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Meantime, the commanders of the allied army would naturally keep their men within
their camp, so as to allow the disorderly rush of Bedawin, intent on spoil, to cross the
Wady and approach them quite closely, before suddenly sallying forth to inflict
indiscriminate slaughter. Mesha was too wary to risk another defeat of the same kind.
He retreated before Israel, evacuating every fortified town, till he reached the
stronghold of Kir-haraseth, where he resolved to make a final stand. The Jewish
army slowly followed the retreating enemy, destroying every town and laying waste
the country around. Their progress was arrested at the walls of Kir-haraseth. As we
consider the situation of that fortress, we scarcely wonder that the allies found
themselves unable to do more than harass the garrison by posting sharpshooters on
the hills around ("the slingers went about it"), and attempt to reduce it by hunger. The
position of Kir-Moab, "the fortress of Moab," (Isaiah 15:1),^159 Kir-hareseth (Isaiah
16:7), Kir-haresh (Isaiah 16:7), or Kir-haraseth – for it bears all these names, which
seem to mean "fortress of brickwork," - has been ascertained beyond reasonable
doubt.
The Chaldee paraphrast designates it (Isaiah 15:1) Keraka deMoabh, which exactly
answers to the modern name Kerak. A continuous ascent from the south, amidst
Alpine scenery, leads up to Kerak, which lies 3,720 feet above the Mediterranean.
From the last crest, whence there is a magnificent prospect far away, we look down
into the "Wady of Kerak, some 1800 feet of nearly sheer precipice on the opposite
side."^160
Along that Wady winds among rocks the road, so narrow that a few resolute men
could hold it against an army. As the Wady widens, the ground is cultivated "with
olives, figs, pomegranates, and a few vineyards and patches of corn." Soon Kerak
itself is seen, towering high aloft. To reach it, we must first descend into the valley.
Then an hour's climb up the opposite cliff brings the traveler to an arched tunnel of
about eighty yards in length, through which he emerges into the city of Kerak.
The plateau on which the town stands is almost level, and measures from 800 to 1000
yards on each face of the triangle which the city forms, and of which the north-
eastern side is the longest. Here, and to a less degree at the south-west angle, the
plateau is connected with the heights which surround Kerak on every side. But
everywhere else the town is cut off from the encircling range by "Wadies (in part)
from 1000 to 1500 feet deep, with steeply scarped or else rugged sides."^161 If we
imagine this isthmus of rock, jutting into and rising above a sea of deep Wadies,
itself surrounded by a broad wall with towers and other defenses, and crowned by a
city to which there were only two entrances, each through a tunnel in the side of the
cliff - we can form a picture of Kir-haraseth, as it appeared to the Jewish host that
gazed on it from the heights around.
(^)