Solomon Has So Extended His Resources That He Feels It Necessary To Obtain A Secured Loan From Hiram, Secured Against Galilean Settlements (1 Kings 9:11-14).
It is an indication of the wealth that Solomon had laid out on his enterprises, and the great cost involved, that even he had subsequently to resort to a private loan, in spite of the wealth continually flowing into his kingdom. But, of course, no hint is given of a commercial transaction here (unless possibly in the naming of the lands as Cabul). It simply consisted of ‘gifts' between extremely wealthy kings. The ‘settlements' (cities/towns/villages) are ‘given', both as a gesture of gratitude and as security for a further loan, without any such commonplace suggestions being made. Hiram then views them and is not very pleased with their ‘quality' but nevertheless decides to send Solomon a huge amount of gold. He knew, of course, that his investment was safe and that he would eventually get it back in return for the ‘settlements', no doubt at a somewhat enhanced premium.
It is interesting that in the section chiasmus this passage parallels the activities of Hiram the Metalworker from Tyre. He also was seen by the author as not quite ‘up to scratch', in that while he was genuinely skilful, he lacked the Spirit (in contrast with Bezalel).
Analysis.
a Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar-trees and pine-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire (1 Kings 9:11 a).
b Then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty settlements in the land of Galilee (1 Kings 9:11 b).
c And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the settlements which Solomon had given him, and they did not please him (1 Kings 9:12).
b And he said, “What settlements are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them ‘the land of Cabul' to this day (1 Kings 9:13).
a And Hiram sent to the king six-score talents of gold (1 Kings 9:14).
Note that in ‘a' Hiram had already provided Solomon with much wealth, now in the parallel he will send more. In ‘b' he receives twenty Galilean settlements, and in the parallel expresses his unhappiness with them. Centrally in ‘c' we learn of his great displeasure with them. It may well have affected how much he sent as a ‘royal loan', but nothing would be stated. They were after all allies.
1 Kings 9:11 a ‘Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar-trees and pine-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire.'
The passage commences by referring back to all that Hiram the King had provided towards the building of the Temple and the Palace Complex. He had provided cedar-trees, pine-trees and gold in accordance with all his requirements (something for which Solomon had paid well - 1 Kings 5:11). Relations between the two kings was very amicable. This is preparing for the next stage in their commercial transactions. No giving of gold had been previously referred to and the gold described here may be that in 1 Kings 9:14, thus bringing all their dealings together as one.
1 Kings 9:11 b ‘Then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty settlements (cities/villages) in the land of Galilee.'
King Solomon now gave Hiram twenty ‘settlements' in the land of Galilee. These would be in a region close to Tyre. ‘Settlements' could be cities, towns, or villages. ‘Galilee' means ‘the circle or circuit', and clearly indicated a large area of land which included Naphtali (Joshua 20:7; Joshua 21:32; 2 Kings 15:29) and probably at this time parts of Asher. Tiglath Pileser will later refer in his inscriptions to both Galilee and Naphtali, indicating that they were not identical. It is referred to in Isaiah 9:2 as ‘Galilee of the nations', an area with a mixed poulation.
In 18th century BC Alalakh in Syria the exchange of ‘settlements' by contracts was seen as a means of adjusting borders. That may well be what is happening here. Solomon was ceding to Hiram a part of YHWH's inheritance, a further indication of his casual attitude towards the covenant in spite of his protestations. The author would certainly not have been anything but displeased at the idea, but leaves us to pass our own judgment. (They may, of course, have been Canaanite settlements, especially in view of their poverty-stricken appearance, but this is nowhere stated, and the land was still part of YHWH's inheritance. When they were later returned to Solomon he is said to have ensured their habitation by Israelites - 2 Chronicles 8:2)
‘ And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the settlements which Solomon had given him, and they did not please him.'
Hiram came from Tyre to complete the negotiations, meeting with Solomon at the sites in question, and not being pleased with what he saw. He did not feel that the area being ceded came up to expectations. In his view the gold that he would be giving was worth much more than he was getting, even if it was only as security. He had probably hoped that they would be lucrative trading towns.
The use of the appellative ‘king' in the narrative as a whole is interesting. In 1 Kings 9:11 it is ‘Hiram king of Tyre' who supplies ‘Solomon' followed by ‘King Solomon' giving twenty settlements to ‘Hiram'. In each case the appellative is applied to the supplier. Now it is ‘Hiram' and ‘Solomon' as co-negotiators.
‘ And he said, “What settlements are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them ‘the land of Cabul' to this day.'
Hiram then politely expressed his dissatisfaction, although we do not know what affect it had. “What settlements are these which you have given me, my brother?” He was clearly not happy. He had probably expected larger towns. We can, however, understand why Solomon was careful about quite he was ready to cede. He had the feelings of his people to consider. ‘My brother' expressed the treaty relationship between them.
The reference to ‘the land of Cabul' produces difficulties. Some see it as a contemptuous term ‘ka bul' (‘as nothing'), but tht would have been offensive to Solomon. Others refer it to the Arabic ‘kabala' indicating ‘mortgaged'. Still others point to the Hebrew ‘yebul' which signifies ‘borderland'. The last suggestion contains the right hint of displeasure without being insulting and may well be right.
‘ And Hiram sent to the king six-score talents of gold.'
Hiram's response to ‘the king's' gift was to send him one hundred and twenty talents of gold, possibly around four tons, a substantial sum. This is not to be seen as his valuation of the worth of the land. He would expect at some stage to receive back the equivalent in value, possibly in valuable produce (1 Kings 5:11) but that would simply be ‘read in' (compare the similar description of the purchase of a cave by Abraham in Genesis 23 which sounded like a general give-away, but was in fact careful negotiation). Later the settlements would be returned to Solomon who would in fact fortify them and settle them with Israelites (2 Chronicles 8:2).
The significance of this extract from the official annals was that it indicated Solomon's temporary embarrassment caused by his overspending. It may also have been expressing his unhappiness at the relationship between the two states. Why else should he draw attention to this displeasure, which did not reflect well on Solomon? We have already seen that the author of Kings was not totally satisfied with the sources used in building the Temple, seeing them as tainted.