...for
we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
I have
said this line from Matthew 2:2 (KJV) in many a Christmas pageant. Yes, the
Star of Bethlehem is as much a part of the Christmas story as the angels, the
shepherds, and the Holy Family. The Star brought the Magi but they must wait
for my Epiphany meditation.
Like most folks, I have always been curious about the Star. As an adult, I discovered few of the astronomers of the time recorded anything really out of the ordinary. Their records are far more accurate than our scientific society gives them credit for being.
One Lent, I got software that could calculate celestial configurations and chased a theory a coworker gave me. The theory claimed the Star was actually the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn three times in the constellation Pisces during 7 BC. By definition, a conjunction is when two objects viewed from Earth are in a straight line and appear to have joined.
Why 7 BC? Our current year
numbering was developed in 525 AD but Dionysius Exiguus missed by several years
because Herod the Great died in 4 BC. Pontius Pilate governed Judea starting in 26 AD. Luke 3:23 tells us Jesus was about thirty
when his three year
ministry began.
My Lenten research showed a parade of the planets rising from the east in Pisces that year starting with Mercury. Days later, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus arrived as Mercury exited. Venus left shortly before the first conjunction in late May. Remember the shepherds watching their sheep by night during the warmer months?
What makes this conjunction so unusual is how close Jupiter and Saturn stayed until the second conjunction in late September. My software indicated they were in a virtual conjunction the whole time before separating inside Pisces. The Babylonians knew about this a year earlier.
My software showed the final conjunction on December 25. The planets set in the southwestern sky around 10 pm. The trail from Jerusalem made a turn to the southwest just before entering Bethlehem. The Magi could have been on the trail and seen the conjunction setting on a house on a hill.
The dates vary depending on your source. A lot of other theories for the Star exist. This one led me closer to my Savior. What star do you follow?
Grace and peace in the power of the Holy Spirit.
(J. Wesley McComb is a published author and a member of Christ Episcopal Church, 1534 7th St, Slidell, 643-4531.)
© by The Slidell Independent newspaper; originally published on December 17, 2009. Used by permission of publisher and author.