What was the star? Was it a convergence of planets? Was it a new or special star? What is the human explanation? Is a human explanation needed? Could it be that this was a special star God “threw” out at creation?
This evening we want to look at the facts of the mystery of the star in our Christmas story. I would like to present to you the findings of one of our Lutheran Archeologist and writers, Paul Maier concerning the star. This information is taken from his book, In the Fullness of Time, p. 51-61.
One of the most spectacular aspects of the Christmas story must be the great star that lured the Wise Men from their Eastern homeland to Jerusalem and on again to Bethlehem. That star has never really disappeared, because even today we see it in silver or gold, plastic or cardboard, and especially on the tops of Christmas trees.
The Star of Bethlehem has puzzled scholars for centuries. Some have skeptically dismissed the star as a myth, or a way to call attention to the importance of the Nativity. Some Christians, at the other extreme, have argued that the star was miraculously placed there by God to guide the Magi and is therefore beyond all natural explanation. Most authorities, however, take a middle ground that looks for some astronomical and historical explanation for the Christmas star.
In discussing the star please understand, first of all, there is nothing in the least improbable about a group of wise men, magi, or sages being attracted by some heavenly star event and then trying to investigate it more closely. The ancient historians of the Near East, Greece, and Rome were fond of describing heavenly phenomena and the effect they believed the stars had on the daily lives of the people who were interpreting their future on the basis of what they saw in the sky each night. Something like fortune telling today. In that region of clear air (before any industrial pollution), and in that time of poor artificial lighting, the nights were long, and the people had nothing better to do than to stargaze.
From reading the historical sources, one would think comets, meteors, and other heavenly wonders were almost constantly streaking across the ancient skies, and it is no accident that the interest today in astrology can be traced historically to exactly this area of the world. Indeed, the Babylonians first set up the signs of the zodiac.
There is another reason for taking the star in the skies over Palestine quite seriously. If the appearance of the star could be identified, astronomy could then also hope to date it, and the mystery of an exact date for the birth of Jesus would be largely solved. This evening I am here to offer several interesting theories and then most logical explanation about the Star of Bethlehem.
First explanation. Every 805 years, the planets Jupiter and Saturn come very close together for a period of time, and then Mars joins them about a year later. Since the great astronomer Kepler first alerted them to this event in the early seventeenth century, astronomers have computed that for ten months in 7 B.C., Jupiter and Saturn traveled very close to each other in the night sky, and in May, September, and December of that year, it looked as if they were one. Mars joined these two planets in February of 6 B.C.— what looked like a massing of planets that must have been quite a sight to see, but there is more. The astrological interpretations of such an event would have told the Magi much, if, as seems probable, they shared the astrological belief of the area. The time that Jupiter and Saturn met each other was the time of the sign of the zodiac called Pisces, the Fishes.
In ancient astrology, the giant plant Jupiter was known as the “King’s Planet,” for it represented the highest god and ruler of the universe. It was called other names, Marduk to the Babylonians, Zeus to the Greeks, and Jupiter to the Romans. And the ringed plant Saturn was believed to be the shield or defender of Palestine, while the constellation of the Fishes, which was also associated with Syria and Palestine, represented grand events and crises. So Jupiter aligning with Saturn in the Sign of the Fishes would have meant that a cosmic ruler or king was to appear in Palestine at a culmination of history. This, at least, may help to explain why the Magi were well enough informed to look for some “King of the Jews” in Palestine. And the time of this rare event in 7 B.C. fits part of the Nativity chronology very well indeed, even if Jesus were born in 5 B.C. King Herod would later order the slaughter of all male infants in Bethlehem “who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men” (Matt. 2:16). Seven minus two is five.
But there is one big objection to this theory: the two or three planets would not have come together closely enough to represent one superstar, for they would always have been separated from each other by at least one or two moon diameters. Rather, they would have appeared as a close pair of very bright stars or as a tight triangle. And the triangle would have been so close to the setting sun in February of 6 B.C. that some astronomers doubt if all three planets could have been seen.
Which brings us to another theory. The Greek term for “star” in the Gospel account is aster which can mean any lighted heavenly body, including a comet, meteor, nova, or planet. Meteors are brief and brilliant slashes across the skies and would seem too fast for consideration. But nothing impressed the ancient eye so much as a comet. Comets were thought to herald important changes in the state, particularly by the Romans. Historians of the time reported that a blood-red comet, so bright that it could be seen in the daytime, dominated the skies in the year that Caesar was assassinated, 44 B.C.. A comet also preceded the battle of Philippi, where Caesar was avenged. The death of Augustus was signaled by a comet too, as were other political crises.
Was the Christmas star really a comet? With its brilliant pointing head and long bright tail, a comet makes a far more startling impression in the night sky than any group of planets coming together. When Halley’s comet passed over Palestine in 1910, Jerusalemites reported that it seemed to pass quickly from east to west, growing somewhat diffused but nearly reappearing in all its grandeur in the west, much as the events in the Christmas story. But Halley’s comet passed over the skies too early (12 B.C.) in its visit at that time to be the Star of Bethlehem, although it undoubtedly aroused the interest of people in the Near East to heavenly events.
It happens that the Chinese have more exact and more complete astronomical records than the Near East, particularly in their tabulations of comets and novas. In 1871, John Williams published his authoritative list of comets derived from Chinese calendars. Now, Comet No. 52 on the Williams list may have special significance for the first Christmas. It appeared for some seventy days in March and April of 5 B.C., near the constellation Capricorn, and would have been visible in both the Far and Near East. As each night wore on, of course, the comet would seem to have moved westward across the southern sky. Since the time is also very appropriate, this could have been the Wise Men’s astral marker.
A nova is not really a “new” star, as its name implies, but one that suddenly has a tremendous increase in brilliance, due to internal explosions, and no heavenly event is more spectacular than this. In our own galaxy of the Milky Way, the last supernova (as it is usually called today) exploded in 1604, so brightly that it could also be seen in daylight. The ancients sometimes confused comets and novas, though the Chinese usually called novas “comets without a tail.”
It is quite fascinating to note that Comet No. 53 on the Williams list (next after the one just mentioned) is a tailless comet, and could well have been a nova, as Williams admitted. No. 53 appeared in March and April of 4 B.C.—a year after its predecessor—in the area of the constellation Aquila, which also was visible all over the East. Was this, perhaps, the star that reappeared to the Magi once Herod had directed them to Bethlehem (Matt. 2:9)? Probably not. Herod died about April 1 of 4 B.C., and the audience he granted the Magi would have to have taken place months earlier.
Taking all this information into consideration, the following is a possible heavenly reconstruction of what might have happened that first Christmas. The remarkable joining of Jupiter and Saturn in 7-6 B.C. alerted the Magi to important developments in Palestine, for the astrological significance closely paralleled what they had learned from Hebrew lore about a star heralding the expected Messiah. The comet of 5 B.C. (Williams No. 52) dramatically underscored this interpretation and sent them on their way.
That the star went before them “until it stopped over the place where the child was” does not necessarily imply any sudden visible movements on the part of the star, rather, because of the rotation of the earth, anything in the night sky appears to move westward as the night progresses, except Polaris and the relatively few stars north of it. And, as people travel, the stars do seem to move with them or before them, stopping when they stop. So when it reached its highest peak in the skies over Bethlehem, the gleaming blue-white star of Christmas would indeed have seemed to stop for the Magi as they reached their destination.
Even the artistic pictures of the star shedding its rays down on Bethlehem might not be quite so unbelievable as one would think. In subtropical areas on very clear nights, a faint bright band similar to the Milky Way is visible on the southwest horizon. This band, called zodiacal light, is the reflection of sunlight on meteor particles and it appears as a bright cone shining from the star down to earth at the point where the sun has set. If it appeared to the Magi leaving Jerusalem, this light might have seemed to beam down from the Christmas star to intersect Bethlehem at the southwest. But this is an exaggeration to the Christmas story, on which the New Testament is silent.
Perhaps this reconstruction of the star events seems too simple to be true, and additional astronomical evidence may one day disprove it. But at least it is not so unbelievable as some of the theories. Perhaps the strangest is that offered by a Russian who claims that the Star of Bethlehem was really a spaceship from a higher civilization carrying cosmonaut Jesus into this world!
Now, as I have said over the weeks of Advent, what we can be sure of even concerning the star, is what God says in His Word, the wise men asked, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matt. 2:2), and “After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” (Matt. 2:9-10). Whatever this star was, it was God’s way of guiding these Gentiles to be a part of His plan of salvation for all the world.
This evening, as we begin our Christmas celebration, remember now is the time that we celebrate Christmas and we celebrate for the twelve days. As we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate God’s working out all things for our best, for those of us who love Him. He worked out these events, sending Jesus to pay the price for our sins. He gives us life at conception, He gives us new life through His Word and Holy Baptism, and He will return in fulfillment of His promise to return. Until then, His return, we rejoice in our forgiveness and with His help we live lives of faith giving glory to His holy name, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
This evening we want to look at the facts of the mystery of the star in our Christmas story. I would like to present to you the findings of one of our Lutheran Archeologist and writers, Paul Maier concerning the star. This information is taken from his book, In the Fullness of Time, p. 51-61.
One of the most spectacular aspects of the Christmas story must be the great star that lured the Wise Men from their Eastern homeland to Jerusalem and on again to Bethlehem. That star has never really disappeared, because even today we see it in silver or gold, plastic or cardboard, and especially on the tops of Christmas trees.
The Star of Bethlehem has puzzled scholars for centuries. Some have skeptically dismissed the star as a myth, or a way to call attention to the importance of the Nativity. Some Christians, at the other extreme, have argued that the star was miraculously placed there by God to guide the Magi and is therefore beyond all natural explanation. Most authorities, however, take a middle ground that looks for some astronomical and historical explanation for the Christmas star.
In discussing the star please understand, first of all, there is nothing in the least improbable about a group of wise men, magi, or sages being attracted by some heavenly star event and then trying to investigate it more closely. The ancient historians of the Near East, Greece, and Rome were fond of describing heavenly phenomena and the effect they believed the stars had on the daily lives of the people who were interpreting their future on the basis of what they saw in the sky each night. Something like fortune telling today. In that region of clear air (before any industrial pollution), and in that time of poor artificial lighting, the nights were long, and the people had nothing better to do than to stargaze.
From reading the historical sources, one would think comets, meteors, and other heavenly wonders were almost constantly streaking across the ancient skies, and it is no accident that the interest today in astrology can be traced historically to exactly this area of the world. Indeed, the Babylonians first set up the signs of the zodiac.
There is another reason for taking the star in the skies over Palestine quite seriously. If the appearance of the star could be identified, astronomy could then also hope to date it, and the mystery of an exact date for the birth of Jesus would be largely solved. This evening I am here to offer several interesting theories and then most logical explanation about the Star of Bethlehem.
First explanation. Every 805 years, the planets Jupiter and Saturn come very close together for a period of time, and then Mars joins them about a year later. Since the great astronomer Kepler first alerted them to this event in the early seventeenth century, astronomers have computed that for ten months in 7 B.C., Jupiter and Saturn traveled very close to each other in the night sky, and in May, September, and December of that year, it looked as if they were one. Mars joined these two planets in February of 6 B.C.— what looked like a massing of planets that must have been quite a sight to see, but there is more. The astrological interpretations of such an event would have told the Magi much, if, as seems probable, they shared the astrological belief of the area. The time that Jupiter and Saturn met each other was the time of the sign of the zodiac called Pisces, the Fishes.
In ancient astrology, the giant plant Jupiter was known as the “King’s Planet,” for it represented the highest god and ruler of the universe. It was called other names, Marduk to the Babylonians, Zeus to the Greeks, and Jupiter to the Romans. And the ringed plant Saturn was believed to be the shield or defender of Palestine, while the constellation of the Fishes, which was also associated with Syria and Palestine, represented grand events and crises. So Jupiter aligning with Saturn in the Sign of the Fishes would have meant that a cosmic ruler or king was to appear in Palestine at a culmination of history. This, at least, may help to explain why the Magi were well enough informed to look for some “King of the Jews” in Palestine. And the time of this rare event in 7 B.C. fits part of the Nativity chronology very well indeed, even if Jesus were born in 5 B.C. King Herod would later order the slaughter of all male infants in Bethlehem “who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men” (Matt. 2:16). Seven minus two is five.
But there is one big objection to this theory: the two or three planets would not have come together closely enough to represent one superstar, for they would always have been separated from each other by at least one or two moon diameters. Rather, they would have appeared as a close pair of very bright stars or as a tight triangle. And the triangle would have been so close to the setting sun in February of 6 B.C. that some astronomers doubt if all three planets could have been seen.
Which brings us to another theory. The Greek term for “star” in the Gospel account is aster which can mean any lighted heavenly body, including a comet, meteor, nova, or planet. Meteors are brief and brilliant slashes across the skies and would seem too fast for consideration. But nothing impressed the ancient eye so much as a comet. Comets were thought to herald important changes in the state, particularly by the Romans. Historians of the time reported that a blood-red comet, so bright that it could be seen in the daytime, dominated the skies in the year that Caesar was assassinated, 44 B.C.. A comet also preceded the battle of Philippi, where Caesar was avenged. The death of Augustus was signaled by a comet too, as were other political crises.
Was the Christmas star really a comet? With its brilliant pointing head and long bright tail, a comet makes a far more startling impression in the night sky than any group of planets coming together. When Halley’s comet passed over Palestine in 1910, Jerusalemites reported that it seemed to pass quickly from east to west, growing somewhat diffused but nearly reappearing in all its grandeur in the west, much as the events in the Christmas story. But Halley’s comet passed over the skies too early (12 B.C.) in its visit at that time to be the Star of Bethlehem, although it undoubtedly aroused the interest of people in the Near East to heavenly events.
It happens that the Chinese have more exact and more complete astronomical records than the Near East, particularly in their tabulations of comets and novas. In 1871, John Williams published his authoritative list of comets derived from Chinese calendars. Now, Comet No. 52 on the Williams list may have special significance for the first Christmas. It appeared for some seventy days in March and April of 5 B.C., near the constellation Capricorn, and would have been visible in both the Far and Near East. As each night wore on, of course, the comet would seem to have moved westward across the southern sky. Since the time is also very appropriate, this could have been the Wise Men’s astral marker.
A nova is not really a “new” star, as its name implies, but one that suddenly has a tremendous increase in brilliance, due to internal explosions, and no heavenly event is more spectacular than this. In our own galaxy of the Milky Way, the last supernova (as it is usually called today) exploded in 1604, so brightly that it could also be seen in daylight. The ancients sometimes confused comets and novas, though the Chinese usually called novas “comets without a tail.”
It is quite fascinating to note that Comet No. 53 on the Williams list (next after the one just mentioned) is a tailless comet, and could well have been a nova, as Williams admitted. No. 53 appeared in March and April of 4 B.C.—a year after its predecessor—in the area of the constellation Aquila, which also was visible all over the East. Was this, perhaps, the star that reappeared to the Magi once Herod had directed them to Bethlehem (Matt. 2:9)? Probably not. Herod died about April 1 of 4 B.C., and the audience he granted the Magi would have to have taken place months earlier.
Taking all this information into consideration, the following is a possible heavenly reconstruction of what might have happened that first Christmas. The remarkable joining of Jupiter and Saturn in 7-6 B.C. alerted the Magi to important developments in Palestine, for the astrological significance closely paralleled what they had learned from Hebrew lore about a star heralding the expected Messiah. The comet of 5 B.C. (Williams No. 52) dramatically underscored this interpretation and sent them on their way.
That the star went before them “until it stopped over the place where the child was” does not necessarily imply any sudden visible movements on the part of the star, rather, because of the rotation of the earth, anything in the night sky appears to move westward as the night progresses, except Polaris and the relatively few stars north of it. And, as people travel, the stars do seem to move with them or before them, stopping when they stop. So when it reached its highest peak in the skies over Bethlehem, the gleaming blue-white star of Christmas would indeed have seemed to stop for the Magi as they reached their destination.
Even the artistic pictures of the star shedding its rays down on Bethlehem might not be quite so unbelievable as one would think. In subtropical areas on very clear nights, a faint bright band similar to the Milky Way is visible on the southwest horizon. This band, called zodiacal light, is the reflection of sunlight on meteor particles and it appears as a bright cone shining from the star down to earth at the point where the sun has set. If it appeared to the Magi leaving Jerusalem, this light might have seemed to beam down from the Christmas star to intersect Bethlehem at the southwest. But this is an exaggeration to the Christmas story, on which the New Testament is silent.
Perhaps this reconstruction of the star events seems too simple to be true, and additional astronomical evidence may one day disprove it. But at least it is not so unbelievable as some of the theories. Perhaps the strangest is that offered by a Russian who claims that the Star of Bethlehem was really a spaceship from a higher civilization carrying cosmonaut Jesus into this world!
Now, as I have said over the weeks of Advent, what we can be sure of even concerning the star, is what God says in His Word, the wise men asked, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matt. 2:2), and “After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” (Matt. 2:9-10). Whatever this star was, it was God’s way of guiding these Gentiles to be a part of His plan of salvation for all the world.
This evening, as we begin our Christmas celebration, remember now is the time that we celebrate Christmas and we celebrate for the twelve days. As we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate God’s working out all things for our best, for those of us who love Him. He worked out these events, sending Jesus to pay the price for our sins. He gives us life at conception, He gives us new life through His Word and Holy Baptism, and He will return in fulfillment of His promise to return. Until then, His return, we rejoice in our forgiveness and with His help we live lives of faith giving glory to His holy name, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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