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. The cave of Adullam is also where 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 Landscape
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, wildflowers 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 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.
The Wineries
The Adulam area is part of the growing Judean foothills wine region. Several boutique wineries operate in the park area, producing wines from local grapes grown on the same hillsides where David’s men sheltered 3,000 years ago.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Adulam Park combines David’s story with Shephelah hiking and wine. Hoshen Tours reads 1 Samuel 22 at the caves and connects David’s fugitive years to the landscape that sheltered him.