The Jordan Valley and Petra . ity, filling up the wells as they retreated,blocking the roads by felling trees, until at last thebloody strife waged round the walls of this ancientcity. Then Mesha, the boastful King, pressed soreby the angry Israelites, committed the impious actof burning his own son, the heir-apparent, in sacri-fice to the sun-god on the walls of the city. Thisact caused such horror in the minds of the Israelites,and inspired such fresh courage in the hearts ofMeshas men, that they drove back the victoriousarmies of the allied kings. Then he set up theblack monument to Chemosh
The Jordan Valley and Petra . ity, filling up the wells as they retreated,blocking the roads by felling trees, until at last thebloody strife waged round the walls of this ancientcity. Then Mesha, the boastful King, pressed soreby the angry Israelites, committed the impious actof burning his own son, the heir-apparent, in sacri-fice to the sun-god on the walls of the city. Thisact caused such horror in the minds of the Israelites,and inspired such fresh courage in the hearts ofMeshas men, that they drove back the victoriousarmies of the allied kings. Then he set up theblack monument to Chemosh, which we now knowas the Moabite Stone, to commemorate hisdeliverance and victory. This sombre story of re-bellion, of pride, of lawlessness, of bloodshed, andof shame is Keraks first claim to notice, and is alsoa type of all her subsequent history. It was aborder city then, at times independent, at timesheld by the Israelites, at times by the Edomites,then by the Moabites, and aUvays the scene of law-lessness and Kerak 337 Its chief interest for us to-day, however, is notso much its connection with the early centuries ofIsraehtish history, but its place in the history ofthe Crusaders, and the great struggle between Mo-hammedanism and Christianity in the Middle Ages. Reference has been made (p. 186) to the attemptof the Crusaders to surround and isolate the HolyLand^ by a chain of fortresses, reaching from theseacoast at Sidon, across by Tibnin and Belfort toBanias, then down the highlands east of the Jor-dan, via Rubud, El Ajlun, Jerash, Salt, Madeba,and Shobek, then from Kerak across to the sea-coast again at Gaza. Kerak, with its outpost atShobek, was the extreme outpost in the system—the farthest away from all supplies and assistance,the most exposed of all the fortresses to the stormsof invasion which swept with whirlwind violence upfrom the desert. It commanded the caravan routefrom Egypt and Arabia to Damascus, and was theextreme edge of the Crusader wedge
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