Adulam Park: Caves, Vineyards, and the Hills of David

Adulam Park (Park Adulam) is a landscape of rolling hills, caves, vineyards, and ancient ruins in the heart of the Judean Shephelah, named after the cave where David hid from King Saul: “David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him” (1 Samuel 22:1-2).

David’s Cave

The exact location of the Cave of Adullam is uncertain, but several candidates exist within the park area. The caves in the chalk and limestone hills of the Shephelah are large, interconnected, and could easily shelter hundreds of people. David’s band of 400 “distressed, indebted, and discontented” men was the nucleus of the army that would eventually make him king. From this cave, David also raided Philistine positions and protected Judean towns, building the reputation and loyalty that would eventually bring all twelve tribes under his rule. The cave is also where tradition holds David composed Psalm 142: “I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble” (Psalm 142:1-2).

The Shephelah Hills and Valleys of Adulam

The park encompasses thousands of dunams of open hills, valleys, and forests between the Ella Valley and Beit Guvrin. The terrain is classic Shephelah: low rolling hills covered with Mediterranean scrubland, carpets of red anemones and yellow mustard in spring, vineyards and olive groves on the slopes, and ancient agricultural terraces carved into the hillsides. Hiking trails wind through the landscape, connecting archaeological sites, caves, and viewpoints. The ancient road from the coastal plain up to Hebron and Jerusalem passed through this area, making it a strategic borderland between the Israelites in the hills and the Philistines on the coast. It was precisely this frontier character that made it a good hiding place for David.

The Caves

The park is riddled with caves, from small natural cavities to large man-made chambers. Some were used as hiding places during the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-135 CE), and crawling through the narrow connecting tunnels gives a sense of the desperation of the Jewish rebels who used them. Others were quarried for building stone, used as olive presses, or carved as burial chambers. Some caves contain columbaria, walls lined with hundreds of small niches that were used for raising pigeons, an important source of food and fertilizer in the ancient world.

The Adulam area is part of the growing Judean foothills wine region. Several boutique wineries operate in the park area, producing award-winning wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah grapes grown on the same hillsides where David’s men sheltered 3,000 years ago.

Visit with Hoshen Tours

Adulam Park takes you into the caves where David hid from Saul. Hoshen Tours pairs it with the Ella Valley, the underground city at Beit Guvrin, the hermitage at Horvat Burgin, and the vineyards of the Sorek Valley.