Adullam

Adullam was an ancient Canaanite royal city in the Shephelah — the foothills region between the coastal plain and the Judean highlands — assigned to the tribe of Judah after the conquest (Joshua 12:15; 15:35). It was fortified by Rehoboam as part of his southwestern defensive network (2 Chronicles 11:7) and reoccupied after the exile (Nehemiah 11:30; Micah 1:15). The site is identified with Tell esh-Sheikh Madhkur in the Wadi es-Sur valley.

Adullam's most famous association is with David's early fugitive years. After his flight from Saul, David took refuge in the cave of Adullam, where he was joined by his brothers, his father's household, and a growing band of about four hundred men who were in distress, in debt, or discontented (1 Samuel 22:1–2). The cave became the base of operations for David's guerrilla period and is recalled in the superscription of several psalms. The mighty men who formed the core of David's later royal army were largely drawn from those who first gathered with him at Adullam.