Star of Bethlehem

MATTHEW 2:1-2. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
2. saying, “where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
Verse: 7. Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

The Star of Bethlehem.
In the year 7 B.C. Jupiter and Saturn did in fact meet in Pisces and, as Johannes Kepler Imperial Mathematician and Astronomer in Prague had already discovered, observing with his modest telescope the approach of two planets. “Conjunction” is the technical name for the position of two celestial bodies on the same degree of longitude. Sometimes two planets move so close to one another that they have the appearance of a single star. The night Saturn and Jupiter had a rendezvous in space within the constellation of Pisces.
Looking through his notes later Kepler suddenly remembered something he had read in the rabbinic writer Abarbanel, referring to an unusual influence which Jewish astrologers were said to have ascribed to this same constellation. Messiah would appear when there was a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the constellation Pisces.
Kepler checked his calculation again and again. The result was a three-fold conjunction within the space of a year. Astronomical calculations gave the year as
7 B.C. according to astrological tables it must have dated the conception of Mary consequently 7 B.C.

The time-table of this planetary encounter when it is presented in the prosaic dating system of modern astronomical calculations look something like this:

About the end of February in 7B.C. the clustering began. Jupiter moved out of the constellation Aquarius towards Saturn in the constellation of Pisces. Since the sun at that time was also in the sign of Pisces its light covered the constellation. It was not until April 12th that both planets rose in Pisces heliacally with a difference of 8 degrees of longitude. “Heliacal” is the word used by astronomers to indicate the first visible rising of a star at daybreak.
Since Nebuchadnezzar’s time many thousands of Jews had lived in Babylon. Many of them may have studied at the School of Astrology in Sippar. This wonderful encounter of Jupiter with Saturn, guardian of Israel, in the constellation of the “west country”, of the Messiah, must have deeply moved the Jewish Astrologers.
For according to astrological ways of thinking it pointed to the appearance of a mighty king in the West Country, the land of their fathers. To experience that in person, to see it with their own eyes, that was the reason for the journey of the wise astronomers from the East.
On May 29th, visible for fully two hours in the morning sky, the first close encounter took place in the 21st degree of Pisces with a difference of 0 degrees of longitude and of 0.98 degrees of latitude. They observed the first encounter of the two planets from the roof of the School of Astrology at Sippar. At that time of the year the heat was already unbearable in Mesopotamia. Summer is no time for long and difficult journeys. Besides that, they knew about the second conjunction on October 3rd. They could predict this encounter in advance as accurately as future eclipses of the sun and moon.


The second conjunction took place on October 3rd in the 18th degree of the constellation of Pisces. The fact that October 3rd was the Jewish Day of Atonement may have been taken as an admonition, and at that point they may have started out on their journey. Travel on the caravan routes even on camels, the swiftest means of transport, was a leisurely affair. If we think in terms of journey lasting about six weeks, the wise men would arrive in Jerusalem towards the end of November.
Matthew 2:2“saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” Herod was troubled when he heard this. Herod, who had been appointed by the Romans, was in fact not a Jew but an Idumaean, (Tribe of Esau) and not from Judah. Herod therefore summoned the Wise Men and sent them to Bethlehem after he gathered it from the Chief Priest and Scribes where will the Messiah appear and to inform him of the child.
Since Jupiter and Saturn came together for the 3rd time in the constellation of Pisces on the 4th of December, Matthew 2:10, When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Verse 9. ‘When they heard the king, they departed and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
On the road to Hebron, 5miles from Jerusalem lays the village of “Bet Lahm”, which was the old Bethlehem of Judah. The ancient highway, which Abraham had once pass along, lay almost due north and south, At their third conjunction the planets Jupiter and Saturn appeared to have dissolved into one great brilliant star.
In the twilight of the evening they were visible in a southerly direction, so that the Wise Men of the East on their way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem had the bright star in front of their eyes all the time. As the gospel says, the star actually “went before them.” End.