Location of Zion
The location of Zion is in the southeastern part of the city of Jerusalem, situated in the central region of Israel. Originally, Zion referred to a specific hill in this area. However, in the Bible, the term Zion is often used symbolically or poetically to refer to Jerusalem as a whole, or even to represent the entire nation of Israel.
The Location of Zion
Zion refers to a hill located in the southeastern part of Jerusalem, with an elevation of approximately 790 meters above sea level. Originally, Mount Zion was the fortified stronghold of the Jebusites, the native inhabitants of the area. When King David captured it, he expanded its fortifications and renamed it the City of David.[1] He then established it as the capital of Israel and brought the ark of the covenant there, making it the political and religious center of the nation.
David’s son, Solomon, who succeeded him as king, constructed the Jerusalem Temple on Mount Moriah,[2] which was adjacent to Mount Zion. He also moved the ark of the covenant from Mount Zion to the Temple on Mount Moriah.[3] From that time on, the term Zion came to include Mount Moriah as well.
The Expanded Meaning of Zion
Over time, the word Zion came to be used not only for a specific hill, but often as a symbol for the entire city of Jerusalem, or even for the nation of Israel as a whole.[4][5] This symbolic meaning deepened especially during the Babylonian exile, when Zion became a powerful expression of longing and hope for the return to the holy land.[6] In the Old Testament, the people of Judah taken into captivity around 586 BC are described as weeping as they remembered Zion, mourning their lost homeland. The prophets also foretold that the exiles would return to Zion, framing it as the place of restoration.
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
“In those days, at that time,” declares the LORD, “the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.
After the destruction of their nation by the Roman Empire in AD 70, the Jewish people were scattered across the world. Yet even in exile, they did not forget the biblical prophecy that a Savior would one day restore Zion. In the 19th century, the Jewish people began a nationalist movement aimed at establishing a Jewish state in their ancestral homeland, Palestine. This movement became known as Zionism. The term Zionism reflects the deep spiritual and historical connection that Jews have with Zion. It expresses their enduring hope to return to their homeland and to restore a sovereign Jewish nation—an idea that has been central to Jewish identity throughout history.
The Bible also contains prophecies about Zion as the place where God dwells,[7][8][9] reigns,[10] and grants the blessing of eternal life.[11] This Zion is not the historical Mount Zion of the Old Testament but the spiritual Zion established by Jesus, through whom eternal life is given.[12] Just as the Israelites longed to return to the physical Zion, Christians—spiritual Israelites[13]—must seek the spiritual Zion to receive salvation.[14]
The prophet Isaiah described this spiritual Zion as the place where the blessing of the forgiveness of sins is granted and identified it as the place where God’s feasts are observed.[15] In the Old Testament, Zion referred to Jerusalem and its surrounding area; but in the spiritual sense, Zion refers to any place on earth where the feasts of the new covenant are kept.