CHAPTER 22
MORE ABOUT "HIS STAR".
In
the last chapter we unravelled the astronomy from the Greek text of Matthew
chapter 2, and now it’s time to ask a few more questions about "His
Star." We begin our enquiry knowing that the Star of Bethlehem was in fact
a Planet, and that the Magi were expecting its appearance, its "heliacal
rising", and as soon as they had ascertained that their calculations were
correct, and that the splendour of the dawn presented them with the vision they
anxiously awaited, they made plans to set off for Judæa. This would not have
been a hasty process, but one which entailed much preparation, and even then it
would take them two or three weeks (as explained in the last chapter) to travel
from Babylon to Judæa, by a route which allowed them to stop off for necessary
supplies. This route was probably northwards to start with, then across the
desert to Mari, then
So
much for the background. Now what about that star? The ancient peoples always
looked upon Jupiter as the King Star. This is
reflected in Greek mythology, where Zeus was the king of the gods, the Roman
counterpart being called Jupiter. There could have been no other planet in
their minds. The heliacal rising of Jupiter would suggest the birth of a King.
But they would not automatically have come to this conclusion without
corroborative evidence. This evidence came in two directions -
The knowledge that the
"seventy sevens" of years given by Daniel in his
writings, was more or less up.
The fact that when
Jupiter made its appearance, it rose within the constellation of Leo, and in
fact passed very near to the brightest star in that sign, known as Regulus.
This star is a "royal star", as the very name suggests, being Latin
for a Prince, a King’s Son.
When the Magi put all these things together, they realised that the conjunction
of astronomical events was unquestionably the sign they awaited. The "King
Star" (Jupiter), arose close to the "Prince Star" (Regulus)
within the Sign of Leo, (between his feet,) associated with the Tribe of Judah,
and historically, it was the right moment in time. And so the Star predicted by
Balaam had finally shown itself, and this was no ordinary circumstance. It was
an event to eclipse all others, and required an ambassadorial visit.
Now
it’s all very well talking like this, but did the event actually happen? Have
we any way of confirming or rejecting this suggestion? Thankfully we have
available for our use Tables of Planetary, Lunar, and Solar Positions for
those years, computed by Bryant Tuckermann, 1964. Some years ago I obtained my
own copy of this book and have frequently had occasion to refer to it. It is a
most useful tool in historical research, when astronomical data combine with
historical records. Computer graphics are of course now available, based on
these tables.
In
Tuckermann’s tables for the year in question we find the following facts
emerging -
In its heliacal
rising, Jupiter was in conjunction with Venus on Monday 12th August,
B.C.3
On 17th
August B.C.3 Venus was in conjunction with Regulus.
On 12th
September B.C.3 Jupiter was in conjunction with Regulus.
The following diagram
shows these conjunctions.
(Note. Yet another
diagram has had to be omitted.)
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Other
writers have played heavily on the fact that both Venus and Jupiter were
in view at this time, and that the significance was that of the conjunction.
But Matthew’s account is specific in its mention of "His Star", not
"His Stars". Venus had no significance in respect of the birth of the
King of Judah, even though it had a significance of its own in another
direction, which the Magi would probably not have been aware of.
I am
indebted to Ferrari d’Occhieppo for bringing to my notice an important fact. In
his article entitled "The Star of Bethlehem", in the Quarterly
Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, (Volume 19, pp 517-520, 1978) he
says that "The oldest version of the Protoevangelium of James in the
Papyrus Bodmer V (Testuz 1958), apparently reflecting an independent popular
tradition about the Magi and their Star, far from being contradictory in itself
as astronomically inexperienced scholars believed, attests, in non-technical
language, that there were visible two planets rising together while only
one of these (arguments taken from other sources are pleading for Jupiter) had
been considered as the Messiah’s Star proper by the Magi."
This author then went on to say that in his opinion it referred to the rising
of Jupiter and Saturn in B.C.7, but in my research I find no correlation with
his thesis, but the statement about two planets is important because, assuming
that our present research is establishing a series of valid correspondences,
then the presence of Venus (the brightest "star" in the sky) would
have been a very significant fact along with the King Star.
I
would now like to quote from a book by Jack Lindsey, entitled "The
Origins of Astrology." I found this a most fascinating volume and
read it with great interest, making numerous notes for further use. Lindsey
gives plenty of evidence on how the Wise Men of the East viewed astronomical
events. It is to these that I now wish to turn, so that the understanding given
above about these men may be seen to be in order.
First of all, about eclipses. Apparently they were viewed as bad omens, and
this is of interest in connection with the Lunar Eclipse mentioned by Josephus,
occurring just a few days before Herod’s death. Here is the translation of a
tablet from the archives of
In another text we read about the
rising of the planets - "The Sun did not have an eclipse. It let
[the computed event] go by. The Planet Venus will reach the sign Virgo; the
heliacal rising of the Planet Mercury is near." There are
apparently a great number of tablets containing information of this sort, and
it shows us how careful these Magi were in their observations. They had
obviously computed the times of eclipses, which is more than most of us
could achieve! Furthermore, they knew when the Planets were about to ascend in
their "heliacal risings". It is only in the area of interpretations
that we may find occasional cause for some amusement. But not always. The
Magi certainly predicted correctly concerning the birth of Jesus, but as I
pointed out before, they were in possession of prophecy, thus giving them a
much firmer footing for interpretation.
Now
what about the appearance of Venus in conjunction with Jupiter during those
August days in B.C.3? What did the Magi construe when Venus rose heliacally?
First of all, Lindsey tells us that the two favourable planets were
Jupiter and Venus, and the two unfavourable planets were Mars and
Saturn. Mercury was neutral.
The
Planet Venus was thought of as a luminous lion roaming the heavens from
east to west. In the morning appearances of Venus it was considered male,
and in the evening, female. Hence when Venus was seen in its heliacal
rising together with Jupiter in August B.C.3, the interpretation would probably
have suggested the arrival of two significant (male) figures on the
world stage. The Jupiter rising was clearly understood in terms of the Messiah,
but the other figure could be none other than John the Baptist, even though
they may never have known anything about him. He was the "luminous lion of
the morning sky", the attendant to the King. We can now logically
interpret the event in terms of John the Baptist, even though they were
ignorant of it.
Jack Finegan, in his
revised edition of “Handbook of Biblical Chronology”, has this to say. “On June
17th, B.C.2 Jupiter came again into conjunction with Venus. They
were in extremely close conjunction and shone almost like a single bright star
in the west – in the direction of
Another timetable may now be constructed, containing these astronomical
conjunctions and the data relating to the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus.
It is as follows -
Monday May 20th B.C.3 6th Sivan Feast of
Pentecost.
Monday June 24th B.C.3 11th Tammuz Conception of
John the Baptist.
5th August - 12th September B.C.3 The Magi witness
the conjunctions.
Wednesday 25th December B.C.3 18th Tebeth
Conception of Jesus.
Wednesday 25th March B.C.2 20th Nisan Birth of
John the Baptist.
June 17th, B.C.2 Venus-Jupiter conjunction the West.
Monday 29th September B.C.2 1st Marchesvan Birth
of Jesus.
The first date for the heliacal rising of Jupiter would have been about August
5th B.C.3, and it would have risen within the Sign of Leo for the
first time since B.C.87. This explains why this particular rising was
considered important, because the previous occasion was far too early to match
Daniel’s "70 weeks" prophecy. The next occasion would have been in
A.D. 80, and this would have been far too late.