Dictionaries :: Adullam

Adullam:

one of the royal cities of the Canaanites, now 'Aid-el-ma (Jos 12:15; 15:35). It stood on the old Roman road in the valley of Elah (q.v.), which was the scene of David's memorable victory over Goliath (1Sa 17:2), and not far from Gath. It was one of the towns which Rehoboam fortified against Egypt (2Ch 11:7). It was called "the glory of Israel" (Mic 1:15).

The Cave of Adullam has been discovered about 2 miles south of the scene of David's triumph, and about 13 miles west from Bethlehem. At this place is a hill some 500 feet high pierced with numerous caverns, in one of which David gathered together "every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented" (1Sa 22:2). Some of these caverns are large enough to hold 200 or 300 men. According to tradition this cave was at Wady Khureitun, between Bethlehem and the Dead Sea, but this view cannot be well maintained.

Adullam:

their testimony; their prey; their ornament

Adullam:

a-dul'-am (‘adhullam):

(1) A city, with dependencies, and in ancient times having a king, mentioned five times in the Old Testament, each time in a list with other cities (Jos 12:15; 15:35; 2Ch 11:7; Mic 1:15; Ne 11:30). In the list of 31 kings whom Joshua smote, Adullam follows Hormah, Arad, Libnah, and precedes Makkedah. Among the 14 Judahite cities of the first group in "the lowland" Adullam is mentioned between Jarmuth and Socoh. In the list of 15 cities fortified by Rehoboam it appears between Socoh and Gath. Micah gives what may be a list of cities concerned in some Assyrian approach to Jerusalem; it begins with Gath, includes Lachish, and ends with Mareshah and Adullam. And Adullam is still in the same company in the list in Nehemiah of the cities "and their villages" where the men of Judah then dwelt. In the time of the patriarchs it was a place to which men "went down" from the central mountain ridge (Ge 38:1). Judas Maccabeus found it still existing as a city (2 Macc 12:38). Common opinion identifies Adullam with the ruin ‘Aid-el-Ma, 13 miles West-Southwest from Bethlehem (see HGHL, 229 ff). This is in spite of the testimony of the Onomasticon, which, it is alleged, confuses Adullam with Eglon. Presumably the city gave its name to the cave of Adullam, the cave being near the city.

(2) The cave of Adullam, David's headquarters during a part of the time when he was a fugitive from Saul (1Sa 22:1; 2Sa 23:13; 1Ch 11:15). Sufficient care has not been exercised in reading the Bible statements on this subject. To begin with, Hebrew syntax permits of the use of the word "cave" collectively; it may denote a group or a region of caves; it is not shut up to the meaning that there was one immense cave in which David and his 400 men all found accommodations at once. All reasonings based on this notion are futile.

Further, by the most natural syntax of 2Sa 23:13-17 (duplicated with unimportant variations in 1Ch 11:15-19), that passage describes two different events, and does not connect the cave of Adullam with the second of these. "And three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. And David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem. And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me water," etc. Concerning these three seniors among David's "mighty men" it is narrated, first, that they were David's comrades in a certain battle, a battle which the Chronicler identifies with Pas-dammim, where David slew Goliath; second, that they joined David at the cave of Adullam, presumably during the time when he was hiding from Saul; third, that at a later time, when the Philistines were in the valley of Rephaim (compare 2Sa 5:18), and David was "in the stronghold" (Josephus says "at Jerusalem," Ant, VII, xii, 4), these men broke through the Philistine lines and brought him water from the home well of Bethlehem.

The cave of Adullam, like the city, was "down" from the central ridge (1Sa 22:1; 2Sa 23:13). The city was in Judah; and David and his men were in Judah (1Sa 23:3) at a time when, apparently, the cave was their headquarters. Gad's advice to David to return to Judah (1Sa 22:3,5) was given at a time when he had left the cave of Adullam. If the current identification of ‘Aid-el-Ma as Adullam is correct, the cave of Adullam is probably the cave region which has been found in that vicinity.

It has been objected that this location is too far from Bethlehem for David's men to have brought the water from there. To this it is replied that thirteen or fourteen miles is not an excessive distance for three exceptionally vigorous men to go and return; and a yet stronger reply is found in the consideration just mentioned, that the place from which the men went for the water was not the cave of Adullam. The one argument for the tradition to the effect that Chariton's cave, a few miles Southeast of Bethlehem, is Adullam, is the larger size of this cave, as compared with those near ‘Aid-el-Ma We have already seen that this has no force.

In our current speech "cave of Adullam" suggests an aggregation of ill-assorted and disreputable men. This is not justified by the Bible record. David's men included his numerous and respectable kinsmen, and the representative of the priesthood, and some of David's military companions, and some men who afterward held high office in Israel. Even those who are described as being in distress and debt and bitter of soul were doubtless, many of them, persons who had suffered at the hands of Saul on account of their friendship for David. Doubtless they included mere adventurers in their number; but the Scriptural details and the circumstances alike indicate that they were mainly homogeneous, and that most of them were worthy citizens.

Written by Willis J. Beecher

Adullam: 1. A Cave near the Dead Sea

David takes refuge in,

1Sa 22:1; 2Sa 23:13; 1Ch 11:15.

See titles of

Psa 57; 142.

Adullam: 2. An Ancient City of Canaan

Gen 38:1; Jos 12:15; 15:35; 2Ch 11:7; Neh 11:30; Mic 1:15

Adullam:

(justice of the people) Apocryphal. ODOLLAM, a city of Judah in the lowland of the Shefelah (Joshua 15:35) the seat of a Canaanite king (Joshua 12:15) and evidently a place of great antiquity (Genesis 38:1, 12, 20). Fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:7) it was one of the towns reoccupied by the Jews after their return from Babylon (Nehemiah 11:30) and still a city in the time of the Macabees (2 Maccabees 12:38). Adullam was probably near Deir Dubban, five or six miles north of Eleutheropolis. The limestone cliffs of the whole of that locality are pierced with extensive excavations, some one of which is doubtless the "cave of Adullam," the refuge of David (1 Samuel 22:1; 2 Samuel 23:13; 1 Chronicles 11:15).