Adullam

Adullam (, ) is an ancient ruin once numbered among the thirty-six cities of Canaan whose kings "Joshua and the children of Israel smote" (Joshua 12:7–24). After that, it fell as an inheritance to the tribe of Judah and was included in the northern division of the Shephelah "lowland" cities of the land of Judah (Joshua 15:35).

The connection between Judah and Adullam and its surroundings was actually already established in the patriarchal period, when Judah "went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah" (Genesis 38:1). At the beginning of the royal period, in the days of King Saul, the area was close to the land of the Philistines, and thus David, fleeing from Saul, sought refuge in the cave of Adullam and made it a place of reconnoitering and organization, both, for him and his men (1 Samuel 22:1–2). Here, too, the episode took place when three of David's heroes brought him water from the well of Bethlehem and he did not dare to drink it, but "poured it out unto the Lord" (2 Samuel 23:13–17). It is also learnt from the battle of David and Goliath, which took place in the Valley of Elah directly adjoining the north-side of the ruin, as well as from the raid of the Philistines into Keilah to the immediate south of Adullam, that Adullam was a frontier city during that period.

The current site was formerly known by the Arabic appellation Khurbet esh-Sheikh Madhkur, 9 mi. (15 km.) northeast of Bayt Jibrin, and was built upon a hilltop overlooking the Elah valley, straddling the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank, and with its suburban ruin, , lying directly below it. By the late 19th century, the settlement, which had been a town, was in ruins. The hilltop ruin is named after Madkour, one of the sons of the Sultan Beder, for whom is built a shrine (''wely'') and formerly called by its inhabitants ''Wely Madkour''. The hilltop is mostly flat, with cisterns carved into the rock. The remains of stone structures which once stood there can still be seen. Sedimentary layers of ruins from the old Canaanite and Israelite eras, mostly potsherds, are noticeable everywhere, although olive groves now grow atop of this hill, enclosed within stonewall enclosures. The villages of Aderet, Aviezer and Khirbet al-Deir are located nearby. The ruin lies about south of moshav Neve Michael.

Main archaeological sites; identification

Kh. esh-Sheikh Madkur (Palestine grid: 1503/1175) sits at an elevation of above sea-level and is thought by modern historical geographers to be the "upper Adullam", based on its proximity to Kh. 'Id el-Minya. The name of this latter site is believed by historical geographers to be a corruption of the word "Adullam." The identification of the upper site with the biblical Adullam is still inconclusive, as archaeological evidence attesting to its Old Canaanite name has yet to be found. In the late 19th century, the hilltop ruin and its adjacent ruins were explored by French explorer, Victor Guérin, who wrote:

pon leaving the hilltop ruin, ''Khirbet el-Sheikh Madkour'' at 11:20 M we descend to the east in the valley. At 11:25 M I examine other ruins, called ''Khirbet A'id el-Miah''. Sixty toppled houses in the ''wadi'' formed a village that still existed in the Muslim period, as roven bythe remains of a mosque there observed. In antiquity, the ruins that cover the plateau of the hill of ''Sheikh Madkour'' and which extend in the valley were probably one and the same city, divided into two parts, the upper part and the lower part.

While Guérin does not specifically say that the site in question was the ancient Adullam, he holds that and are to be recognised as the same city; the upper and the lower. The site is maintained by the Jewish National Fund in Israel, and archaeological surveys and partial excavations have been conducted. The site features ancient caverns, cisterns carved into the rock, and a Muslim shrine known as .

, also known as (Palestine grid: 1504/1181), is the site recognised as Adullam proper, being now a tell at the southern end of , an extension of the Elah valley. The site was first recognised as the biblical Adullam by French archaeologist Clermont-Ganneau in 1871, based on its location, a close approximation of the name and the ceramic finds it yielded. The ruin sits at an elevation of above sea-level. The ruin is overgrown with vegetation and trees on the northern flanks of the mountain whereon lies . Razed stone structures, a stone water trough, and the shaft of a stone column can still be seen there. Palestine Exploration Fund surveyor, C.R. Conder, mentions having seen in an ancient well having stone water-troughs round it.

Earlier attempts at identification have led some to call other cave systems by the name of "Cave of Adullam." Early drawings depicting the so-called " Adullam cave" have tentatively been identified with the cavern of ''Umm el-Tuweimin'', and the cave at ''Khureitun'' (named after Chariton the Ascetic), although modern day archaeologists and historical geographers have rejected these early hypotheses as being the Cave of Adullam, and have accepted that is the Adullam of old.

It has been pointed out that , if indeed it is the biblical Adullam, lies only southwest of Timnah, a site mentioned in Genesis, ch. 38, as being visited by Judah when he went up from Adullam to shear his sheep.

History

Late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Hebrew Bible

The "Adullam" mentioned in the Hebrew Bible