to him, whatever they might be to others; and therefore he restored them to Solomon, ( 2 Chronicles 8:2), which seems to be the best sense of the word. They are the same with Decapolis, ( Matthew 4:25) so called from ten cities therein f167 .
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 10-14 - Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities. Hiram did not like them. If Solomo would gratify him, let it be in his own element, by becoming his partner in trade, as he did. See how the providence of God suits thi earth to the various tempers of men, and the dispositions of men to the earth, and all for the good of mankind in general.
Original Hebrew
ויאמר 559 מה 4100 הערים 5892 האלה 428 אשׁר 834 נתתה 5414 לי אחי 251 ויקרא 7121 להם ארץ 776 כבול 3521 עד 5704 היום 3117 הזה׃ 2088
