1 Samuel 22:1
in 1 Samuel 22So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him.
KJV
David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 22
Commentary
5 notes on this verseon 1 Samuel 22:1-2
For if it is a bad thing to flee, it is much worse to persecute. The one party hides himself to escape death, the other persecutes with a desire to kill. It is written in the Scriptures that we ought to flee; but he that seeks to destroy transgresses the law and also is himself the occasion of the other's flight. If then they [the Arians] reproach me with my flight, let them be more ashamed of their own persecution. Let them cease to conspire, and those who flee will immediately cease to do so.
This site's exposition
escaped to the cave Adullam
on 1 Samuel 22:1-2
David flees to the cave Adullam, and his brethren and all his father's house go down to him rather than risk Saul's rage falling on them at home. The company that gathers next is drawn by need rather than merit, everyone in distress, everyone in debt, everyone discontented, four hundred men in all, and the fugitive becomes their captain. The older writers read the anointed but not yet enthroned king gathering the desperate as a picture of Christ before his kingdom comes, a reading Blaikie names and Spurgeon preached from this very cave, though the text itself says only that a captain now stands where one man once stood alone before Goliath.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3533: “Recruits for the King” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
on 1 Samuel 22:1-2
DAVID in the caverns of Adullam is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ despised and rejected among the sons of men. Christ is the Lord's Anointed, but men perceive not the anointing. He is persecuted by His great enemy, the world, as David was persecuted by Saul, and he now rather dwells in the Cave of Adullam than sits upon his throne. Just as when David was in his dishonor, it was the time for his true friends to rally around him.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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 all David's family.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֵּ֤לֶךְ | vaiyelekh | and he went | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| דָּוִד֙ | david | David | H1732 → | 999 times |
| מִשָּׁ֔ם | misham | from there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| וַיִּמָּלֵ֖ט | vaiyimalet | and he escaped | H4422 → | 95 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מְעָרַ֣ת | mearat | [the] cave of | H4631 → | 37 times |
| עֲדֻלָּ֑ם | ʾadulam | Adullam | H5725 → | |
| וַיִּשְׁמְע֤וּ | vaiyishmeu | and they heard | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| אֶחָיו֙ | ʾechav | brothers his | H251 → | 630 times |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | [the] household of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| אָבִ֔יו | ʾaviv | father his | H1 → | 1212 times |
| וַיֵּרְד֥וּ | vaiyeredu | and they went down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| אֵלָ֖יו | ʾelav | to him | H413 → | 5510 times |
| שָֽׁמָּה׃ | shamah | there towards | H8033 → | 834 times |
וַיֵּ֤לֶךְand he went
vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times
דָּוִד֙David
davidH1732 →999 times
מִשָּׁ֔םfrom there
mishamH8033 →834 times
וַיִּמָּלֵ֖טand he escaped
vaiyimaletH4422 →95 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מְעָרַ֣ת[the] cave of
mearatH4631 →37 times
עֲדֻלָּ֑םAdullam
ʾadulamH5725 →
וַיִּשְׁמְע֤וּand they heard
vaiyishmeuH8085 →1159 times
אֶחָיו֙brothers his
ʾechavH251 →630 times
וְכָל־and all
vekholH3605 →5413 times
בֵּ֣ית[the] household of
beitH1004 →2046 times
אָבִ֔יוfather his
ʾavivH1 →1212 times
וַיֵּרְד֥וּand they went down
vaiyereduH3381 →381 times
אֵלָ֖יוto him
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
שָֽׁמָּה׃there towards
shamahH8033 →834 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 34:1I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
- Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
- Psalms 145:1–2
I will exalt You, my God and King; I will bless Your name forever and ever.
- Ephesians 5:20
always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Psalms 71:8
My mouth is filled with Your praise and with Your splendor all day long.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Through
1 Chronicles 11:15Three of the thirty chief men went down to David, to the rock at the cave of Adullam, while a company of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 5:18
Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
- 1 Chronicles 14:9
Now the Philistines had come and raided the Valley of Rephaim.
- Isaiah 17:5
as the reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the ears with his arm, as one gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
- 2 Samuel 5:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Samuel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Athanasius of Alexandria, DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT 8; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3533: Recruits for the King; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3533: “Recruits for the King” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and W. G. Blaikie, The First Book of Samuel (Expositor's Bible).