Meaning of ZION

(a) One of the hills on which the city of Jerusalem rises. The name Zion (Zi'un) appears for the first time in the OT to designate a Jebusite fortress located on this eminence.

David took possession of it, and named it “the city of David” (2 Sam. 5:7; 1 Chron. 11:5). There he carried the ark. From then on, the mountain was considered holy (2 Sam. 6:10-12).

Solomon placed the ark in the Temple that he had built on Mount Moriah (1 Kings 8:1; 2 Chron. 3:1; 5:2). These two passages demonstrate that Zion and Moriah were two different hills. (For the location of Zion, see JERUSALEM b, A.)

(b) After the building of Solomon's Temple on Mount Moriah and the transportation of the ark to this place, the name Zion also came to designate the Temple (Isa. 8:18; 18:7; 24:23; Jl . 3:17; Mi. 4:7). This is the reason why the OT mentions Zion a large number of times, while Moriah only appears twice (Gen. 22:2; 2 Chron. 3:1).

(c) The name Zion is frequently used to designate the whole of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:21; Ps. 48; 69:35; 133:3; Is. 1:8; 3:16; 4:3; 10:24; 52:1; 60:14).

(d) The godly Israelites and the Jewish nation (Ps. 126:1; 129:5; Isa. 33:14; 34:8; 49:14; 52:8).

(e) The Jerusalem above (Heb. 12:22; cf. Rev. 14:1).

(f) Heb. "Si'um", "elevated". It is one of the names of the Hermon chain, or one of its summits (Deut. 4:48).