Cave of Adullam

The Cave of Adullam (Hebrew: מערת עדלם, romanized: mə‘āraṯ ‘Ǎḏullām) was originally a stronghold referred to in the Old Testament, near the town of Adullam, where future King David sought refuge from King Saul.

Wilhelm Gesenius' work Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures provides notes supporting Adullam as meaning "a hiding place".

David refused to fight unethically, for instance when he had an opportunity to kill Saul in his sleep.

The term "Cave of Adullam" has been used by political commentators referring to any small group remote from power but planning to return.

Thus in Walter Scott's 1814 novel Waverley when the Jacobite rising of 1745 marches south through England, the Jacobite Baron of Bradwardine welcomes scanty recruits while remarking that they closely resemble David's followers at the Cave of Adullam; "videlicet, every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented".