- Wow! That is amazing!
Sam Snyder — Edited
Bethany Rasmussen I thought so too! 😁 The video goes into it a bit more, but the text here covers it pretty well too. The timelapse star map is pretty cool too.- This is awesome! Like these wise men, let us learn to humbly follow the leading of the “star” in our hearts (the Holy Sprit) to guide us.
The Christmas Star
This last week has had a lot of thought and attention given to "the Christmas Star." We didn't really get a good view here in the Twin Cities because of the cloudiness, but it was a sight to behold. That really had people thinking about the "star of Bethelehem" and what that may have been about. Here are some notes I adapted from a friend of mine, Tom Flaherty, around the nature and possible timing of the star of Bethlehem. There is also a 27 minute video exploring the Census, Star, and timing of the birth of Jesus.
There are two good possibilities for the star:
1. It was supernatural, like the fire over the people of Israel...a very real possibility.
2. God worked through nature to orchestrate an event where the stars literally and figuratively aligned in a way that stargazers who would look to the sky for signs would interpret them to come from afar to worship Jesus. The only problem with the timing of this theory is the dating of Herod's death, which isn't as stronly corroborated as the dates of the movements of the stars and planets. I did research that backed this up as a good theory based on movements of the stars, but a friend of mine, Tom Flaherty, wrote this out in a really accessible way:
What Did the Magi See?
"We saw His star in the east…The star went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was." Matthew 2:2; 10
The Magi were from the same region as Daniel, the most famous of their kind, and most likely had access to all his prophecies. Daniel had prophesied extensively about the kingdoms that would follow Babylon and every word so far had been fulfilled in actual history; he was batting one hundred percent. Daniel had also given the approximate time the Messiah would appear (Daniel 9:24-27) and the mystery of His Divine identity that would invite worship (Daniel 7:13-14). Without that access, why would the Magi come so far and be so sure? Listen to their confidence: "Where is He who was born king of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." (Matthew 2:2)
From Daniel's time, the Magi were known for all kinds of wisdom including astrology (Daniel 2:4,5,10) which involved looking for signs in the heavens. What did they see that convinced them they were witnessing Messiah's star?
The Greek word for planet means "wandering star," so there were two kinds of stars for the Magi - those which moved (planets) and those which were stationary (stars). Astronomy is an exact science so we can know today what they saw then. Historians have located the worldwide census and have dated it through three different extra-Biblical sources to 3 BC. (See my CD on "The Puzzle of Christmas History" available online or at City Church.) What was happening in the stars at that time? A study on what happened in the 3/2 BC skies has been given by Doctor of Astronomy, John Moseley.
On August 12, 3 BC there was a conjunction (a close approach of celestial bodies is called a conjunction) of Jupiter (the king) and Venus (the mother) in Leo the lion, the ancient constellation associated with Judah (Genesis 49:9). On September 14th, 3 BC there was another conjunction, this time it was between Jupiter (the king of the wandering stars) and Regulus. Regulus is the brightest star in Leo and its name is translated king. So the king of the wandering stars came into conjunction with the king of the fixed stars in the constellation associated with Judah.
Was this enough to convince the Magi that the prophesied King had been born? Conjunctions aren't that rare so even though the timing was right, I don't know if it was enough for them to head toward Judah. What happened in 2 BC that confirmed Messiah's star and led to the journey the Magi made to Bethlehem?
"Where is the One who has been born king of the Jews…Herod called the Magi secretly and found out the exact time the star appeared…and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was." Matthew 2:2; 7; 9
The magi weren't at the nativity, in fact, we know from the time they gave Herod that their visit was over a year after the birth. (See Matt. 2:16) They didn't come right after the conjunctions of Jupiter (king) and Venus (mother) in Leo (Judah's constellation) combined with the conjunction of Jupiter and Regulus (king) or they would have arrived much earlier in Judah.
To understand what they observed next we have to define an astronomical term: retrograde motion. Even though the planets (wandering stars) continue their orbit around the sun, sometimes they appear to stop, and turnaround from earth's perspective. This allusion is called: "retrograde motion."
After Jupiter's conjunction with Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, on September 14, 3 BC, it continued its orbit. But then it stopped, turned around, and came back for a second conjunction with Regulus on February 17, 2 BC. It passed Regulus again and then turned around again and made a third conjunction on May 8, 2 BC. Here's what one scholar has written about these events:
"In 3/2 BC, Jupiter's retrograde wandering would have called for our magi's full attention. After Jupiter and Regulus had their kingly encounter, Jupiter continued on its path through the star field. But then it entered retrograde. It 'changed its mind' and headed back to Regulus for a second conjunction. After this second pass it reversed course again for yet a third rendezvous with Regulus. A triple conjunction. A triple pass like this is very rare. Over a period of months, our watching magi would have seen the Planet of Kings dance out a halo above the Star of Kings. A coronation. The association of Messiah with the tribe of Judah and with the lion clarifies the connection between Jupiter's behavior and the Jewish nation, because the starry coronation--the triple conjunction--occurred within the constellation of Leo, the Lion."
After the three conjunctions, Jupiter one more time comes back to Regulus, but this time meets Venus there in one of the closest conjunctions in recorded history (.01 degrees was the distance between them). On June 17, 2 BC, Jupiter and Venus would have appeared like a single star right next to Regulus. Planetariums all over the world show this as the Christmas Star. (Go HERE to watch a flash presentation.) Here's what one astronomer said about this event:
"Exact conjunctions of Venus and Jupiter when they fuse into one body to the naked eye in the evening or night sky are very rare. And having such a conjunction happen on both sides of Regulus with Jupiter passing over Regulus three times in the interim is unique, and an impressive thing to view. It never happened 2000 years before nor 2000 years after 3/2 BC."
Our text says the star went before them and then stopped over the place where the child was. Jupiter was the Christmas star. Do we know when it stopped over Bethlehem when viewed from Jerusalem? Interestingly, it was on December 25, 2 BC. In the word of another scholar:
"After the conjunction with Venus and Regulus, Jupiter then moved westwards. By mid-November it had passed the zenith and was shining in the western sky, and still moving west. Six weeks later, Jupiter had reached its furthest point west, came to a halt and stood still against the background stars in the sky 65 degrees above Bethlehem. It is called 'retrograde motion.' An astronomer tracking the movement of planets through the star field watches not so much on the scale of minutes, but on the longer scale of days, weeks and months. On this scale of time, Jupiter did stop. On December 25 of 2 BC as it entered retrograde, Jupiter reached full stop in its travel through the fixed stars. Magi viewing from Jerusalem would have seen it stopped in the sky above the little town of Bethlehem in the abdomen of the constellation Virgo."