1 Kings 5-9 CSB
At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord’s temple and the royal palace—King Hiram of Tyre having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every wish—King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee. So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them. So he said, “What are these towns you’ve given me, my brother?” So he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are still called today. Now Hiram had sent the king nine thousand pounds of gold. (9:10-14)
I stumbled upon this little nugget today in my bible reading and am astounded by the significance of it. Basically, it is just a historical note of how a neighboring king had helped Solomon with the materials for the Temple and for three palaces and how Solomon had repaid him. Perhaps the writer is including this to emphasize the shrewdness of Solomon giving 20 “backwoods” towns for a king’s ransom in timber and gold, or perhaps it is just a random historical note. We are not really sure. What we do know is that Hiram, the King of Tyre, was not impressed.
Now fast-forward to our vantage point in time and we can see that the writer is referring to Galilee and we know that this is where the majority of Jesus’ ministry occurred, and where the most prominent disciples came from. When Hiram came to look at his “gift” he saw these 20 “towns” (or more likely villages), and called them the “Land of Cabul.” Cabul literally means, “Like Nothing.” For Hiram, he had gotten the short end of the stick. He had been given 20 small towns that were worthless in his eyes and not at all comparable to the gifts that he had given to Solomon. In that time it could have been true, but we must remember that value is not always figured in monetary terms.
From a place that was literally “like nothing” came some of the most extraordinary people and events ever recorded in the New Testament. From a New Testament perspective, Galilee is not the edge of the frontier but is instead the focal point where much of what matters to us occurred. It is where Jesus did many miracles and conducted His greatest ministry. It tells me that you can’t always judge things based on what you see on the surface. What might look worthless to someone’s untrained eye could be of great worth in the eyes of our Lord. Also, it tells me that nobody knows the future except for God. Nobody can predict what God can do in a place or who God can use for His glory. After all, for many people in the world, Africa might look “like nothing” but in my heart and in the eyes of God it is going to be the next epicenter for world missions. It will likely be Africans, from the most remote and poorest part of the planet, who will turn the world upside down and finish the task of the great commission. Africa is on track to change the world. The lesson is we must be careful what we say looks “like nothing.” 😊
