Cabul

Cabul is a place name borne by two distinct geographies in the UPDV: a town on Asher's boundary in the north, and a region in Galilee renamed by Hiram of Tyre after Solomon ceded cities to him.

Cabul on Asher's Boundary

In the allotment of Asher, the surveyor's line traces the northern frontier through several towns and reaches Cabul: "and it turned toward the sunrising to Beth-dagon, and reached to Zebulun, and to the valley of Iphtah-el northward to Beth-emek and Neiel; and it went out to Cabul on the left hand" (Josh 19:27). Cabul is one of the points by which Asher's territory is fixed against Zebulun's, and the boundary "goes out" to it on the left hand — the outer edge of the line.

"The Land of Cabul"

The second occurrence is a renaming. When Hiram of Tyre receives from Solomon a block of cities in Galilee in return for his contributions to the temple project, his response is dismissive: "And he said, What cities are these which you have given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul to this day" (1Ki 9:13). The label sticks. From that point on the region is known as the land of Cabul — the name Hiram pinned on it carrying through to the writer's own day.