Messianism and Zionism in Jewish Nationalism: A Panacea for Nation-Building in Nigeria

Abstract

Some of the notable liberating mechanisms and advocating organs recognizable in the Jewish national history are Messianism and Zionism. While Messianism is a religious ideology, Zionism remains the political organ that expresses the messianic ideology towards the re-building and development of the Jewish nation. Previous scholars had interpreted these concepts to express different ideas ranging from the liberation of the oppressed to the advent of an eschatological utopian state, yet adequate attention has not been paid to how the messianic concept gave impetus to the Zionists to re-gather and re-build the Jewish nation. Adopting Historical-Critical and Contextual methods, this paper analyses a few selected messianic texts in the Old Testament in the context of Messianism and Zionism. These texts are selected because they were historically instrumental in sustaining the Jewish faith towards the fulfilment of their national dreams. Findings revealed that the Jews experienced exile and travails in history yet they sustained the messianic ideology through didactic devices and literature, which eventually helped the Zionists in actualising their national goal. Data were subjected to exegetical analysis of the selected biblical texts. Similarly, available Jewish documents were explored. The paper recommends that Nigerians and their leaders should learn from the Jews’ dispositions towards the messianic ideology and the patriotic move of the Zionists. It concludes that the Messianic ideology and the Zionist patriotism could serve as impetus and veritable templates for re-building any given nation into an enviable status.