CHABALON, Chabelon, or Chabulon, or Cabul. There is mention in the first 1 Kings ix. 13.Book of Kings of the land of Cabul1. Thus Hiram King of Tyre called the twenty Cities whereof Solomon made a present to him, in acknowledgment for the great services he had done him in building of the Temple. There are some disputes concerning the signification of Cabul, and the situation of this Country. Josephus says2, that Cabul in the Phœnician language, signifies that which is displeasing, others, that it signifies a barren, sandy, dry Soil; or as others on the contrary say, a miry wet Soil, over-run with weeds. The Septuagint have it, He called them from the frontier, as if they had read Gabal instead of Cabul. Others think, that Cabul in Hebrew may signify something of no value, Cabul, quasi nihil.
As to the situation of Cabul, Josephus says, that the Cities of Cabul were in the Neighbourhood of Tyre. Others place them beyond Jordan in the Decapolis3. Grotius is of opinion, that the Cities which Pharaoh had conquered from the Philistines, and yielded up to Solomon, were comprised among the Cities of Cabul. Josh. xix. 27.The generality are persuaded, that the City of Cabul, mentioned in Joshua, was one of these, and it was probably on this occasion that Hiram gave this name to the other Cities, whereof Solomon had made a cession to him. Now Cabul was in all probability the same as Chabalon, or Chabul, which Josephus places in the neighbourhood of Ptolemais, south of Tyre.
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