The Star of Bethlehem

Jose Ribeiro

Het607 1st semester 2002

The Star of Bethlehem is still today a controversial theme, which identity is far from being known. A lot has been written about this event that is mentioned only at St Mathew ‘s gospel as follows: “After the birth of Jesus in Judaea, during the kingdom of Herode, Magi arrived to Jerusalem from the East and asked: Where is the King of Jews that was born?. Because we saw His Star in the East and we came to worship Him. (...) After having heard the king they left. .And the star they had seen in the East was in front of them until it stopped over the place the child was. When they saw the star they felt very joyful”.

This piece of text can be interpreted in multiples ways:

- The “star” is a divine phenomena, which was used by God to announce the coming of His Son to Earth.

- The “star” is a literary parabola associated to Jesus nativity in order to enhance this happening. It was common to associate astronomical phenomena to important happenings.

- The “star” was a real astronomical event.

The Biblical texts are essentially metaphorical, so the “star” may not have “happened” for real. Yet, it is interesting, if not for the academic point of view, to try to explore the possibility of it being a real astronomical event. And from here hence this text will be based in the assumption that the Star of Bethlehem was a real astronomical event. And should it have been the case, when did it happened and what kind of event it was.

It is necessary to precise the date of the birth of Jesus, to characterise the capacity of astronomical observation, as well as the astronomic knowledge of that time. To begin with, due to the lack of optical instruments of observation, one can only include astronomical events which relative magnitude is lower or equal to six.

One cannot exclude the possibility of the “star” being more than just a single astronomical event. According to Mathew the “star” reappeared over Bethlehem.

The “star” would have been an unusual astronomical event, because only such an event would call the Magi’s attention, as they were learned astronomers as well as astrologers.

The “star” would have been an event observable for quite some time, because it guided the Magi during all their trip from the East (most likely from Persia) [1]; the Magi would have travelled on horses, and not on camels, more in accordance to their noble status, and their trip would have lasted for about four months.

The “star” did not leave any remnants. Therefore, a supernova is a possibility completely out of the question, for should it have been the case, remnants would be already known and possible to be dated by the actual technology.

Most probably, the “star” was a set of astronomical events which was bound to arise astrological interpretation. The Magi knew Daniel’s prophecies, written between 605 and 530 BC. These prophecies stated that “Jerusalem would be rebuilt after the Babylonians destroyed it in the 6th century BC, and that 490 years would pass from a command to rebuild Jerusalem until a world-embracing messianic kingdom would emerge on the earth in the region of Palestine” [1]. Therefore, the Magi were “expecting” and searching for signals pointing to the birth of such a Messiah, although they did not know when it would be taking place.

The exact date of the birth of Jesus has not yet been precisely determined. It is commonly accepted to be between 7BC and 1BC. Mathew and Luke both agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the last years of the reign of Herode the Great. Herode was told that the birth of the “King of the Jews” had been “announced” by a star and he feared that a new born would menace his crown and ordered the slaughter of all the male children of two years old or less. Mathew pointing Herode as responsible for this slaughter, means that Jesus’ birth had to occur at least two years before Herode’s death. In the writings of Flavius Josephus (general and historian , born in Jerusalem in 37 AD) one learns that Herode died after a lunar eclipse, and that was buried before Passover. Three lunar eclipses were recorded taking place before Passover: at 23rd March 5BC (total), at 13th March 4BC (partial), and at 10th January 1BC (total). The writings of Flavius Josephus indicate that the partial eclipse of 4BC as the one to be associated to Herode’s death. This date has been one of the accepted dates, thus placing Jesus’ birth at 6-5BC. Yet, some defend that Flavius Josephus writings were corrupted in copies made after 1552AD and that the previous writings indicated 1BC as the date for Herode’s death. Yet, there is a fact that can corroborate this date, that is the execution of the rabbis in Jericho and to which Herode attended personally . It is told that in the night of the eclipse, after the executions, “the moon that night was red with the blood of the murdered rabbis”; this red moon is a phenomena that only occurs in total lunar eclipses due to the illumination of the moon by the solar rays, reddened by the earth atmosphere. Moreover, the 5BC eclipse took place in March, and should Herode die after this eclipse there would not have been enough time to go through all the burial ceremonies of the king before Passover. Based on these grounds, Herode’s death has most likely occurred in 1BC, thus placing Jesus birth at 3-2BC.

Another lead to the determination of Jesus birth can be found in Luke’s gospel and is connected to a census that forced Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem during the time Quirinus was governor of Syria [3]. Yet, this census took place in 6AD thus contradicting Mathew and also the eventual date of the crucifixion. The probable explanation for this discrepancy is that both Mathew and Luke gospels were written 50 to 70 years after the facts they refer to had taken place, and there was bound to be uncertainties regarding the precise dates [2].

From the above, one can state that 6-5BC and 3-2BC are the two most credible dates for Jesus birth.

One of the phenomena most likely to have called the Magi’s attention is a triple conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn that took place in Pisces in 7BC [5,6].Pisces, the fishes, is a very important constellation, a sign that “has always been interpreted of Israel” [4]. Jupiter is the king of planets and Saturn stands for justice, and so this triple conjunction at the eyes of an astrologer could mean the birth of a king of justice among the Jews. Professor Colin Humphreys of Cambridge University defends that this could be “the first of a series of three events with astrological significance for the Magi, which culminated in the decision to set out for Jerusalem” [6]. The other two were a massing of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in 6BC, and the appearance of a bright comet in 5BC, registered by the Chinese [7].

In fact, two comets were registered by the Chinese, one in 5BC and the other in 4BC. Yet, it is not probable that a bright comet, although rare, could have any effect upon the Magi’s decision. Comets were at the time associated to catastrophes and were seen as a bad omen, which is antagonistic to the coming of a Saviour King.

The Chinese have also registered a nova at 5BC. A nova (new star) is a variable star of the cataclysmic type that increases its brightness about ten magnitudes. Its brightness will then decrease more or less fast, depending on the type of nova, decreasing three magnitudes in ten days (very fast) or over 100 days (slow nova), with other classifications in-between [9]. This phenomena happens in a binary stellar system in which a star, usually of the Main Sequence, transfers mass to a white dwarf. The accumulation of hydrogen-rich gas on the surface of the white dwarf leads to a thermonuclear runway, producing an outburst, resulting in brightness increase. This event could very well be one of the candidates for the “Star of Bethlehem”, together with the triple conjunction of 7BC, as it is rare, and also because for the observer it is a star appearing suddenly.

Other authors defend that the “star” could have been a set of lunar occultations in 6BC, of Jupiter in Aries and of Saturn in Pisces [8].

If Jesus had been born later (between 3 and 2BC), also other events can be taken into consideration, which occurred in the constellations of Leo and Cancer. Two conjunctions of Venus and Jupiter in Cancer in 12th August 3BC, and another in Leo in 17th June 3BC, as well as a retrograde movement of Jupiter around Regulus. The king of the planets with the king of the Zodiac.

From the above stated, the time in question was a very rich one in terms of astronomical events, bound to have astrological interpretation. Only a very accurate time for the birth of Jesus can help to define the origin of the “star”. Therefore, an astronomical event is a viable possibility.

But also, let us recall that the “star” is mentioned only in one of the four gospels (despite the fact that it has been painted and mentioned along the years), and that all the other “facts” mentioned in the four gospels have been questioned by credible learners and scholars. Therefore, the “Star of Bethlehem” may have been intentionally depicted out of Mathew’s literary creativity in order to best enhance the importance of the nativity of the announced Saviour.

References

1. The Star of Bethlehem. An Astronomical and Historical Perspective.

By Susan S. Carroll

2. The Star of Bethlehem: some historical considerations

By Anthony A. Barrett

http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/hph/iarticle_queri?bibcod=1983JRASC..77L..82B

3. Common Errors in “Star of Bethlehem” Planetarium Shows

By John Mosley

4. Pisces (the Fishes) and The Band

http://philologos.org

5. La Estrella de Belen: un Acontecimiento Astronomico?

By David Martinez Delgado