Star of Bethlehem
|
|
- See also Star of Bethlehem (plant).
The Star of Bethlehem was a star or star-like object that, in the account of Jesus' birth given in the Greek Gospel of Matthew, heralded his arrival and guided the Magi, better known in Christian mythology as the Three Wise Men) to the stable in Bethlehem where he was born.
The messianic "Star Prophecy" that this star appeared to fulfill was of importance to all the contemporary Jewish resistance groups of the period, including those who produced the documents at Qumran (the "Dead Sea scrolls") and the zealots who triggered the war against Rome, not to mention the early Christians (Eisenman 1997 p23 etc)
| Contents |
Narrative in Matthew
The Star of Bethlehem is described in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament of the Bible. After briefly recording the birth and naming of Jesus (Matthew 1:25), Matthew's account continues by stating:
- Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose [or "in the east"] and have come to worship him."
These Magi were eventually directed to search in Bethlehem, based on a prophesy in the Jewish Scriptures concerning the place of birth of the promised king. "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."
Contrary to some popularizations, Matthew's account indicates that the Magi knew from the star that the new king had already been born even before they first arrived in Jerusalem. While the nativity account in the Gospel of Luke recorded the actual birth of the infant in a stable (i.e. the event heralded by the star), Matthew records that by the time the Magi arrived, they found Jesus with his mother in a house and he was by then a small child.
Matthew's account goes on to report that King Herod, who had learned the time of the star's appearing from the Magi, attempted to end the child's life by killing male children in Bethlehem of age two years and under. This suggests that the time of the star's appearing in the east was some time less than two years earlier.
Proposed explanations for the star
Some have suggested that the star was entirely mythological. Legend had it that the births of Mithradates and Alexander Severus were both associated with the appearance of special stars.
Others have proposed that the star was, in whole or in part, a special miraculous light rather than a normal astronomical event. Among these is John Chrysostom, who observed that a normal star could not have shown exactly where in Bethlehem Jesus was to be found, as Matthew says this star did.
Various astronomical explanations have been advanced for the Star of Bethlehem, with a number of events known to have happened around the time of Jesus' birth (which has itself not been pinpointed). Suggested candidates have included:
- A conjunction (some claim occultation) of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC or that of Jupiter and Venus on June 17, 2 BC (although dates after 4 BC are subject to the objection that Herod may have died in that year)
- Halley's Comet, which made an appearance around 12 BC (a date which may be too early)
- A supernova, first suggested by Johannes Kepler after viewing one in 1604
A common objection to many suggested candidates (including comets, falling stars, novae, supernovae, etc.) is that they retroactively superimpose modern expectations on ancient stargazers. Although such candidates might seem unusual and interesting to modern eyes, they would not have carried the meaning to the Magi that a king of the Jews had been born. Comets, for example, were viewed as omens of misfortune.
On the other hand, planets were viewed as "wandering stars" and their movements, although mundane to modern eyes, were considered highly significant to stargazers of the time. Among these, the planet Jupiter was considered to have special royal significance.
Consequently, the leading astronomical interpretations for the star of Bethlehem have converged on consideration of the royal wandering star of Jupiter, with the different proposals turning largely on the answers to two questions.
- When did Herod the Great die?
- In the eyes of the Magi, what would have indicated that the birth was specifically of a king of the Jews rather than of some other people?
Because Herod the Great was alive at the time that Jesus was born, only events prior to his death are of interest as candidates. On independent grounds, it has been argued by some that Herod died as late as 1 BC. If true, this would open up consideration of the years immediately prior.
- In the December 1968 issue of Sky and Telescope, Roger Sinnott proposed that the star event was a rare and unusually close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the constellation of Leo the Lion on the evening of 17 June 2 BC. Unlike most conjunctions where planets remain visually separate and clearly distinct, this one may have been so close that they would appear to merge to all but the sharpest eyes.
- In 1991, Ernest L. Martin presented an alternate interpretation in the book The Star That Astonished the World. While he proposed that the conjunction with Venus started the Magi on their journey to Jerusalem to search for the new king, Martin's interpretation associated the date of the birth itself with movement of the moon in relation to Venus on 11 September 3 BC. He also noted that this was followed by three conjunctions of Jupiter with Regulus, the royal or king star within the constellation of Leo, and then by the conjunction with Venus.
- In 2001, Robert C. Newman suggested a revised version of the Martin's interpretation in which the event of 11 September 3 BC is understood as marking the time of conception and the rare, close conjunction with Venus on 17 June 2 BC, nine months later, heralds the birth.
However, if Herod died in 4 BC as others maintain, then this would exclude candidates from the years 2 or 3 BC, and would confine attention to events in or before 4 BC.
- In 1999, astronomer Michael R. Molnar published the results of his investigations in the book The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi. In contrast to other suggested events involving other constellations such as Leo, Virgo, or Pisces, Molnar had discovered evidence from multiple sources indicating that the stargazars of that time considered the constellation of Aries the Ram to be associated with the people of "Judea, Idumea, Samaria, Palestine, and Coele Syria", i.e. the lands ruled by King Herod. Additional evidence indicated that a special occultation of Jupiter by the moon that occurred in the east in Aries on 17 April 6 BC signified the birth of a great Jewish king.
A spring date for the birth also corresponds with Luke's account of the birth in which shepherds were watching their flocks by night. In the spring, shepherds would be watching their flocks at night in order to be ready to aid in the birth of new lambs.
Regarding Matthew's statements that the star "went before" and "stood over", Molnar and others have maintained that the Greek words used there refer to Jupiter's retrograde motion (also called "retrogradation") and stationing, respectively, as the movement of Jupiter against the background of the stars reverses course for a time and then stops before resuming the normal progression.
The "Star Prophecy"
The narratives of Matthew are so constructed as to form a chain of fulfillments of Old Testament prophecies, often explicitly instanced, and of quotations taken out of context that are presented as being prophetic. The "Star prophecy" ("There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel," Number 24:17) was the most treasured omen of a hopeful future for all Jews, up until the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70.
The "Star prophecy" was applied by the Romanized former revolutionary Josephus to Vespasian, as the one whom Jewish Scripture foretold, who would come out of Palestine and rule the world. The commander in Palestine was soon Emperor, and Josephus' application of the prophecy, like so many others, was likely to have been made after the fact.
Source
- Eisenman, Robert, 1997. James the Brother of Jesus : The Key to Unlocking Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls
External links
- An investigation of the science and history which bear on the mysterious star said to have accompanied the advent of Christ (http://bethlehemstar.net)
- Earth and Sky article "The Star of Bethlehem Revisited" (http://www.earthsky.com/teachers/articles/articles.php?id=16)
- Astronomer Michael R. Molnar's Star of Bethlehem site (http://www.eclipse.net/~molnar/) Includes FAQ and review comments
- Robert C. Newman's proposed modification of Ernest Martin's interpretation (http://www.ibri.org/Papers/StarofBethlehem/75starbethlehem.htm)
- Griffith Observatory links related to the star of Bethlehem (http://www.griffithobs.org/StarofBethlehem.html)
- Matthew's account regarding the star of Bethlehem. (http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Matthew+2)