Adullam

After running from Saul, David “escaped to the cave Adullam,” and his brothers and his father’s house came down to join him (1 Samuel 22:1). The place keeps showing up in David’s story, since later three of his chief men came to him there in harvest time. Adullam was also an ordinary town in Judah’s lowlands, listed among the cities of the land and again in the lists of those who resettled after the exile. Even Judah, in Genesis 38, stays with a man from there. For the cave, start at 1 Samuel 22.

8 verses

Genesis

Genesis 38:1

And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.

Joshua

Joshua 12:15

The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;

Joshua 15:35

Jarmuth, and Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah,

1 Samuel

1 Samuel 22:1

David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.

2 Samuel

2 Samuel 23:13

And three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim.

2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 11:7

And Bethzur, and Shoco, and Adullam,

Nehemiah

Nehemiah 11:30

Zanoah, Adullam, and in their villages, at Lachish, and the fields thereof, at Azekah, and in the villages thereof. And they dwelt from Beersheba unto the valley of Hinnom.

Micah

Micah 1:15

Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

One of the royal cities of the Canaanites, now ‘Aid-el-ma (Josh. 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 (1 Sam. 17:2), and not far from Gath. It was one of the towns which Rehoboam fortified against Egypt (2 Chr. 11:7). It was called “the glory of Israel” (Micah 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” (1 Sam. 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.

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From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(justice of the people), Apocr. ODOLLAM, a city of Judah int he 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. 2Ma 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)