From the gospel of Matthew, we read that the star of Bethlehem was associated with Jesus' birth.
Mat 2:1-2 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, 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.
In our Christmas decorations, the star is commonly depicted as some really bright star hanging over Bethelem. But, was it really a very bright star?
So, for discussion:
What exactly was the star of Bethlehem?
Why does it seem like only the wise men from the east was able to see it?
What did they see?
What exactly was the Star of Bethlehem?
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Post #2
Thanks for the question. My answer comes from my religion, the Urantia revelation. The phenomenon of the appearance of the bright star is grounded in an actual astronomical event Someone in the 19th century figured this same thing out.
"At the noontide birth of Jesus the seraphim of Urantia, assembled under their directors, did sing anthems of glory over the Bethlehem manger, but these utterances of praise were not heard by human ears. No shepherds nor any other mortal creatures came to pay homage to the babe of Bethlehem until the day of the arrival of certain priests from Ur, who were sent down from Jerusalem by Zacharias.
These priests from Mesopotamia had been told sometime before by a strange religious teacher of their country that he had had a dream in which he was informed that "the light of life" was about to appear on earth as a babe and among the Jews. And thither went these three teachers looking for this "light of life." After many weeks of futile search in Jerusalem, they were about to return to Ur when Zacharias met them and disclosed his belief that Jesus was the object of their quest and sent them on to Bethlehem, where they found the babe and left their gifts with Mary, his earth mother. The babe was almost three weeks old at the time of their visit.
These wise men saw no star to guide them to Bethlehem. The beautiful legend of the star of Bethlehem originated in this way: Jesus was born August 21 at noon, 7 B.C. On May 29, 7 B.C., there occurred an extraordinary conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces. And it is a remarkable astronomic fact that similar conjunctions occurred on September 29 and December 5 of the same year. Upon the basis of these extraordinary but wholly natural events the well-meaning zealots of the succeeding generation constructed the appealing legend of the star of Bethlehem and the adoring Magi led thereby to the manger, where they beheld and worshiped the newborn babe. Oriental and near-Oriental minds delight in fairy stories, and they are continually spinning such beautiful myths about the lives of their religious leaders and political heroes. In the absence of printing, when most human knowledge was passed by word of mouth from one generation to another, it was very easy for myths to become traditions and for traditions eventually to become accepted as facts."
"At the noontide birth of Jesus the seraphim of Urantia, assembled under their directors, did sing anthems of glory over the Bethlehem manger, but these utterances of praise were not heard by human ears. No shepherds nor any other mortal creatures came to pay homage to the babe of Bethlehem until the day of the arrival of certain priests from Ur, who were sent down from Jerusalem by Zacharias.
These priests from Mesopotamia had been told sometime before by a strange religious teacher of their country that he had had a dream in which he was informed that "the light of life" was about to appear on earth as a babe and among the Jews. And thither went these three teachers looking for this "light of life." After many weeks of futile search in Jerusalem, they were about to return to Ur when Zacharias met them and disclosed his belief that Jesus was the object of their quest and sent them on to Bethlehem, where they found the babe and left their gifts with Mary, his earth mother. The babe was almost three weeks old at the time of their visit.
These wise men saw no star to guide them to Bethlehem. The beautiful legend of the star of Bethlehem originated in this way: Jesus was born August 21 at noon, 7 B.C. On May 29, 7 B.C., there occurred an extraordinary conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces. And it is a remarkable astronomic fact that similar conjunctions occurred on September 29 and December 5 of the same year. Upon the basis of these extraordinary but wholly natural events the well-meaning zealots of the succeeding generation constructed the appealing legend of the star of Bethlehem and the adoring Magi led thereby to the manger, where they beheld and worshiped the newborn babe. Oriental and near-Oriental minds delight in fairy stories, and they are continually spinning such beautiful myths about the lives of their religious leaders and political heroes. In the absence of printing, when most human knowledge was passed by word of mouth from one generation to another, it was very easy for myths to become traditions and for traditions eventually to become accepted as facts."
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Star of Bethlehem theories
Post #4I once read a Martin Gardner article on the Star which contained lots of information. The story of the Star can be summarized as follows:
In 1606 Kepler said the Star was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn which took place in 7 BC, but later he had doubts. The two planets could not have appeared as one star to the human eye. Besides, the conjunction lasted only a few days, while the Bible says that the Star guided the Wise men on a journey which most certainly took weeks.
In 1973 James De Young and James Hilton explained the Star as a conjunction of Jupiter and Venus which occurred in 2 BC. The same theory was defended later (1986) by Roger Sinnott. David H. Clark, however, has postulated a supernoval explosion which took place in the spring of 5 BC. There are many other theories, but most are ridiculous.
In 1999 Mark Kidger postulated a nova that Chinese astronomers saw for 70 days in 5 BC. And Michael Molnar from Rutgers University said the Star was a myth based on an astrological event in which the view of Jupiter was blocked by the moon in the constellation of Aries in 6 BC.
A good point made by Martin Gardner was that it is ironic that conservative and fundamentalist Christians have deemed it necessary to find natural explanations to the Star, since they just accept other Bible miracles and supernatural events as real based on faith alone. I personally don't think the reality of the Star is important to the gist of Christian faith. My guess is that it's a myth, just like the Flood story or the Tower of Babel.
In 1606 Kepler said the Star was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn which took place in 7 BC, but later he had doubts. The two planets could not have appeared as one star to the human eye. Besides, the conjunction lasted only a few days, while the Bible says that the Star guided the Wise men on a journey which most certainly took weeks.
In 1973 James De Young and James Hilton explained the Star as a conjunction of Jupiter and Venus which occurred in 2 BC. The same theory was defended later (1986) by Roger Sinnott. David H. Clark, however, has postulated a supernoval explosion which took place in the spring of 5 BC. There are many other theories, but most are ridiculous.
In 1999 Mark Kidger postulated a nova that Chinese astronomers saw for 70 days in 5 BC. And Michael Molnar from Rutgers University said the Star was a myth based on an astrological event in which the view of Jupiter was blocked by the moon in the constellation of Aries in 6 BC.
A good point made by Martin Gardner was that it is ironic that conservative and fundamentalist Christians have deemed it necessary to find natural explanations to the Star, since they just accept other Bible miracles and supernatural events as real based on faith alone. I personally don't think the reality of the Star is important to the gist of Christian faith. My guess is that it's a myth, just like the Flood story or the Tower of Babel.
