ABSTRACT
As will become clear, several streams converge to issue in the broad and complex ideology of ‘Zionism’, a term used in its modern sense for the first time by Nathan Birnbaum in 1890 (Bein 1961:33). Whether one approaches the question from a strictly secular perspective, or from one which takes account of religious considerations, the role of the biblical narrative is a critical element in any discussion of Zionism. 1 However, overt appeal to the Bible and its interpretation in underpinning Zionist nationalism was not prominent in the beginning, and only assumed a critical role when the religious settler movement collaborated with the new phase of Zionist expansionism which was inaugurated by the conquests of the 1967 War.
