Is the Star of Bethlehem making a comeback?

On December 21, 2020, Jupiter and Saturn will intersect in the night sky and for a brief moment, they will appear to glow together as one body. While such planetary conjunctions are not everyday occurrences, they are also not particularly rare.

This year’s conjunction is different for at least two reasons. The first is the degree of alignment of the two planets. Experts predict that they will appear closer during this conjunction than they have in nearly eight centuries and also brighter.

But the second factor, and the one that propelled this event into the limelight, is that it will take place at the Winter Solstice, just before the Christmas holidays. The timing has led to speculation as to whether this could be the same astronomical event that biblical reports led the sages to Joseph, Mary and the newborn Jesus – the Star of Bethlehem.

As a scholar of early Christian literature writing a book on the Three Wise Men, I argue that the next planetary conjunction is probably not the legendary Star of Bethlehem. The biblical story of the star is intended to convey theological truths rather than historical or astronomical.

Main light

The story of the star has long fascinated readers, both ancient and modern. In the New Testament, it is only found in the Gospel of Matthew, a first century account of Jesus’ life that begins with the story of his birth.

In this account, wise men arrive in Jerusalem and say to Herod, the king of Judea: “Where is the child born king of the Jews?” Because we watched his star rise and came to pay homage to him. The star then leads them to Bethlehem and stops above the house of Jesus and his family.

Many read this story with the presupposition that Matthew must have referred to an actual astronomical event that occurred around the time of Jesus’ birth. Astronomer Michael R. Molnar, for example, argued that the Star of Bethlehem was an eclipse of Jupiter within the constellation of Ares.

There are at least two issues with associating a specific event with Matthew’s Star. The first is that scholars are uncertain of the exact date of Jesus’ birth. The traditional date of birth can be moved up to six years.

The second is that measurable and predictable astronomical events occur with relative frequency. The quest to find out what event, if any, Matthew might have had in mind is therefore complicated.

Beliefs about the star

The theory that the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn could be the Star of Bethlehem is not new. It was proposed at the beginning of the 17th century by Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer and mathematician. Kepler argued that this same planetary conjunction in or around 6 BC.

Kepler was not the first to suggest that the Star of Bethlehem may have been a recognizable astronomical event. Four hundred years before Kepler, between 1303 and 1305, Italian artist Giotto painted the star like a comet on the walls of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy.

The researchers suggested that Giotto did this as a tribute to Halley’s Comet, which astronomers determined was visible in 1301, during one of its regular flights past Earth. Astronomers have also determined that Halley’s Comet passed through Earth around or around 12 BC, between five and 10 years before most researchers would argue that Jesus was born. It’s possible that Giotto believed Matthew was referring to Halley’s Comet in his star history.

Attempts to uncover the identity of the Matthew star are often creative and insightful, but I would argue that they are also wrong.

The star in Matthew’s story may not be a “normal” natural phenomenon, and Matthew suggests that in the way he describes it. Matthew says that the wise men come to Jerusalem “from the east”. The star then leads them to Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem. The star therefore makes a sharp left turn. And astronomers will agree that the stars don’t make sharp turns.

Moreover, when the sages arrive in Bethlehem, the star is low enough in the sky to lead them to a specific house. As physicist Aaron Adair puts it: “The star is said to stop in place and fly over a particular dwelling, acting like an old GPS unit.” The “description of the star’s movements,” he noted, was “outside of what is physically possible for any observable astronomical object.”

Theological foundations

In short, there does not appear to be anything “normal” or “natural” about the phenomenon described by Matthew. Maybe the point Matthew is trying to make is different.

The story of Matthew’s Star is inspired by a set of traditions in which the stars are related to rulers. The rising of a star means that a ruler has come to power.

In the Biblical Book of Numbers, for example, which dates from the 5th century BC, the prophet Balaam foretells the arrival of a ruler who will defeat the enemies of Israel. “A star will come out of Jacob, [meaning Israel]… He will crush the borders of Moab.

One of the best-known examples of this tradition from Antiquity is the so-called “Sidus Iulium” or “Julian Star”, a comet that appeared a few months after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. the Elder reports that the comet was so bright that it was visible in the late afternoon, and that many Romans interpreted the spectacle as proof that Julius Caesar was now a god.

In light of these traditions, I believe the story of Matthew’s star does not exist to inform readers of a specific astronomical event, but to support the claims it makes about the character of Jesus.

In other words, I argue that Matthew’s goal in telling this story is more theological than historical.

The next conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is therefore probably not a return of the Star of Bethlehem, but Matthew would probably be satisfied with the fear it inspires in those who anticipate it.