David in Cave at Adullam

According to Josephus (Antiquities vi. 12. 3), the place where David fled from Saul was a cave near the city of Adullam. Adullam has been identified with Khirbet esh— Sheikh Madhkür, 16 1/4 mi. (26 km.) southwest of Jerusalem on the western slope as the mountains fall off toward the Shephelah. The town is at the eastern end of the Valley of Elah, where David met the Philistine giant. Many caves are found in these hills, some of which are very large. The sandstone formation is so soft that the walls can be cut down with shells. Even centuries have not erased the marks of these shells.

In some of these caverns the shepherds kept their flocks. In some, a few miles south of Adullam, the early Christians are reported to have lived at the time persecution drove them out of the cities of Palestine. Some of the caves contain burial vaults and crypts similar to those in the catacombs at Rome. Adullam was the hiding place of David when he longed for a drink from the well at Bethlehem. Three of his valiant men risked their lives to thread through the lines of the Philistines, who had raided the Valley of Rephaim near Jerusalem, and to bring their beloved leader a drink. So overcome was David by their loyalty that he poured out the water as a libation before the Lord (2 Sam. 23:13—17 1 Chron. 11:15—19). This incident occurred in the time of harvest (2 Sam. 23:13 cf. 1 Sam. 23:1), the spring and early summer of the year. David had probably spent the winter in this cave.

While in the cave of Adullam David wrote the 57th psalm, according to its heading. Recovering his faith and courage, he now expressed his confidence in God's deliverance, even though he found himself "among lions: and even among ... men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword" (Ps. 57:4). His changed attitude may in part be accounted for by the presence of the prophet Gad, who, as some have suggested, joined David and his companions at the cave (see on v. 5).