HIR-MOAB (kIr-mo'ab), (Heb. 1.1,`1="77, keer mo-awb', the wall, stronghold, or citadel of Moab), (Is. xv:i), called also KIR-HARESETH and K IR HERES, meaning brick-fortress (Is. xvi:7, I I; Jer. xlviii:31), a fortified city in the territory of Moab.
Joram king of Israel took the city, and de stroyed it, except the walls; but it appears from the passages here cited that it must have been rebuilt before the time of Isaiah.
(1) Fortified Town. Abulfeda describes Karak as a small town, with a castle on a high hill, and remarks that it is so strong that one must deny himself even the wish to take it by force.
(2) During the Crusades. In the time of the Crusades, and when in possession of the Franks, it was invested by Saladin ; but after lying be fore it a month he was compelled to raise the siege (Bohaeddim, Vita Saladin, p. 55).
(3) Modern Condition. The first person who visited the place in modern times was Seetzen, who says, 'Near to Karak the wideplain terminates which extends from Rabbah, and is broken only by low and detached hills, and the country now becomes mountainous.
`Karak, formerly a city and bishop's see, lies on the top of the hill near the end of a deep val ley, and is surrounded on all sides with lofty mountains. The hill is very steep, and in many places the sides are quite perpendicular. The walls round the town are for the most part de stroyed, and Karak can at present boast of little more than being a small country town. The castle, which is uninhabited, and in a state of great decay, was formerly one of the strongest in these countries. The inhabitants of the town con sist of Mohammedans and Greek Christians. The present bishop of Karak resides at Jerusalem.' (4) The Hill of Karak. 'From this place one enjoys, by looking down the Wady Karak, a fine view of part of the Dead Sea, and even Jerusalem may be distinctly seen in clear weather. The hill on which Karak lies is composed of lime stone and brittle marl, with many beds of blue, black, and gray flints. In the neighboring rocks there are a number of curious grottoes ; in those which are under ground wheat is sometimes pre served for a period of ten years' (Zach's Monat liche Correspond. xviii, 434)• A fuller account of the place is given by Burckhardt (Travels in Syria, pp. 379-387), by whom it was next visited ; and another description is furnished by Irby and Mangles (Travels, pp. 361-37o). From their ac count it would seem that the caverns noticed by Seetzen were probably the sepulchers of the an cient town. We also learn that the Christians of Karak (which they and Burckhardt call Kerek), are nearly as numerous as the Turks, and boast of being stronger and braver. They were, how
ever, on good terms with the Turks, and ap peared to enjoy equal frecdom with them.
As the Rev. J. L. Porter surveyed the country of Moab from this eminence as well as from other lofty summits he was led to exclaim : How literal and how true have the words of Jeremiah become "0 vine of Szbmah, I will weefi for thee with the weePing of Jazer • . the sfioiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits, and ufion thy vintage. And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful _field, and from Me land of Moab ; and I have caused wine to fail from the wine-firesses ; none shall tread with shouting" (Jer. xlviii:32, 33). Nowhere on earth is there such a melancholy example of tyranny, rapacity, and misrule, as here. Fields, pastures, vineyards, houses, villages, cities—all alike deserted and waste. (Giant Cities of Ba• shan.) KISH (lefsh), (Heb. ItsP, keesh, a bow or horn) 1. Son of Ner, and father of king Saul (I Sam. ix:1; Chron. viii:33; ix:38, 39).
This genealogy may indeed merely register the fact that Kish was a descendant of Ner, with out implying that he was his immediate son; and allow of the insertion of Abiel and others between Kish and Ner.
But perhaps only one Kish and one Ner descended from Jeiel. If so, the explanation of the genealogy is that Ner's descendants became two tribal houses, those of Kish and Ner. The former, the important royal family of Saul, looked to Ner's son Kish as its founder, but it was merely a younger branch of the older, but less distinguished, line of Ner. Both houses belonged to the family of Jeiel, and hen,:e Kish as well as Ner is registered, according to the familiar principle, among Jeiel's sons (ix :36). Saul's father, Kish, and Abner's fathcr, Ner, are men tioned as sons of Abiel also (I Sam. ix ; xiv : 51), and either Ner or Abner is stated to have been Saul's uncle (xiv :50). Abiel may be, as some expositors suppose, or may not be, another name or the uncorrupted form of Jeiel. (B. C. about to6o.) (Davis, Bib. Diet.) 2. Sen of Jelel, and uncle of 1 (1 Chron. ix:36). (B. C. about to6o.) 3. A Benjamite, and great-grandfather of Mordecai, who was carried captive to Babylon (Esth. :5). (B. C. before 478.) 4. The son of Abdi, a Levite of Merari's fam ily (2 Chron. xxix :12), and one who assisted Hezekiah in restoring the tribe religion.
5. Second son of Mahli ; his sons married the daughters of his brother Eleazar (1 Chron. xxiii : 21, 22). One son was named Jerahmeel (i Chron. xxiv :29). (B. C. about to6o.)