Some More Information On 'The Land of Cabul'

Over at Hirhurim, R' Gil has aninteresting response (detailing how the commentators understand the verses) to Dr. Mordechai Cogan's citation of King Shlomo's gift to Chiram as a precedent and halachic justification for disengagement.

The relevant psukim, in Melachim Aleph 9:10:

י וַיְהִי, מִקְצֵה עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה, אֲשֶׁר-בָּנָה שְׁלֹמֹה, אֶת-שְׁנֵי הַבָּתִּים--אֶת-בֵּית יְהוָה, וְאֶת-בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ.	10 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king's house--
יא חִירָם מֶלֶךְ-צֹר נִשָּׂא אֶת-שְׁלֹמֹה בַּעֲצֵי אֲרָזִים וּבַעֲצֵי בְרוֹשִׁים, וּבַזָּהָב--לְכָל-חֶפְצוֹ; אָז יִתֵּן הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה לְחִירָם, עֶשְׂרִים עִיר, בְּאֶרֶץ, הַגָּלִיל.	11 now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar-trees and cypress-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire--that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
יב וַיֵּצֵא חִירָם, מִצֹּר, לִרְאוֹת אֶת-הֶעָרִים, אֲשֶׁר נָתַן-לוֹ שְׁלֹמֹה; וְלֹא יָשְׁרוּ, בְּעֵינָיו.	12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him: and they pleased him not.
יג וַיֹּאמֶר--מָה הֶעָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, אֲשֶׁר-נָתַתָּה לִּי אָחִי; וַיִּקְרָא לָהֶם אֶרֶץ כָּבוּל, עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה.	13 And he said: 'What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother?' And they were called the land of Cabul, unto this day. {P}

I would just add to this they gemara's discussion of these psukim, which we will encounter very soon in daf yomi. From Shabbat 54a:

EWES MAY GO OUT TIED [KEBULOTH].
What is KEBULOTH?
With their tails tied downwards, to restrain the males from copulating with them. How is it implied that kabul denotes non-productively?
Because it is written (Melachim Aleph 9:13)

יג וַיֹּאמֶר--מָה הֶעָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, אֲשֶׁר-נָתַתָּה לִּי אָחִי; וַיִּקְרָא לָהֶם אֶרֶץ כָּבוּל, עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה.

13 And he said: 'What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother?' And they were called the land of Cabul, unto this day.

What is 'the land of Cabul'?

Said Rav Huna: It contained inhabitants who were smothered [mekubbolin] with silver and gold.
Said Rava to him, If so, is that why it is written {in the previous verse}, 'and they pleased him not?'
Because they were smothered with silver and gold they pleased him not?!
Even so, he replied; being wealthy and soft-living, they would do no work.
Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said, It was a sandy region.
{Jastrow: the land of Humton, a district of northern Palestine}
And why was it called Cabul?
Because the leg sinks into it up to the ankle, and people designate it an ankle-bound land which produces no fruit.

All of this fits in nicely, I think, with Abarbenel's understanding (mentioned by Gil) that it is the annual bounty of these cities, as opposed to sovereignty, that Shlomo gave Chiram.