Following Yonder Star

For Christians, the Epiphany is celebrated on 6 January.  It is also known as Three Kings’ Day, in honor of the arrival of “Wise Men from the east” that came to visit the Christ child, as described in Matthew 2:1-2.

Although there was no names or any number ascribed to these Magi in the Bible, folklore and church tradition later claimed that there were three of them and their names were Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. However, historians and theologians postulate that these men — however many in number — were not kings, but were actually Jewish and gentile scholars from the cutting edge universities in ancient Persia.

At the time of the Nativity, the best scholars those trained in Jewish-founded schools in Persia, and anyone who attended those universities — Jewish or gentile — was considered the cream of their profession. By declaring that the Magi had come from the “east”, Matthew was making sure his readers knew that the people searching for the newborn king of the Jews were Persian scholars, and therefore the smartest men in the known world. Early readers of the gospel would have known that these men could be trusted to have the correct information regarding the birth of the promised Jewish messiah.

But why would the Magi have come to Judea looking for the foretold king? They were probably following a star, as it so happens.

Almost all eminent scholars of this time period were trained in astrology (which incorporated the hard sciences of astronomy and physics), because the celestial bodies were thought to directly affect the lives of both individuals and nations. We think of astrology as quackery and pseudoscience today, but for millennia studying the stars in order to foretell the future was done in earnest and taken completely seriously. Even the Jews believed that Yaweh sent his chosen people signs and omens in the night sky.

No one is 100% sure when Jesus was actually born, but near the estimated time of his birth there were unusual astronomical events occurring which the ancient astrologers took to mean the promised Messiah was about to arrive. Firstly, there was a triple conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC. A triple conjunction doesn’t mean the three planets were conjunct at once. Rather, a triple conjunction means that three separate conjunctions of the same two planets have occured in a one year period. Triple conjunctions are easy for astronomers to predict, but they are rare and a triple conjunction between Jupiter (which indicated royalty) and Saturn (which was thought to be the particular ruling planet of Jewish people) would have been of great interest to the Magi.

Additionally, those conjunctions appeared in the constellation Pisces, which was believed to be the astrological ‘house’ of the nation of Israel. The next year, in 6 BC, the planets of Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn appeared to ‘mass’ in the constellation of Pisces, which would have further put astrologers on the alert for the arrival of a ‘new star’ that would indicate that the triple conjunction in Pisces had indeed predicted the imminent arrival of the Messiah.

The astrological indicators of a coming King of Judea would also explain why the Romans were so nervous about a Jewish rebellion around this time, and why their client-king — Herod the Great — was so anxious about being overthrown. The Romans and their puppet tyrant would have both been worried that the astrological events were warnings that a great leader would arise from among the Jews and boot the Romans and Herod out of Judea at sword point. It wasn’t until later, when the Magi arrived in Judea, that Herod would learn that they were seeking a baby, the future King of Israel. This theoretically spurred Herod to slaughter all male children in Bethlehem two years old and younger shortly before his own death in 4 BC.

The ‘star’ the Magi were looking for was probably a comet, which was believed to herald important, world-changing events — such as the birth of a great king or a disaster like the eruption of a volcano. Sure enough, just a few months after the massing of planets in Pisces a new comet appeared. A scientist at Cambridge, Colin J. Humphreys, has used computer modeling to show that in March of 5 BC there a previously unseen and unknown comet suddenly showed up in the night sky over the Middle East, and there is a good chance that this massive comet was the famed Star of Bethlehem.

The timing of the comet’s appearance in the sky certainly fits with the Biblical story of Christ’s birth. The Romans had ordered a census in the spring of 5 BC, which coincides with the Biblical explanation of why the heavily pregnant Mary and her husband, Joseph, had to go to Bethlehem in spite of the expected delivery of Mary’s baby. Moreover, it would explain why the shepherds had been “watching their flocks by night” — spring is the lambing season and the shepherds would have been on nearly 24 hour watch over their sheep in case of difficult births or predators.

There is a final candidate for the Star of Bethlehem. If Jesus was indeed born in the later half of March of 5 BC, the Chinese and Korean astronomers also recorded a ‘new star’ appearing in the night sky — either a comet or nova became visible the interval between March 10th and April 7th of 5 BC. The Chinese recorded in the “Ch’ien-han-shu” that a “hui-hsing” (either a comet or a nova) showed up near to the stars of Alpha and Beta Capricornii and was visible “for more than 70 days.” This means that the ‘star’ appeared to the Magi in the constellation of Capricorn. Capricorn was so associated with moral rule and wisdom that Caesar Augustus (although born in Libra) used Capricorn as his astrological symbol (it was probably his ‘moon sign’) and minted coins featuring himself with the sea-goat of Capricorn. The new star appearing in Capricorn was probably the final confirmation for the Magi that the Messiah of the Jews had been born in Judea.

The new ‘star’ would have been visible in Persia near the predawn eastern horizon when it first became visible in March, but due to the Earth’s orbital motion it would have seemed to have ‘moved’ further south each day. By the last of April the ‘star’ would appeared to have been due south of Jerusalem. If the Magi set out for Judea in mid-to-late March, by the time they got to Jerusalem the ‘star’ would have been directly in front of them … leading them on as they traveled south to Bethlehem.