Modern Interpretations - Jerusalem the Golden

 Jerusalem the Golden is a short poem taken from a much longer poem titled De Contemptu Mundi, written by St. Bernard, a 12th Century Catholic monk. While Jerusalem the Golden is a depiction of an idyllic Heaven, the longer De Contemptu Mundi is a commentary on the moral laxity of society and the corruption within the Catholic Church (which was fractured by rival popes). By depicting the beauty in Heaven and contrasting it with the horrors found in Hell, St. Bernard wanted to convince Medieval society to return to religion and moral righteousness. Who would want to get tortured in Hell when they could live in the beautiful and abundant “sweet and blessed country” St. Bernard writes about in Jerusalem the Golden?

The Heaven of St. Bernard is serene, radiant, abundant, and jovial with song–a very agrarian land where everyone lives in harmony. When initially reading this poem, everything sounded Heavenly until the third stanza. The third stanza mentions that the people of Heaven have “conquered in the fight” and “triumph[ed].” To a modern and secular audience, the rhetoric is centered on war. It means there are winners and losers and people who survive and people who don't.

Additionally, the third stanza mentions that the people in Heaven “are clad in robes of white.” Again, to a modern audience, especially in the United States, white robes immediately conjures images of white Ku Klux Klan uniforms. White robes are burning crosses, racial violence, lynching, and hatred.

Yet, for a Medieval society, conquest and white robes are actually a reference to Revelation 3:5, a spoken promise Jesus gives to his faithful believers.

“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”  

– Revelation 3:5

Those who have conquered are those who have overcome the worldly for the Heavenly. They have overcome the trials that they have been put through and maintained their religious righteousness. White robes are a symbol of those who are pure, righteous, and have achieved salvation.

Jerusalem the Golden holds a very different meaning than what I, as a modern reader, had initially thought. In the end, when it comes to older texts, the modern lens might obstruct what the author is actually attempting to achieve in their writing.

https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/NonChristmas/jerusalem_the_golden.htm 

https://www.bibleref.com/Revelation/3/Revelation-3-5.html

https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/de-contemptu-mundi