About ten years ago, for some reason, I got to thinking about the star the wise men of the East would have identified as signifying the birth of the King of the Jews. It struck me as being odd that something as spectacular as it must have been didn’t get more coverage in the historical record. But, then again, the wise me were astrologers, not just smart fellows who admired the stars. Astrologers don’t watch for cosmic marvels: they watch for astral movement that most of us don’t pay any attention to. What if the star they were following was one only an astrologer would notice? And what if they followed it, not by dead reckoning, but by observing its movements, doing whatever calculations an astrologer does, and figuring out where to go from the results? It would sure spoil a lot of thrilling Christmas illustrations, but it did seem plausible.
Was I surprised when, a couple of weeks later, an article appeared in New Scientist Magazine1, suggesting the same thing. According to the article*, Michael Molnar, an astronomer formerly associated with Rutgers University, had discovered a reference to the star in a 4th-century manuscript written by the Roman astrologer Firmicus Maternus. Evidently, he described an astrological event involving an eclipse of Jupiter by the Moon in Aries in 6 B.C., and said that it signified the birth of a divine king. Apparently, the early Christians were aware of the celestial event, but didn’t advertise it, in order to avoid the appearance of approving of astrology. The theory hasn’t had much promotion, but scholars quoted in the article think it has merit.
Regardless of the circumstances, though, the story of the wise men is a great illustration of how God reveals Himself to people who wouldn’t ordinarily go looking for Him. The rabbis advising King Herod knew the Hebrew scriptures well enough to tell him the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2 and Matthew 2:6), but God didn’t require the wise men to have such background. God got their attention through what they did know: the stars. They still had to act upon their revelation (they still had to go look for that King the star indicated), but they didn’t have to change their studies in order to receive that revelation. And so it is even today, for us wise men and women. We’ll still have to follow up, but, if we really want to know God, He’ll point us in the right direction, using stars that may mean nothing to anyone but us.
I hope you'll see, and recognize, God's hand in your life today!
*Chown, Marcus. Early Christians hid the origins of the Bethlehem star : New Scientist [Web Page]. December 21, 2001; Accessed 12-7-2011. Available at:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1713-early-christians-hid-the-origins-of-the-bethlehem-star.html
