Now, don’t let the title discourage you from reading on. I know the word Cabul, which occurs in I Kings 9:13, does not ring a bell with most of us (including myself until recently), but there is an important lesson to be gleaned therefrom. So bear with me please.
The subject of this post is ingratitude. Here are some thoughts on the subject from various sources, just for starters. Shakespeare described ingratitude as a “marble-headed fiend.” He went on: “I hate ingratitude more in a man than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, or any taint of vice, whose strong corruption inhabits our frail blood.” And Shakespeare, in King Lear, made the line famous, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.”
Another writer says that “a thief may have some streaks of honesty in him, the deadbeat spots of honor, the liar hours when he loves the truth, the libertine occasions when he has impulses to be pure; but there is nothing redemptive in the ingrate.” (Author unknown.)
A wise man said it well: “Trust the ungrateful soul with money—and he will steal it; with honor—and he will betray it; with virtue—and he will violate it; with love—and with hellish alchemy, he will transmute it into lust; with your good name and he will besmirch it.”
Well, speaking of wisdom, that brings me back to the title of this post, Cabul. I would guess that many who read these words will fall into the category in which I found myself. I have read the Bible through many times, including I Kings 9:13. It describes what King Hiram thought about the 20 cities in northern Galilee that King Solomon gifted him with for the incalculable help Hiram had rendered in building the Lord’s temple, followed by Solomon’s own palace. Together, the two grand buildings took 20 years to construct.
Hiram, king of Tyre, had furnished Solomon with cedar and fir trees and gold—as much as he wanted. He also made his navy available to the King of Israel; and Hiram, who loved King David, personally crafted some of the lavers and other furnishings of the elaborate temple. As a “thank you” for this incredible contribution from Hiram, Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in Galilee.
In time, Hiram paid a visit to survey these cities. Here is what we read about his assessment of the gifts: “And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.” (I Kings 9:13). I have read that passage with passing interest who knows how many times, never bothering until recently to look up the meaning of Cabul, just assuming it was a particular name that King Hiram assigned to that territory that he had recently received from King Solomon. Most modern translations do not suggest any alternative translation of Cabul, except maybe changing the spelling to Kabul. Looking the word up in a Hebrew lexicon and/or a Hebrew to English dictionary, the meaning of the word is said to be “worthless.” Hiram said plainly that he found these 20 cities to be worthless. Put that statement into the context of the indescribable sum of valuable resources that the King of Tyre had given to Solomon—including as much gold as Solomon requested to overlay all the pillars and trim of the temple and of his dwelling place—and one understands that it was not King Hiram who was ungrateful, but rather King Solomon.
In modern English, I think the following paraphrase of Hiram’s response to Solomon’s gift might be, “What do you mean by giving me these worthless cities? You, Solomon, are nothing but an ingrate. I helped you with whatever you needed or asked for, even personally crafting some of the temple furniture, expecting nothing in return. I did it because I dearly loved your father, and I wanted to have a part in the building of his dream. But, though I expected nothing in return, you ‘gifted me’ with some good-for-nothing towns in northern Galilee. You should be ashamed of yourself, Solomon.”
King Solomon, the wisest of humanity, had a lapse here when it is shown that, for all the goodness and material assistance that the King of Tyre had granted him in the herculean task of the temple building, Solomon’s thanks was indeed thankless! He gave his friend cities that were, in King Hiram’s view, worth nothing. That is a stunning illustration of ingratitude—on the part of one who had received so much!
We too, children of the King of kings, need to guard against this insidious sin. We marvel that the man who had been given so very much by God, including not only wisdom but wealth and power, could respond with stinginess and a tightly closed fist in showing his appreciation to his benefactor. The sin of ingratitude may have been the seed sin of all the other sins of Solomon—and, quite possibly, his worst!
Yet we are liable to do the same with an ungrateful, grumbling attitude. “When gratitude dies on the altar of a man’s heart, that man is well-nigh hopeless.” (Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.) Be ye thankful. Let us not be guilty of giving that which is Cabul.
“Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.” (2 Cor.9:11)
YOU and GOD 