Chapter 9

When Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the King’s house:

It was a season when all the activity was over. That is always a dangerous hour, and the more work done, the higher the danger. A life full of activity, when that activity quits, wants something new - good or bad. 

¹¹ (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. ¹² Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. ¹³ 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. (1 Kings 9:11-13)

Israel was the recipient of the land of Israel as a result of a divine decision from God. It was not a wise decision to exchange the land of Israel even for a magnificent temple and palace.

It is clear that Hiram considered the cities to be worthless, and taunted Solomon by nicknaming the cities Kabul, which literally means ‘good-for-nothing.’

And they went to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon. (1 Kings 9:28)

No man knows certainly, to this day, where this Ophir was situated. Some say it is India, some say it is the Philippines.