Her Mansion Is Higher Than Mine

DESCRIPTION: "There are mansions high, there are mansions wide, 'Way up in gloryland, There are mansions built in jasper, O wondrous beauty grand." The singer expects a mansion, but is sure "my mother's mansion Is higher than mine." Jesus has places for all
AUTHOR: Albert E. Brumley (Brumley-LamplitinTimeInTheValley)
EARLIEST DATE: 1969 ("Gospel Tide," according to Brumley-LamplitinTimeInTheValley)
KEYWORDS: home mother
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Brumley-LamplitinTimeInTheValley 53, "Her Mansion Is Higher Than Mine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #V44986
NOTES [198 words]: An allusion to John 14:2 in the King James version, "In my Father's house are many mansions." NRSV renders "...many dwelling places"; the Greek word μονη, mone, is found in the New Testament only here and in John 14:23, where KJV renders "abode" and NRSV renders "home." In classical Greek the sense seems to be a place to stop or rest, or the act of stopping or tarrying. I'd almost be tempted to render "campsites."
The mansion being made of "jasper" is interesting. The word "Jasper" occurs in the KJV New Testament four times, all in the Apocalypse: 4:3, 21:11, 21:18, 21:19. In this case, NRSV agrees with the rendering "jasper." In 4:3 it is a reference to a divine being's appearance; in chapter 21, parts of the New Jerusalem are described as looking like jasper, and that is clearly what is being invoked here. The oddity is that, although Revelation says that the city was "a very rare jewel, like jasper," jasper is at best a semiprecious stone. But the English word "jasper" is more specific than Greek ιασπις, which really means an opaque precious stone. (Ironic that 21:11 refers to the jasper as "clear as crystal").
But that, no doubt, is over-analysing Brumley's text. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.2
File: ABLT053

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