This circumstance would suggest that the cave of Adullam (2 Sam. xxiii, 13; 1 Chron. xi, 15), to which David withdrew immediately from Gath ( 1 Sain. xxii, 1), was near the city of that nime (see Stanley, Palestine, p. 254, note). But there is no passage of Scripture which connects the city and the cave, and it is certainly not in a plain that one would look for a cave capable of affording a secure retreat to 400 men ; nor has any such cave been found in that quarter. It is therefore far from improbable that the cave of Adul- lam was in the mountainous wilderness in the east of Judah toward the Dead Sea, where such caves oc- cur, and where the western names (as Carmel) are sometimes repeated. Accordingly, we actually find in this very region the name Dhullam, belonging to a tribe of Arabs who encamp here for pasturage, but prop- erly belong to a more western district around Beer- sheba (Robinson's Researches, ii, 473), and whose pre- datory character well befits the ancient notoriety of the spot (De Saulcy's Narrative, i, 434, 435). May not this same nomadic habit have transferred the name of the city to the cave in former times likewise ? This view is favored by the fact that the usual haunts of David were in this quarter (1 Chron. xi, 15) ; whence he moved into the land of Moab, which was quite contigu- ous, whereas he must have crossed the whole breadth of the land, if the cave of Adullam had been near the city of that name. Tradition (William of Tyre, De Bella Sacro, xv, 6) fixes the cave on the borders of the Dead Sea, about six miles south-east of Bethlehem, in the side of a deep ravine (Wady Khureitun) which passes below the Frank mountain on the south (Robin- son's Researches, ii, 176). It is an immense natural cavern, the mouth of which can be approached only on foot along the side of the cliff. Irby and Mangles. who visited it without being aware that it was the re- puted cave of Adullam, state that it "runs in by a long, winding, narrow passage, with small chambers or cavities on either side. We soon came to a large chamber with natural arches of great heigh* ; from this last there were numerous passages, leading in all di- rections, occasionally joined by others at right angles, and forming a perfect labyrinth, which our guides as-
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sured us had never been perfectly explored, the people being afraid of losing themselves. The passages are generally four feet high by three feet wide, and were all on a level with each other. There were a few petrifactions where we were ; nevertheless the grotto was perfectly clean, and the air pure and good" {Trav- els, p. 340, 341). It seems probable that David, as a native of Bethlehem, must have been well acquainted with this remarkable spot, and had probably often availed himself of its shelter when out with his fa- ther's flocks. Dr. Thomson, who explored it to some extent, thinks that it corresponds to the Biblical ac- count of David's fastness {Land and Book, ii, 427). Others (as Stanley, Palestine, p. 254) think the cave in question was one of the numerous excavations found in the soft lime-stone hills along the eastern edge of the " plain" of Judah, particularly those at Deir Dub- ban (Van de Velde, Narrative, ii, 15G, 157) ; but these are evidently artificial, being apparently enlargements of naturally small crevices for the purpose of maga- zines of grain (Robinson, Researches, ii, 352-354, 395, 31)6).— Kitto, s. v. See Cave {ofAduUain) : Odollam.
Adul'lamite (Heb. Adullami', "."zhl", Sept. 'OroAAr</uY//c), probably an inhabitant of the city call- ed Adullam (Gen. xxxviii, 1, 12, 20).
Adult baptism. See Baptism.
Adultery (some form of the verb vjX3, naajih' ', fioixiia)* commonly denotes the sexual intercourse of a married woman with any other man than her hus- band, or of a married man with any other woman than his wife. See Marriage.
1. Nature of the Crime. — 1. Jewish. — Among the Hebrews, as in other Oriental nations, adultery was the act whereby any married man was exposed to the risk of having a spurious offspring imposed upon him. An adulterer was, therefore, any man who had illicit intercourse with a married or betrothed woman ; and an adulteress was a betrothed or married woman who had intercourse with anjT other man than her hus- band. An intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman was simply fornication — a great sin, but not, like adultery, involving the contingency of polluting a descent, of turning aside an inheritance, or of imposing upon a man a charge which did not be- long to him. Adultery was thus considered a ^rcat social wrong, against which society protected itself by much severer penalties than attended an unchaste act not involving the same contingencies.
. This Oriental limitation of adultery is intimately connected with the existence of polygamy. If a Jew associated with a woman who was not his wife, his concubine, or his slave, he was guilty of unchastity, but committed no offence which gave a wife reason to complain that her legal rights had been infringed. If, however, the woman with whom he associated was the wife of another, he was guilty of adultery — not by in- fringing his own marriage covenant, but by causing a breach of that which existed between this woman and her husband (Michaelis, Momisches Recht, art. 259 ; Jahn's A rchaologie, Tb. i, b. 2, § 183). See Polygamy.