Where was Zion?

Question

Where was Zion?

Accepted Answer

Zion was first the Jebusite stronghold on the narrow eastern ridge of Jerusalem, above the Gihon spring, which David took and renamed the City of David; then the name passed to the Temple hill just north of it, and in the Psalms and the prophets to the whole city. The hill called Mount Zion today is a third place, the higher western hill outside the Zion Gate of the Old City, which took the name only in the Christian era. In a straight line the three lie close: the map's point for the City of David is about 0.5 km south of Mount Moriah and 0.7 km east of today's Mount Zion. History Globe's articles on Zion and Mount Zion follow the name in full; this answer gives the short version. The Bible starts with the ridge: “David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David.” When Solomon brought the ark up “out of the city of David, which is Zion” to the new Temple, the name went up with it, and the Temple hill became the holy mountain: “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion”; “For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.” The prophets use it for Jerusalem and its people — “out of Zion shall go forth the law” — and the exiles in Babylon “wept, when we remembered Zion”. In Hebrews it is lifted off the map altogether: “ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”. How the name reached the western hill is not recorded exactly. Josephus, after AD 70, took that hill for David's citadel; by the fourth century Christian pilgrims climbed it as Sion and were shown David's palace there, and the church of Holy Sion later stood on it. The meaning of the word itself is uncertain, perhaps “fortress” or “dry place”, and it is probably older than Israel. The map's point labelled Zion stands with Jerusalem's.