At first glance, the “Star of Bethlehem” story seems absurd.
Apparently. No one but the magi reported seeing the star, even when the Magi supposedly followed the same star from Jerusalem to Bethlehem
Mat 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Mat 2:2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
Mat 2:3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Mat 2:4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
Mat 2:5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
Mat 2:6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
Mat 2:7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
Mat 2:8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
Mat 2:9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
Mat 2:10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Mat 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincen, and myrrh.
Mat 2:12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way
Also, in the 17th century, Johannes Kepler (the Christian astronomer and mathematician, known for the laws of planetary motion) — was able to calculate the historical position of the different heavenly bodies
But he couldn’t find anything that could have been considered the Star of Bethlehem
And these days, computerized astronomy programs following Kepler’s formulas can show us exactly what the stars looked like back then, in seconds — why haven’t modern astronomers found that star?
But someone has!
It took a Christian lawyer out of Texas, developing his own Christmas home lighting scheme, to figure it out — and you can get the whole story on the “The Star of Bethlehem” DVD by Rick Larson
You can even find the star YOURSELF by purchasing an inexpensive astronomy program for your laptop and take the laptop (via the DVD) to Babylon — AND to 9: 00 pm, on June 17 of 2 BC and point your “telescope” west
And Matthew knew exactly what he was talking about…
From historians of the day, we know that there were, in fact, “schools” of “Magi,” (the “wise men”) and a particularly impressive school in Babylon (the East)
The Magi were astrologer/astronomers — they studied the stars
And, they had been studying the stars for millennia and knew the rhythms (and therefor, future) of the stars
By knowing the future of the stars, the Magi believed that they also knew the future of mankind…
These Magi believed that God spoke to them through the stars
So far, so good
But, why would Magi from Babylon want to worship the King of the Jews (and why would they think that God spoke to them through the stars)?
Well — according to the Hebrew “Tanakh” (the Christian “Old Testament”), in about 460 BC, Daniel — the kidnapped Israelite and accepted prophet — was made chief prefect over the Magi of Babylon (Daniel 2:48)
Daniel would have been trained in Judaism and would have instructed his Magi accordingly
The Tanakh hadn’t been written yet, but Daniel would have likely known about an earlier incident in which a noted sorcerer (Balaam) of an enemy king was told to place a curse on the Israelites escaping from Egypt
But God wouldn’t allow Balaam to curse the Israelites — and had Balaam praise and bless them instead
There has been much contention by historians that the so-called “prophecies” of Daniel were written after the fact, rather than before the fact and were really historical rather than prophetic
But Dead Sea Scrolls proved that at least much of Daniel was written before ^^^, and the doubters of authenticity were/are doubters of the supernatural (magic) in general…
Within his oracles, Balaam also predicted the coming Jewish Messiah
Numbers 24:17 I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob (Israel), and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel… (the word “Scepter” could be used to indicate the King himself, rather than the device)
Anyway, in 455 BC, Daniel apparently predicted that the Jewish Messiah would come to Jerusalem as King of the Jews in exactly 173,880 days “from the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem”
Unfortunately, there seems to be 4 different events to which Daniel could have been referring as “the word going out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem”
One of those decrees however, happens to have been issued exactly 173,880 days before Jesus came into Jerusalem (on the back of a young donkey) as “King of the Jews” (estimated at 3/30/33 AD when Jesus was 33 years old)
Note that there was no zero AD and born in June of 2 BC, Jesus would not yet be 34
From Microsoft Bing: Daniel prophesied that the Messiah would arrive in Jerusalem in 173, 880 Days after the order to rebuild was issued. This is shown thus: 69 “weeks” = 483 years (69 times 7) 483 years times 360 days (The Jewish years of that time) = 173, 880 days. 2. The ACTUAL DATE of the decree was MARCH 14, 445 B.C.
And consequently, if there was a star signaling the Messiah’s birth, it would have appeared in 2 BC — and from Babylon, it would have appeared over Israel
Anyway, it makes sense that about 450 years after Daniel’s prophecy the ‘star’ would have been on the minds of Magi from Babylon
And, they would have been looking for a special star over Israel
They would have found it in the early evening of 6/17/2BC right on the horizon over Israel
For “for likely a little over an hour” (Google) on 6/17/2BC, the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus, on the horizon OVER ISRAEL (as seen from Babylon) would have been the brightest ‘star’ that anyone (living) had ever seen — and caused by the CONJUNCTION of the planets named for the Goddess of fertility and the father of the Gods…
The coincidences here stretch the meaning of “coincident”
Perfect
So, why didn’t Kepler find the star?
It turns out that the book of Kepler’s time that provided Jewish history was written by Flavius Josephus back in the first century AD
However, there happens to be two versions of this book
All copies of one version were printed before 1544 AD — all copies of the other version were printed after 1544
(It so happens that the Guttenberg press was invented in 1450)
In the 17th century, Kepler used the second version in trying to determine the time of Jesus’ birth
He did that by using the date of Herod’s death — according to the Christian Bible Herod died shortly after the birth of Jesus…
The second version of the book by Josephus had Herod dying in 4 BC, whereas the first version had Herod dying in 1 BC — so Kepler must have been looking for the Star of Bethlehem within the wrong years…
Another coincident?
And then — modern astronomers have at least two reasons for missing the “star”: Balaam didn’t predict a conjunction, and it lasted for only an hour at most
So, beginning in 3 BC, the Magi in Babylon must have been looking for the star
On June 17, 2 BC they found it
They made the necessary arrangements, saddled up and, headed west
No telling how long all that would have taken – but considering it to be a 700-mile trip, the Magi might well have arrived in Jerusalem sometime in late December of 2BC
Mat 2:3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him
Mat 2:9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was...
Mat 2:10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
The Magi would have exited Jerusalem through the Essene Gate — which opened onto the road to Bethlehem.
Leaving, with their gifts, through the Essene gate at about 4:45 AM on December 25, they would have seen Jupiter directly over the road to Bethlehem…
Not only that, but it was about 5 miles to Bethlehem, and this road very gradually turned about 20 degrees to the west (see The Macmillan Bible Atlas)— and if the trip had taken about an hour (which would have been likely going by horse or camel), Jupiter also moving 20 degrees to the west would have stayed over the road the entire trip!
More coincidences?
Some of the Jewish towns people — knowing that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem about that time and informed by the shepherds of the special baby in the manger — would have known where the young child now lived…
WOW!
I suppose that the stars don’t prove anything, but they certainly support Matthew’s story
