What is Zion?:
The word Zion has no precise meaning in Hebrew but was often used to refer to something like a “citadel” or “fortress.” Some argue that it comes from the Hebrew ziya, which means “waterless, parched.” Eventually, though, it ended up referring to the city of Jerusalem in some fashion — physically or metaphorically.
Where is Zion?:
Physically, Zion has been used to refer the site of a pre-Isrealite, Jebusite fortress on the southeastern ridge south of the Temple Mount complex. It has also been used to refer to the Temple Mount itself. Finally, it has also been used to refer to a hill south of the old city.
Why Zion it important?:
Zion has come to mean much more than the physical city of Jerusalem: it has also come to refer to the national and religious aspirations of the Jews themselves. Jerusalem is the city, but Zion is the ideal and the idealization of a union between the social realm of humanity and the laws of God. Zion is where God dwells on earth, interacting with his chosen people on a more personal level.
Zion is thus a symbol of all the good that accompanies the chosen people’s union with God. They are bathed in God’s righteous justice and protected from evil and deprivation, even in the harsh desert, by God’s love. They are free from hunger, thirst, and poverty because of God’s bounty. They have a permanent home, not subject to the dangers posed by enemy soldiers, weather, or anything else.
