1 Samuel Chapter 22

“David therefore departed from thence, etc.] From Gath, being driven by Achish from his court, and let go by his servants, and glad he was of the deliverance: and escaped to the cave Adullam; which was no doubt near to a city of the same name in the tribe of Judah, of which (see Gill on “<061535>Joshua 15:35”); this being a strong place, and in his own tribe, he might hope to be in greater safety; here he penned his hundred forty second psalm, (see <19E201> Psalm 142:1-7): and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard [it]; that he was come thither: they went down thither to him; to visit and comfort him,…”

“DAVID'S KINDRED AND OTHERS RESORT TO HIM AT ADULLAM. (Sa1 22:1-8) David . . . escaped to the cave Adullam--supposed to be that now called Deir-Dubban, a number of pits or underground vaults, some nearly square, and all about fifteen or twenty feet deep, with perpendicular sides, in the soft limestone or chalky rocks. They are on the borders of the Philistine plain at the base of the Judea mountains, six miles southwest from Beth-lehem, and well adapted for concealing a number of refugees. his brethren and all his father's house . . . went down--to escape the effects of Saul's rage, which seems to have extended to…”

“To the cave Adullam - Or rather “of Adullam.” Adullam was the name of a town of Judah in the “Shephelah,” not far from Bethlehem, and below it. Innumerable caverns, one nearly 100 feet long, are excavated in the soft limestone hills in the neighborhood of Beit-Jibrin. (The cave is placed by Ganneau and Conder on the hill (500 feet high) over ‘Aid el Ma or Miyeh.) David’s brethren and kinsmen joined him partly from sympathy with him, and partly because their own lives were in jeopardy front Saul’s furious enmity. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Debt - Probably poor debtors, whom the creditors were obliged to spare, Exo 22:25. And though their persons were with David, yet their lands and goods were liable to their creditors. Captain over them - He did not maintain any injustice or wickedness, which some of them possibly might be guilty of; but on the contrary, he instructed and obliged them to the practice of all justice and honesty. 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 22:3”

“22:1-23 Saul’s character becomes evident here. Unable to exact revenge on David himself, Saul slaughtered those he believed to be guilty of giving aid and comfort to David. 22:1 Adullam was some sixteen miles southwest of Jerusalem, near Philistine territory. • Had David’s brothers and all his other relatives stayed in Bethlehem, they would have been vulnerable to Saul’s revenge.”

“David: Sa1 21:10-15; Psa 34:1, Psa 57:1 \*titles the cave: Jos 12:15, Jos 15:35; Sa2 23:13, Sa2 23:14; Ch1 11:15; Psa 142:1 \*title Mic 1:3, Mic 1:15; Heb 11:38 Adullam: Adullam was a city of Judah; and, according to Eusebius, ten miles (Jerome says eleven) eastward from Eleutheropolis. 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 22:2”

“Having been driven away by Achish, the Philistian king at Gath, David took refuge in the cave Adullam, where his family joined him. The cave Adullam is not to be sought for in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, as some have inferred from Sa2 23:13-14, but near the town Adullam, which is classed in Jos 15:35 among the towns in the lowlands of Judah, and at the foot of the mountains; though it has not yet been traced with any certainty, as the caves of Deir Dubban, of which Van de Velde speaks, are not the only large caves on the western slope of the mountains of Judah. When his brethren and his father's house, i.e.,…”