Charax originally meant a pointed stake used in fortifications, and by extension came to mean a palisade or siege rampart—the kind of earthwork and stake barrier that armies would construct around a besieged city. Jesus uses this term in his prophetic lament over Jerusalem: 'your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side.' This was literally fulfilled when the Romans besieged Jerusalem in 70 AD, constructing siege works that trapped the inhabitants and led to the city's destruction. The military precision of Jesus's language adds weight to the tragic inevitability of the coming judgment.