I Don't Remember Zion

[silly_imp]

So lying in bed this morning, it occured to me that I don't know anything about Zion. (Yup, these are the types of thoughts I apparently have at 6am.) Thorn Coyle has a song title Zion (Excellent album, by the way. It's almost worth listening to just for her covers of First We'll Take Manhatten and Angelsea.), and I woke up with it in my head this

Comments

[dancingwolfgrrl]

So in the Bible, Zion means the physical place we now call Israel, as in "sing us one of the songs of Zion" (from Psalms), and sometimes specifically Jerusalem. It also is now used to mean "the promised land." In one sense, Israel is the promised land -- God promises it to Abraham and his descendents (ie, Jews) in Genesis. God is also, according to the Old Testament, to dwell among his chosen people (ie, Jews) in the promised land. (It's important to note here that while there are prophecies about a Messiah in Judaism, the Jewish Messiah is scheduled to be a righteous man, not a demi-god :->)

Today, Zionism is a political movement that supports Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people. It has also gained some religious dimensions, and in practice usually refers to people who are strongly pro-Israel.

[silly_imp]

Thanks! I thought maybe you'd answer me :)