| What
is Zionism?
The following
article, written by Neil Cohen, the rector of Christ Church
in Jerusalem's Old City, is a fairly accurate description
of the various meanings associated with the word Zionism and
Zion.
"Zionism
signpost of God's prophetic Word"
The following
inaccurate definitions are found in Chambers English Dictionary.
"Zion:
Jerusalem, the Israelitish Theocracy, The Christian Church,
Heaven. Zionism: the movement, which secured national privileges
for the Jews and which now helps to maintain and develop the
State of Israel."
The New International
Dictionary of The Christian Church, 2nd edition,
published by Zondervan Corp. of Grand Rapids, Mich., is no
less disappointing--"Zion" and "Zionism"
do not appear at all, apart from a parenthetical entry under
"Jerusalem," which is defined (in 1974!) as "an
important Palestinian city."
As far as
much traditional Christian teaching is concerned, there is
little or no significance to the place of Zion--however "Zion"
is defined--so the theological issue of Zionism has even less
of a place.
How tragic
when we consider that Zion--the place and the theological
concept--is at the very heart of Jewish thinking and theology--especially
in both Jewish and Christian eschatology.
The Hebrew
is, naturally, far more forthcoming; we discover that, according
to Strong's Concordance, the root word of "Zion"
is "Tsiyah" meaning "to parch, aridity, a desert,
barren, wilderness," and is closely related to "Tsiyown,"
which means a way-mark, a monumental pillar, a sign.
Mount Zion
is the hilltop site on which King David established the permanent
place for the Tabernacle, where Solomon built the first temple
that was rebuilt by Zerubbabel and remodeled by King Herod.
Zion as a spiritual concept is the eternal spiritual home
for all Jews.
There are
three broad definitions of Zionism, but as they overlap, it
is not possible to make clear demarcation lines between them.
I will generalize.
Political
Zionism
Political
Zionism calls for a political state; whether it has to have
any religious overtones is not defined. Theodore Herzl, David
Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, all leading Zionists, were motivated
by the political ideal.
It is not
known how close these people were to God, and it is assumed
that none had vibrant faiths. They fought for a homeland for
the Jewish people--where the Jewish people would be allowed
to be Jewish in their own land without the fear of persecution
and oppression.
As Herzl said
in Der Judenstaat, "The only place Israel can be Israel
is in Israel."
Hibbat Zion
(Love of Zion) was a movement that predates modern Zionism
and a form of Jewish nationalist thinking that was championed
by Ahad Ha' Am (Asher Zvi Ginsberg).
He did not
believe that the land of Israel could accommodate all Jews
and taught that, therefore, the political agenda should be
sublimated to the quest for a national spiritual center for
Judaism. Hibbat Zion merged into Herzl's Zionist movement
soon after the First Zionist Congress in 1897.
Biblical
Zionism
Religious/Biblical
Zionism calls for a spiritual state. Whether it has to have
any political overtones isn't defined.
Many ultra-Orthodox
Jewish people believe that their birthright eternal homeland
is Eretz Israel. Many do not agree that the establishment
of the State of Israel in 1948 was God's doing, since the
Biblical Zionist position is that the Zionist State will herald
the Messianic Era, and will be a sovereign act of God. Many
do not allow their own sons to join the Israeli Army, yet
they are passionately attached to the land from a Biblical
perspective.
Christian
Zionism
Religious/Christian
Zionism is a cause that teaches that all the Jewish people
should be living in the land of Israel to hasten the day of
the Lord Yeshua's return. [A view predominantly held by Classic
and Dispensational Pre-Millennialist Christians (Baptists,
Seventh Day Sabbatarian groups, Evangelicals, and the Calvary
Chapel movement)].
One aspect
of Christian Zionism that is gathering momentum claims that
the true Body of Messiah are those Believers who are supportive
of the Jewish claims for a homeland, and that the false Body
of Messiah is that which espouses Replacement Theology [your
amillennialist side of Christianity (predominantly your Greco-Roman
churches, Catholic, Episcopal, various Reformation churches
in Europe and America such as Methodist, Congregational, etc.)
This particular aspect of Christian Zionism has some serious
flaws. Although parts of the Greco-Roman church may yet fill
a prophetic role as the false church of Revelation 17, it
is clearly seen that many people in these churches, particularly
the Reformation churches which started under Martin Luther
had the doctrine of salvation correct, and are genuine born-again
Christians, even if they may not hold a proper understanding
in the area of eschatology. Some of those who were burned
at the stake, most of them, held such a powerful belief in
salvation through Jesus and Jesus alone, as properly espoused
by the apostle Paul in the book of Romans, that they were
willing to die by being burned at the stake, and would not
recant to save their lives. Yet these all believed in replacement
theology. Martin Luther reformed the church in the area of
soteriology (Bible doctrine of salvation), but never went
far enough in his reforms to enter the area of eschatology.]
Religious
Zionism, be it Jewish or Christian, is concerned to show that
the Jewish people have a God-ordained right to settle in this
land, that they should never have been excluded from this
land, that God is at work in this land, and will redeem it.
Religious Zionism is at pains to encourage aliyah among the
Jewish people in the Diaspora.
Zionism, from
my point of view as a Jewish Believer, is a waymark, a signpost,
and a monumental pillar to the world that God is true to His
Word.
It is a sign
that God chose a barren and arid place for His eternal dwelling
home, from which streams of living water will flow to the
east and to the west [Zechariah 14]. Zionism is the movement
by which god's purposes are furthered in this regard, just
as monotheism is the belief system by which the doctrine of
one God is furthered and worshipped."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
All comments
in brackets [ ] are of the editor
UNITYINCHRIST.COM. Neil Cohen is the rector of Christ Church
in Jerusalem's Old City.
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