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]

Adullamites was the name derisively given to Robert Lowe and nearly 40 Liberal MPs who opposed Lord Russell's programme of parliamentary reform in 1866. They were dubbed by John Bright on 13 March in allusion to the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22), to which David fled and was joined by everyone who was discontented. Their opposition brought about the fall of the government but a further measure of reform was then introduced by the Conservative government of Derby and Disraeli.

J. A. Cannon