The Star of Bethlehem
The Star of Bethlehem was a star or star-like object that, in the account of Jesus' birth given in the Greek Gospel of Matthew, heralded his arrival and guided the Magi (better known in Christian mythology as the Three Wise Men) to the house where Jesus and his mother were.
The Star of Bethlehem is described in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament of the Bible. After briefly recording the birth and naming of Jesus (Matthew 1:25), Matthew's account continues by stating:
These Magi were eventually directed to search in Bethlehem, based on a prophesy in the Jewish Scriptures concerning the place of birth of the promised king. "After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was."
Contrary to some popularizations, Matthew's account indicates that the Magi knew from the star that the new king had already been born even before they first arrived in Jerusalem. While the nativity account in the Gospel of Luke recorded the actual birth of the infant in a stable (i.e. the event heralded by the star), Matthew records that by the time the Magi arrived, they found Jesus with his mother in a house and he was by then a small child.
Matthew's account goes on to report that King Herod, who had learned the time of the star's appearing from the Magi, attempted to end the child's life by killing male children in Bethlehem of age two years and under. This suggests that the time of the star's appearing in the east was some time less than two years earlier.
Some have suggested that the star was entirely mythological. Legend had it that the births of Mithradates and Alexander Severus were both associated with the appearance of special stars.
Others have proposed that the star was, in whole or in part, a special miraculous light rather than a normal astronomical event. Among these is John Chrysostom, who observed that a normal star could not have shown exactly where in Bethlehem Jesus was to be found, as Matthew says this star did.
Various astronomical explanations have been advanced for the Star of Bethlehem, with a number of events known to have happened around the time of Jesus' birth (which has itself not been pinpointed). Suggested candidates have included:
A common objection to many suggested candidates (including comets, falling stars, novae, supernovae, etc.) is that they retroactively superimpose modern expectations on ancient stargazers. Although such candidates might seem unusual and interesting to modern eyes, they would not have carried the meaning to the Magi that a king of the Jews had been born. Comets, for example, were viewed as omens of misfortune.
On the other hand, planets were viewed as "wandering stars" and their movements, although mundane to modern eyes, were considered highly significant to stargazers of the time. Among these, the planet Jupiter was considered to have special royal significance.
Consequently, the leading astronomical interpretations for the star of Bethlehem have converged on consideration of the royal wandering star of Jupiter, with the different proposals turning largely on the answers to two questions.
Because Herod the Great was alive at the time that Jesus was born, only events prior to his death are of interest as candidates. On independent grounds, it has been argued by some that Herod died as late as 1 BC. If true, this would open up consideration of the years immediately prior.
However, if Herod died in 4 BC as others maintain, then this would exclude candidates from the years 2 or 3 BC, and would confine attention to events in or before 4 BC.
A spring date for the birth also corresponds with Luke's account of the birth in which shepherds were watching their flocks by night. In the spring, shepherds would be watching their flocks at night in order to be ready to aid in the birth of new lambs.
Regarding Matthew's statements that the star "went before" and "stood over", Molnar and others have maintained that the Greek words used there refer to Jupiter's retrogradation (i.e. apparent but not actual retrograde motion) and stationing, respectively, as the movement of Jupiter against the background of the stars appears to reverse course for a time and then stops before resuming the normal progression. Stargazers attached significance to these movements of the wandering stars (i.e. the planets).
A modern astrological interpretation of Matthew's account of the star, based on the Magi role as astrologers, claims to "decode" the Star of Bethlehem as a star configuration that was visible only to astrologers because the "star" was revealed in an astrological chart.
The narratives of Matthew are so constructed as to form a chain of fulfillments of Old Testament prophecies, often explicitly instanced, and of quotations isolated from their context and presented as prophetic, in the manner of current Jewish tradition of exegetical interpretation called pesharim. The "Star prophecy" ("There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel," Numbers 24:17) was the most treasured omen of a hopeful future for all Jews, up until the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70.
The "Star prophecy" was applied by the Romanized former revolutionary Josephus to Vespasian, as the one whom Jewish Scripture foretold, who would come out of Palestine and rule the world. The commander in Palestine was soon Emperor, and Josephus' application of the prophecy, like so many others, was likely to have been made after the fact.
The messianic "Star Prophecy" that this star appeared to fulfill was of importance to all the contemporary Jewish resistance groups of the period, including those who produced the documents at Qumran (the "Dead Sea scrolls") and the zealots who triggered the war against Rome, not to mention the early Christians. (Eisenman 1997 p23 etc)
The "Star Prophecy" was a Messianic reading applied by radical Jews and early Christians to a text from the Book of Numbers 24:17:
which was often employed during the troubled years that led up to the Jewish Revolt, the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE) and the suicidal last stand of the Essenes at Masada in 73 CE.
The Star Prophecy appears in the Qumran texts called the Dead Sea scrolls. "This was the prophecy that was of such importance to all resistance groups in this period, including those responsible for the documents at Qumran and the revolutionaries who triggered the war against Rome, not to mention the early Christians" (Eisenman 1997 p 23)
The Star Prophecy was applied to the coming Messiah himself in contemporary radical Jewish documents, such as the apocalyptic War Scroll found at Qumran. In a pesher applied to the text from Numbers, the War Scroll's writer gives the following exegesis:
The star has been externalized as an actual star in the sky, the Star of Bethlehem, in the narration of the Gospel of Matthew. The fulfilled Star Prophecy is one of numerous instances of the asserted fulfillment of prophecies that are a main theme of this text. That the Messiah is the Star of Bethlehem is confirmed in Revelations 2:28 and the Second Epistle of Peter, 1:19.The Romanized Jewish historian Josephus, in The Jewish War (3.399ff) applied the prophecy - perhaps in retrospect like most successful prophecies - to Vespasian, who was campaigning against the Jewish Zealots in Palestine, and who was to come out of Palestine and rule the world, his flatterer asserted.
Reference: Eisenman, Robert, 1997. James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Something allegedly resembling a Star was seen by the Magi. UFO researchers might argue that it was a spaceship and tales of ancient astronauts have apparently been part of the recorded history of planet earth.
Star goes to 'soul spark' the nature of our essence. Star also goes to Isis and related links and metaphors about the creation of the human biogenetic program - Genesis. This word' Magi' goes to 'Magnetics' [electromagnetic eneriges that create the grids and illusion of the reality in which we experience consciously - OFF and On - 10101010 Computer Code - Matter Antimatter - Zero Point Merge - [pole shfts in consciousness merge and al is obliterated in the Time - the Hourglass 'X' - XBox - etc.]
There would be 3 Magi - as we exist in the physical - third dimension.
According to Herodotus, the Magi existed in Persia in the sixth century BC. This is the timeline of the Persian Prophet Zarathrustra - who was Thoth and Hermes the Magician.
Magic - the nature of the illusion of our reality. The magic rod is our DNA. The Magician manipulates the Mag[net]ics that create our reality.
All is Myth, Math. Metaphor and Magic.
As human DNA has always been programmed to believe in gods and end-time saviors - we come to the story of the Star of Bethlehem and the brith of Jesus of Nazareth. Something allegedly happened in the sky that was seen by the people of that timeline as the coming of a savior. We will never know what it was - as it may never have happened. But ... as the story goes - a special soul came to Earth to help the people. He was born of the Hebrew bloodline - DNA with information encoded about the the history of the human experiment here. That blooldine carried the seed as we approach the end of the story. It is believed that time is almost at hand. Sarah and Alexander, the Alchemy of Time
BETHLEHEM
CHRISTIANITY
CHRISTMAS
EASTER
HOLY GRAIL
JESUS OF NAZARETH
MARION APPARITIONS
MARY MAGDALENE
MIRACLES - BLEEDING, WEEPING ICONS
PRIEURE DE SION
RENNES LE CHATEAU - THE MEROVIAN KINGS
REVELATIONS
RELIGIOUS ART - JESUS - UFOS
ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ALL FILES
