Adullam

Adullam was a city in Judah in biblical times. It was originally a Canaanite town, the seat of Hirah the Adullamite. Adullam's king was defeated by Joshua and the city is mentioned together with 13 others as belonging to the second district of Judah.

This region contained many caves which could offer refuge to outlaws. In one of these, David hid after fleeing from Saul, and it served as his headquarters for a time during his war with the Philistines. It was there that the three "mighty men" brought David water from the well at Beth-Lehem. Rehoboam included Adullam in his line of fortifications beside Soco in the valley of Elah.

After the return from Babylonian exile it is mentioned in Nehemiah 11:30 among the places inhabited by Jews. It remained a Jewish town in Hasmonean times; Judah the Maccabee withdrew to Adullam after his battle against Gorgias near Marissa in 163 B.C.E. Eusebius describes fourth-century Adullam as a large village, 10 Roman mi. east of Eleutheropolis (Bet Guvrin). It has been identified with al-Sheikh Madhkūr, 9 miles northeast of Bet Guvrin. The name Adulam may have survived in Khirbat ʾId al-Māʾ (or Miyeh) in the vicinity of that tell.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.

Clermont-Ganneau, Arch, 2 (1899), 429 ff.; Dalman, in: PJB, 9 (1913), 33 ff.; Albright, in: BASOR, 15 (1924), 3 ff.; Abel, in: RB, 33 (1924), 22; Beyer, in: ZDPV, 54 (1931), 115; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 239; Press, Ereẓ, 4 (1955), 686; Aharoni, Land, index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Japhet, I & II Chronicles (1993), 665–66.