Zionism is a very complicated term these days, although I doubt most who scorn or celebrate its usage know its layered history and multiple meanings.
On some level, the case for Jewish connection to the land of Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital, and Mt. Zion in the center of the holy city - is where this whole story begins.
And on some literary level - that narrative begins in these chapters, as the latter prophets preach to inspire the homecoming to the holy land.
Zachariah is among the first to return to Jerusalem after the 70 year exile in Babylon, in the latter part of the 6th century BCE. He’s also among the few. The majority of Judeans, although allowed to return to Jerusalem by the Persian authorities, preferred to stay in their new homes, in relative comfort, residents of what would become known as the diaspora.
Those who chose to rebuild Zion - or Yehud - as the Persians named the tiny province -- did so with no small amount of hardship. And though ideology must have played a part there’s also evidence that those who rebuilt Judah were mostly poor who took advantage of the frontier -- while the elites preferred to stay in Persia.
Even though most scholars consider it mostly fiction, the scroll of Queen Esther, which will be chanted in synagogues all over the world in a few days, tells at least the kernel of the complex reality, plights and prosperity of the Persian Jewish community.
But for Zachariah and the other builders of Zion, the time has come to leave their exiled state behind and reconstruct Jerusalem.
In his second vision, the prophet imagines a man who tries to measure the city’s circumference only to be told by the divine not to bother: the city will sprawl beyond measure, and will need no walls - only the divine wall of fire to protect it from its enemies.
Despite the vision, construction of the actual wall would be a big project and a complex story -- but the point that the prophet was making is that there should be no concerns - and it’s time to come home:
ה֣וֹי ה֗וֹי וְנֻ֛סוּ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ צָפ֖וֹן נְאֻם־יְהֹוָ֑ה כִּ֠י כְּאַרְבַּ֞ע רוּח֧וֹת הַשָּׁמַ֛יִם פֵּרַ֥שְׂתִּי אֶתְכֶ֖ם נְאֻם־יְהֹוָֽה׃
ה֥וֹי צִיּ֖וֹן הִמָּלְטִ֑י יוֹשֶׁ֖בֶת בַּת־בָּבֶֽל׃
“Away, away! Flee from the land of the north—says YHWH —though I swept you there like the four winds of heaven—declares YHWH.
Away, escape, O Zion, you who dwell with Babylon’s daughter!
Zechariah 2:10-11
‘Babylon’s Daughter’ is the prophetic poetry to illustrate the difference between ZIon - often depicted as feminine, and the exile - still known as Babylon even as that empire was long gone. But what’s interesting here beyond the gendering of lands and towns is how this verse that calls for the return to Zion would be turned on its head by the people who heard it, and read it, and still preferred to stay where they were.
Many generations after Zechariah, a rabbi living in Iraq - still known as Babylon -- interpreted this prophetic verse by turning it on its head, and this political interpretation was preserved in one of most important literary corpus created in the diaspora -- the Babylonian Talmud.
Rabbi Yehuda is quoted in Tractate Ketubot, page 111a:
“Anyone who resides in Babylon, it is as though that person actually is residing in the Land of Israel - as it is written “Zion, escape, you who dwells with the daughter of Babylon” (Zechariah 2:11).”
In other words, and to justify continued existence in the diaspora, the rabbi claims that the verse is offering two parallels - and equates the two lands. This is the same Rabbi Judah who elsewhere in the Talmud forbids Jews from settling in the holy land. He is considered one of the first diasporists - maybe a pioneering anti zionist?
This is Talmudic spinning at its finest and strangest - but it is also indicative of the not so subtle divisions between world Jewry that were spoken by Zechariah, Rabbi Judah - and are still at play today.
Zechariah will keep pushing for the return of Jews to Zion. Most of them will keep politely refusing.
The project will continue for the next 12 chapters and beyond. How we today get to handle these tensions, labels and possibilities -- is as complicated and simple as it’s apparently always been.
The conflict between those who do and don’t support the project of Zion will only get harsher for Zechariah - in the next steps his visions get wilder with a surprising appearance from the king of the underworld.
Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections.
Become a free or paid subscriber and join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible. Enjoy daily posts, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. 2022-2025.
#Zechariah #Zechariah2 #ProphetZechariah #הנביאזכריה
#זכריה #BookofZephaniah #תריעשר #treiasar #minorprophets #Prophets #Neviim #Hebrewbible #Tanach #929 #labshul #belowthebiblebelt929 #PersianEmpire #Jerusalem #Zion #PersianJewry #thereturntozion #BabylonianTalmud #Diasporism #antizionist #zionvsdiaspora #endthewar #stoptheviolence #peace #prayforpeace #nomorewar #hope