ADULLAM

ADULLAM (Heb. עֲדֻלָּם), city in Judah in biblical times. It was originally a Canaanite town, the seat of Hirah the Adullamite (friend and father-in-law of Judah (Gen. 38:1, 12, 20). Adullam's king was defeated by Joshua and the city is mentioned together with 13 others as belonging to the second district of Judah (Josh. 12:15; 5:35). 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 (I Sam. 22:1). It was there that the three "mighty men" brought David water from the well at Beth-Lehem (II Sam. 23:13; I Chron. 11:15 ff.; Jos., Ant., 6:247). Rehoboam included Adullam in his line of fortifications beside Soco in the valley of Elah (II Chron. 11:7). 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 (II Macc. 12:38, cf. I Macc. 5:59–60); Judah the Maccabee withdrew to Adullam after his battle against Gorgias near Marissa (Mareshah) in 163 B.C.E. Eusebius (Onom., 24:21) 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 mi. (15 km.) northeast of Bet Guvrin. The name Adulam may have survived in Khirbat ʾId al-Māʾ (or Miyeh) in the vicinity of that tell.   -BIBLIOGRAPHY: 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. (Michael Avi-Yonah)