The Star of Bethlehem, cited in the Gospel of St. Matthew, has been a mystery for 2,000 years. It is unlikely to have been a comet or a super nova, as either would have been widely interpreted as an ill omen and caused great public concern. Comets were popularly associated with the deaths of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., and Nero in 66 A.D., as well as the Norman conquest of England in 1066 A.D. However, the Magi's quest for a new "King of the Jews" seems to have taken Herod the Great and his court completely by surprise.

     In "The Bible as History", Werner Keller speculated that the "star" may have been a conjunction (visual alignment) of the planets Jupiter and Saturn within the constellation, Pisces (traditionally associated with Israel). That it was seen "in the east" may refer to its initial appearance in the eastern pre-dawn sky. If, as it is largely supposed, the Magi were scholars, who had studied at the ancient school of astrology at Sippar, it would have been just the sort of "sign" they would have sought.

     In the year we reckon as 7 B.C., such a conjunction occurred three times. The first took place on the morning of May 29th. Summer not being a particularly good time to cross the desert, the Magi may have started out on its second appearance, October 3rd (that year, the Jewish Day of Atonement) thus giving them time to reach Jerusalem in time for the third conjunction on the evening of December 4th. The ascending "star" would have lay directly in front of them, as they traveled the Hebron road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. "...and behold, the star which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was." (Matthew 2:9b)

     According to Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, about that time it was circulated among the Jews that a sign from heaven had announced the coming of a new Jewish king.

Acknowledgments: 16, 17

© Russ Brown, 1998