Zion

VIEW:14 DATA:01-04-2020
ZION.—See Jerusalem, esp. 11. 1.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


(See JERUSALEM.) Lieut. Conder (Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement, Oct. 1877, p. 178) takes Zion for a district name, like "Mount Ephraim." It means sunny mountain. Hezekiah brought his aqueduct (2Ch_32:30; 2Ch_33:14) from Gihon, the Virgin's fountain, to the western side of the city of David (which is thus Ophel). Zion was the city of David (2Sa_5:9; 1Ch_11:7; 2Ch_5:2); even the temple was sometimes said to be on Zion; so was Millo (2Ch_32:5).
The name thus appears to have had a somewhat wide application; but it mainly applies to the eastern of the two main hills on which Jerusalem latterly was built. W. F. Birch (Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement, July 1878, p. 129) remarks that ancient Jerusalem stood on a rocky plateau enclosed on three sides by two ravines, the king's dale on the W. and S., the brook Kedron on the E. Another ravine, the valley of Hinnom, cleft the space thus enclosed. Between the "brook" and "valley" was the ridge on the southern end of which stood at the beginning of David's reign the hereto impregnable fortress of Jebus (afterward called Zion). In the valley W. of the ridge lay the rest of the city, once captured by the Israelites, but now occupied by the Jebusites. On its eastern side near the" brook" was an intermittent fountain, called then Enrogel, once Gihon in the "brook," afterward Siloah, now the fountain of the Virgin.
The inducement to build on the southern part of this ridge rather than on the northern part, or on the higher hill on the W., was the water supply from the fountain at its base. Moreover some Hittite, Amorite, or Melchizedek himself, engineered a subterranean watercourse extending from the fountain for 70 ft., and then by a vertical rock-cut shaft ascending 50 ft. into the heart of the city, so that in a siege the inhabitants might have a supply of water without risk to themselves, and without the knowledge of the besiegers. So secure did the Jebusites seem, that they defied David, as if "the lame and the blind" would suffice to defend the fortress (2Sa_5:6). David promised that whoever should first get up the tsinor, "gutter," as the subterranean aqueduct was called, should be commander in chief. Joab ventured and won.
How David heard of the secret passage, and how Joab accomplished the feat, is not recorded; but Capt. Warren (3000 years subsequently) found the ascent of the tsinor so hard (Jerusalem Recovered, p. 244-247) that the conviction is forced on one that Joab, who was as cunning as he was valiant, must have had some accomplice among the Jebusites to help him in his perilous enterprise, just as occurred at Jericho and at Bethel (Joshua 2; Jdg_2:22-26).
In subsequent years Araunah, a Jebusite of rank, owned the threshing area and lands just outside the city of David, and sold them at an enormous price to David for an altar and site of the temple. If he was the traitor to the Jebusites, by whose help Joab entered the city, we can understand the otherwise strange fact that he was left in possession of such valuable property in such a situation (2Sa_24:18-24). Josephus' testimony rather favors this conjecture (Ant. J. 7:3, Section 1-3): "Araunah was a wealthy man among the Jebusites, but was not slain by David in the siege because of the goodwill he bore to the Hebrew, and a particular benignity and affection which he had to the king himself" (Ant. J. 7:13, Section 4). "He was by his lineage a Jebusite, but a particular friend of David, and for that cause it was that when he overthrew the city he did him no harm." (See TEMPLE.)
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Zi'on. See Jerusalem.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


See SION.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


Mount Zion was the name given to that hill section of Jerusalem that lay inside the city wall along the eastern side. A Canaanite fortress on the southern part of this hill had enabled the inhabitants of Jerusalem to withstand enemy attacks for centuries. When David conquered the city he determined to build a temple for God on Zion, though the site chosen was to the north rather than the south (2Sa_5:6-9; 2Sa_24:18-25; 2Ch_3:1; Psa_78:68-69; Isa_8:18; for map see JERUSALEM). The temple was built during the reign of David’s son, Solomon (1Ch_22:8-10).
Since the temple was God’s symbolic dwelling place, Israelites regarded Zion as a holy hill and Jerusalem as a holy city (Psa_2:6; Psa_9:11; Isa_52:1). They often used the name Zion figuratively to refer to both the temple and the city (2Ki_19:31; Psa_9:14; Psa_51:18; Psa_87:1-3; Mat_21:5; see JERUSALEM; TEMPLE). Because of the people’s wickedness and idolatry, Jerusalem, far from being a holy city, was a sinful city (Isa_1:21; Isa_10:11; Mic_3:10).
Nevertheless, Zion was the location of God’s symbolic dwelling place, and psalmists and prophets mentioned it repeatedly. To them it spoke of God and his salvation of Israel (Psa_20:1-2; Psa_53:6; Isa_28:16; Mic_4:2; Mic_4:7; cf. Rom_11:26).
New Testament writers used Zion as a symbol of a far greater salvation, a salvation that is not limited to one city, one nation, one people or one era. To them it spoke of the heavenly Jerusalem, whose citizens are those ‘born from above’ (Heb_12:22-24; Gal_3:26-29; Gal_4:26-28; Rev_3:12; Rev_21:1-4).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.


zı̄?on (ציּון, cı̄yon; Σιών, Siṓn):
1. Meaning of the Word
2. The Zion of the Jebusites
3. Zion of the Prophets
4. Zion in Later Poetical Writings and Apocrypha
5. Omission of Name by Some Writers
6. The Name ?Zion? in Christian Times
LITERATURE

1. Meaning of the Word:
A name applied to Jerusalem, or to certain parts of it, at least since the time of David. Nothing certain is known of the meaning. Gesenius and others have derived it from a Hebrew root צהה, cāhāh, ?to be dry?; Delitzsch from צוּה, ciwwāh, ?to set up? and Wetzstein from צין, cı̄n, ?to protect.? Gesenius finds a more hopeful suggestion in the Arabic equivalent ṣihw, the Arabic ṣahwat signifying ?ridge of a mountain? or ?citadel,? which at any rate suitably applies to what we know to have been the original Zion (compare Smith, HGHL, under the word).
Considerable confusion has been caused in the past by the want of clear understanding regarding the different sites which have respectively been called ?Zion? during the centuries. It will make matters clearer if we take the application of the name: in David's time; in the early Prophets, etc.; in late poetical writings and in the Apocrypha; and in Christian times.

2. The Zion of the Jebusites:
Jerus (in the form Uru-sa-lim) is the oldest name we know for this city; it goes back at least 400 years before David. In 2Sa_5:6-9, ?The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites.... Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David ... And David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the city of David.? It is evident that Zion was the name of the citadel of the Jebusite city of Jerusalem. That this citadel and incidentally then city of Jerusalem around it were on the long ridge running South of the Temple (called the southeastern hill in the article JERUSALEM, III, (3) (which see)) is now accepted by almost all modern scholars, mainly on the following grounds:
(1) The near proximity of the site to the only known spring, now the ?Virgin's Fount,? once called GIHON (which see). From our knowledge of other ancient sites all over Palestine, as well as on grounds of common-sense, it is hardly possible to believe that the early inhabitants of this site with such an abundant source at their very doors could have made any other spot their headquarters.
(2) The suitability of the site for defense. - The sites suited for settlement in early Canaanite times were all, if we may judge from a number of them now known, of this nature - a rocky spur isolated on three sides by steep valleys, and, in many sites, protected at the end where they join the main mountain ridge by either a valley or a rocky spur.
(3) The size of the ridge, though very small to our modern ideas, is far more in keeping with what we know of fortified towns of that period than such an area as presented by the southwestern hill - the traditional site of Zion. Mr. Macalister found by actual excavation that the great walls of Gezer, which must have been contemporaneous with the Jebusite Jerusalem, measured approximately 4,500 feet in circumference. G. A. Smith has calculated that a line of wall carried along the known and inferred scarps around the edge of this southeastern hill would have an approximate circumference of 4, 250 feet. The suitability of the site to a fortified city like Gezer, Megiddo, Soco, and other sites which have been excavated, strikes anyone familiar with these places.
(4) The archaeological remains on these hills found by Warren and Professor Guthe, and more particularly in the recent excavations of Captain Parker (see JERUSALEM), show without doubt that this was the earliest settlement in pre-Israelite times. Extensive curves and rock-cuttings, cave-dwellings and tombs, and enormous quantities of early ?Amorite? (what may be popularly called ?Jebusite?) pottery show that the spot must have been inhabited many centuries before the time of David. The reverse is equally true; on no other part of the Jerusalem site has any quantity of such early pottery been found.
(5) The Bible evidence that Zion originally occupied this site is clear. It will be found more in detail under the heading ?City of David? in the article JERUSALEM, IV, (5), but three points may be mentioned here: (a) The Ark of the Covenant was brought up out of the city of David to the Temple (1Ki_8:1; 2Ch_5:2), and Pharaoh's daughter ?came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her? - adjacent to the Temple (1Ki_9:24). This expression ?up? could not be used of any other hill than of the lower-lying eastern ridge; to go from the southwestern hill (traditional Zion) to the Temple is to go down. (b) Hezekiah constructed the well-known Siloam tunnel from Gihon to the Pool of Siloam. He is described (2Ch_32:30) as bringing the waters of Gihon ?straight down on the west side of the city of David.? (c) Manasseh (2Ch_33:14) built ?an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley? (i.e. naḥal - the name of the Kedron valley).

3. Zion of the Prophets:
Zion, renamed the City of David, then originally was on this eastern ridge. But the name did not stay there. It would almost seem as if the name was extended to the Temple site when the ark was carried there, for in the pre-exilic Prophets the references to Zion all appear to have referred to the Temple Hill. To quote a few examples: ?And Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night? (Isa_4:5); ?Yahweh of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Zion? (Isa_8:18); ?Let us go up to Zion unto Yahweh our God? (Jer_31:6); ?Yahweh will reign over them in mount Zion? (Mic_4:7). All these, and numbers more, clearly show that at that time Zion was the Temple Hill.

4. Zion in Later Poetical Writings and Apocrypha:
In many of the later writings, particularly poetical references, Zion appears to be the equivalent of Jerusalem; either in parallelism (Psa_102:21; Amo_1:2; Mic_3:10, Mic_3:12; Zec_1:14, Zec_1:17; Zec_8:3; Zep_3:16) or alone (Jer_3:14; Lam_5:11); even here many of the references will do equally well for the Temple Hill. The term ?Daughter of zion? is applied to the captive Jews (Lam_4:22), but in other references to the people of Jerusalem (Isa_1:8; Isa_52:2; Jer_4:31, etc.). When we come to the Apocrypha, in 2 Esdras there are several references in which Zion is used for the captive people of Judah (2:40; 3:2, 31; 10:20, 39, 44), but ?Mount Zion? in this and other books (e.g. 1 Macc 4:37, 60; 5:54; 6:48, 62, etc.) is always the Temple Hill.

5. Omission of Name by Some Writers:
It has been pointed out as a curious and unaccountable exception that in Ezekiel as well as in Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, there is no mention of Zion, except the incidental reference to David's capture of the Jebusite fort. The references in the other Prophets and the Psalms are so copious that there must be some religious reason for this. The Chronicler (2Ch_3:1), too, alone refers to the Temple as on Mount Moriah. It is also noticeable that only in these books (2Ch_27:3; 2Ch_33:14; Neh_3:26 f; Neh_11:21) does the name ?Ophel? appear as a designation of a part of the southeastern hill, which apparently might equally fitly have been termed Zion. See OPHEL. Josephus never uses the name ?Zion? nor does it occur in the New Testament, except in two quotations (Heb_12:22; Rev_14:1).

6. The Name ?Zion? in Christian Times:
Among the earlier Christian writers who mention ?Zion,? Origen used it as equivalent to the Temple Hill, but in the 4th century writers commence to localize it up the southern part of the western hill. It was a period when Biblical topography was settled in a very arbitrary manner, without any scientific or critical examination of the evidence, and this tradition once established remained, like many such traditions, undisputed until very recent years. To W. F. Birch belongs much of the credit for the promulgation of the newer views which now receive the adherence of almost every living authority on the topography of Jerusalem.

Literature.
See especially chapter vi in Smith's Jerusalem; for a defense of the older view see Kuemmel, Materialien z. Topog. des alt. Jerusalem.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Zi?on [JERUSALEM]




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.



(Heb. Tsiyon', צַיּוֹן, sunny [Gesen.] or fort [Fürst]; Sept. [usually] and New. Test. Σιών, Vulg. Sion; A. V. “Sion” in New. Test.), a prominent hill (הִי) of Jerusalem, being generally regarded as the south-westernmost and the highest of those on which the city was built. It included the most ancient part of the city with the citadel, and, as first occupied for a palace, was called the city of David (2Ch_5:2). Being the original site of the tabernacle pitched by David for the reception of the ark, it was also called the holy hill, or hill of the sanctuary (Psa_2:6). By the Hebrew prophets the name is often put for Jerusalem itself (Isa_8:18; Isa_10:24; Isa_30:19; Isa_33:14; Psa_48:2; Psa_48:11-12; comp. Rom_9:33; Rom_11:26; 1Pe_2:6; Rev_14:1); also for its inhabitants, sometimes called sons or daughters of Zion (Isa_1:27; Isa_12:6; Isa_40:9; Isa_49:14; Isa_52:1; Psa_9:14; Psa_97:8; Zec_2:7; Zec_2:10; Zec_9:9; Zec_9:13; Zep_3:14; Zep_3:16; Joe_2:23; Mat_21:5; Joh_12:15); and for the spiritual Sion, the church or city of the living. God (Heb_12:22; Heb_12:28; Gal_4:26; Rev_3:12; Rev_21:2; Rev_21:10).
There never has been any considerable doubt as to the identity of this hill. Josephus, indeed, singularly enough appears to ignore the name Zion; but he evidently calls the same hill the site of the Upper City. In modern times Fergusson has attempted to identify it with Mount Moriah (Jerusalem Revisited; the Temple, etc.), and Capt. Warren, with equal futility, has contended for its identity with Akra (The Temple or the Tomb [Lond. 1880]). The mistake of the latter has originated from not observing that Josephus uses ἄκρα, the summit in two senses: (a) the citadel on Mount Zion (Ant. 7:3,1, where it is clearly distinguished from “the lower city”), and (b) the hill Akria (ibid. 2, where it, is clearly distinguished from “the upper city”). SEE ACRA.
Of the several hills on which Jerusalem was built, Zion is the largest and, in many respects, the most interesting. It extends considerably farther south than the opposite ridge of Moriah and Ophel. The western and southern sides -rise abruptly' from the beds of the valley of Hinnom, and appear to have originally consisted of a series of rocky precipices rising one above another like stairs; — but now they are partially and in some places deeply covered with loose soil and the debris of buildings. The southern brow of Zion is bold and prominent; and its position, separated from other heights and surrounded by deep valleys, makes it seem loftier than any other point in-the city, though it is in reality lower than the ground at the north-west corner of the wall.. The elevation of the hill above the valley of Hinnom at the point where it bends eastward is 300 feet, and above the Kidron, at en- Rogel, 500 feet. On the south-east, Zion slopes down in a series of cultivated terraces steeply, though not abruptly, to the site of the “King's Gardens,” where Hinnom, the Tyropoeoai, and the Kidron unite. Here and round to the south the declivities; are sprinkled with olive-trees, which grow luxuriantly among narrow strips of corn. The scene cannot but recall the words of Micah, “Zion shall be ploughed like a field” (Jer_26:18).
On the east, the descent to the Tyropceon is at first gradual, but as we proceed northward to the modern wall it becomes steeper; and about 300 yards within the wall, directly facing the-south-west angle of the Haram, there is a precipice of rock from twenty to thirty feet high. The declivity is here encumbered with heaps of filth and rubbish, overgrown in places with prickly-pear. The Tyropoeon was anciently much deeper at this point than it is now; it has been filled up by the ruins of the bridge, the Temple walls, and the palaces of Zion to a depth of more than 130 feet. The best view of the eastern slopes of Zion and the southern section of the Tyropoeon is obtained from the top of the wall in descending from Zion Gate to the Dung Gate. From the descriptions and incidental notices of Josephus the following facts may be gathered that the “Upper City,” built on Zion, was' surrounded by ravines; that it was separated from the “Lower City” (Aklca) by a valley called the Tyropoeon; that upon a crest of rock thirty cubits high on the northern brow of Zion stood three great towers — Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne; that the wall enclosing the Upper City on the north ran by these towers to a place called the Xystus and joined the western wall of the Temple area; that there was a gate in that western wall northward of this point of junction opening into Akra; that the Xystus was near to amid commanded by the western wall of the Temple area, though not united to it, and that the royal palace adjoined and overlooked the Xystus on the west, while it was also attached to-the great towers above mentioned; and, lastly, that both the Xystus and palace were connected at their southern end by a bridge with the Temple area (see Josephus, War, 5, 4; 6:6,2; 2, 16, 3;. Ant. 5, 1, 5). On the summit of Zion there is a level tract extending in length from the citadel to the Tomb of David, about 600 yards; and in breadth from the city wall to the eastern side of the Armenian convent about 250 yards. A much larger. space, however, was available for building purposes and was at one time occupied. Now not more than one half of this space is enclosed by the modern wall, while fully one third of that enclosed is taken up with the barrack-yards, the convent gardens and the waste ground at the city gate. All without the wall, with the exception of the cemeteries and the cluster of houses round the Tomb of David, is now cultivated in terraces and' thinly sprinkled with olive trees.
Zion was the first spot in Jerusalem occupied by buildings. Upon it stood the stronghold of the Jebusites, which so long defied the Israelites, and was at last captured by king David (Num_13:29; Jos_15:63; Jud_1:21 Amo_2:2 av.). Upon it that monarch built his palace, and there for more than a thousand years the kings and princes of Israel lived and ruled (Amo_2:9 etc.). In Zion, too, was David buried, and fourteen of his successors on the throne were laid near him in the royal tomb (1Ki_2:10; 1Ki_11:43; 1Ki_14:8; 1Ki_14:31, etc.). Zion was the last spot that held out when the Romans under Titus captured the city. When the rest of Jerusalem was in ruins, when the enemy occupied the courts of the Temple, the remnant of the Jews from the walls of Zion. Haughtily refused the terms of the conqueror, and perished in thousands around and within the palaces of their princes.
The city which stood on Zion was called successively by several names. It was probably the Slem of Melchizedek (comp. Gen_14:18 Ninth Psa_76:2); then it became Jebus under the Jebusites, so called from a son of Canaan (Gen_10:16; 1Ch_11:4-5); then the “city of David” and Jerusalem (2Sa_5:7). Josephus, as above stated, calls it the “Upper City,” adding that it was known also in his day as the “Upper Market.” SEE JERUSALEM.



CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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