The Magi & the Star of Bethlehem as Symbol & Science
Evelyn Smith
MS in Library Science, University of North Texas (2012)
Ph.D. in English, Texas Christian University (1995)
The days
before December 25th typically signify the speculation season when what’s left
of Higher Criticism attempts to prove the Christmas story by coming up with
natural explanations for the Star of Bethlehem and therefore the exact year and
season of Jesus Christ’s birth. Most of these rationalizations, however, simply
turn up far too soon since the Christmas season in most parts of Christendom traditionally
didn’t—and still doesn’t--end until January 6th as commemorated in William
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night as well
as a date that signals the start of the Mardi Gras season that leads up to Lent
on the Christian calendar.
Unfortunately,
however, for many non-observant Roman Catholics and most Protestants in the United
States, the only ghosts of Epiphany left are the Christmas carol “We Three
Kings” and the remains of the fruit cake that hostesses once traditionally served on
January 6th. Although Los Tres Reyes bring presents to children in
Mexico and Central and South America on a day that a large part of Europe as
well as Latin America sees as the climax of the Christmas season, many
Americans for the most part disregard the date.
Structure, Sign, & Play
Since an epiphany is a revelation, homilies and sermons that focus on the meaning of Epiphany explain how the Gentiles, as symbolized by the Wise Men, recognized Jesus’ true identity as the Messiah. But some how during the Middle Ages, the Feast of Epiphany on January 6th turned into a carnival-like atmosphere where revelers masked their identities, perhaps echoing the theme that the true meaning of the story lay behind the surface of the tale.
While not one of these explanations of the Star of Bethlehem given below fully explains the reason behind the Magi's visit to the Christ Child, taken together they provide some insight into Matthew’s story of the Wise Men (Chapter 2: 1-12) that appears in a gospel that paradoxically sought to present the good news to the Jewish people: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2%3A1-12&version=NIV
In much of Europe on January 6th, a priest also traditionally blesses a piece of chalk with which parishioners write the initials of the traditional names of the three Wise Men--Casper, Melchior, and Balthazar--bracketed by the century and the year above their front doors on Epiphany, for example, "20 + C + M + B +14". This acronym stands for the Latin, Christus mansionem benedicat, a blessing that translates as "May Christ bless the house" and also advertises a commitment to serve the Lord in the New Year.
References:
Bratcher, Dennis. (2013). The season of Epiphany. The Voice. Christian Resource Institute. Retrieved from http://www.cresourcei.org/cyepiph.html
Drum, W.
(1910). Magi. In The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved from New
Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09527a.htm
Epiphany
Blessing: Christus mansionem benedicat.
(2013, January 5). Vultus Christi. Retrieved from http://vultus.stblogs.org/index.php/2013/01/epiphany-blessing-of-chalk-and/
Richert,
Scott P. (2013). The Epiphany of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Catholicism. About.com.
Retrieved from http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/p/Epiphany.htm
What is
Epiphany. (2013). Sharefaith. Retrieved from http://www.sharefaith.com/guide/Christian-Holidays/definition-of-epiphany.html
Zavada, Jack.
(2013). Three kings—wise men from the East.
Christianity. About.com.
Retrieved from http://christianity.about.com/od/newtestamentpeople/a/Three-Kings.htm
____________
So Who Were the Wise
Men, & Why Did They Bring Precious Gifts?
| Three gifts equals three Magi in most believers' imagination. |
Jamison,
Dennis. (2013, December 24). The gift of
the Magi: The Wise Men and their journey of great risk. Communities.
Washington Times. Retrieved from http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/history-purpose/2013/dec/24/wise-men-and-their-journey-great-risk/
Jamison gives
readers the background story on the history of the Magi that goes beyond the
statement that they had seen his star in the East (2013, December 24, para.
5-6). The Magi were an hereditary priestly class of nobles of the Parthian Empire in what was
ancient Persia, an empire that rivaled the Roman Empire from 247 B.C. to 224
A.D. (Jamison, 2013, December 24, para. 10-11).
The
Zoroastrian religion was the official religion of Persia at this time where the
Magi followed the teachings of Zoroaster
(Jamison, 2013, December 24, para. 12-13). These Wise
Men knew about the prophecies of a coming Messiah because adherents of this faith had once studied
with the prophet Daniel, who had served as the chief administrator of the
Magi under Darius the Great (Jamison, 2013, December, para. 16). After the Magi witnessed the astronomical
signs for Christ's birth as set forth by a prophet from Mesopotamia named Balaam,
they set off to find the Messiah. Balaam
foretold of a star that would herald the arrival of a great Jewish leader
(Jamison, 2013, December, para. 17-18).
Trimmer,
Michael. (2013, December 23). Nativity
explained: the gifts from the Magi.
Christian Today. Retrieved from http://www.christiantoday.com/article/nativity.explained.the.gifts.from.the.magi/35146.htm
The Magi
offered the Christ Child gold, frankincense, and myrrh as royal tributes, most
likely in princely amounts (Trimmer, 2013, December 23, para. 1). The gold would have probably come from the
Ural-Altai region of Central Asia or the Gulf of Aquaba (Trimmer, 2013,
December 23, para 2) while the frankincense, which literally translates as
“high quality incense” would have come from the sap of the Olibanum tree, a
tree native to the Arabian peninsula and the horn of Africa. This resin takes from eight to ten years to
produce once the tree is planted; however, it must be harvested by hand. Today, this resin is sold for £37.50 a kilo,
or $ 61.38*, but two thousand years
ago it could have been much more costly (Trimmer, 2013, December 23, para.
3-5). Myrrh is also a resin from the
Commiphora myrrha, which is native to the Arabian Peninsula as well as lands as far west
as Ethiopia and as far south as Kenya.
At some points in history, myrrh has been worth its weight in gold (Trimmer,
2013, December 23, para. 6).
Trimmer believes that Matthew implies that
these gifts signified just who Jesus was and what he would do (2013, December
23, para. 7). Although the Wise Men only
appear in the gospel of Matthew, this mention of travelers bringing gold to the Messiah found in Psalm 72 may be considered prophecy:
May the kings
of Tarshish and of distant shores
bring tribute to him.
May the kings
of Sheba and Seba
present him gifts.
May all kings
bow down to him
and all nations serve him.
(Psalm 72,
10-11, NIV)
The Magi bringing gold to the Christ Child may also
reference Isaiah 60: 9.
Surely the
islands look to me;
in the lead are the ships of Tarshish,
bringing your
children from afar,
with their silver and gold,
to the honor
of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.
Moreover,
Queen Esther also applied myrrh before she appeared before King Xerxes (Esther
2: 12)--“Before a young woman’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to
complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six
months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics”--while
Frankincense appears in Exodus 30: 34-48 when the Lord G-d gives Moses
instructions for building a sacrificial altar:
34 Then the
Lord said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and galbanum—and
pure frankincense, all in equal amounts, 35 and make a fragrant blend of
incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred. 36
Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the ark of the covenant law
in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to
you. 37 Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it
holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes incense like it to enjoy its fragrance must
be cut off from their people.”
(Trimmer, 2013, December 23, para. 8)
Thus, Trimmer
establishes that not only were the gifts the Magi offered the Christ Child
princely, but they also had symbolic significance: Gold signified kingship while frankincense
recalled the prayers of the Jewish people since it burned in the Tabernacle
both day and night (2013. December 23, para. 9-11).
Malachi 1:11
(NIV), for example, equates the burning of incense with the prediction that
Lord’s name will be made known not only to the Jews but to the Gentiles (Trimmer,
2013, December 23, para. 12): “My name will be great among the nations, from
the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings
will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the
nations," says the LORD Almighty.”
Finally, Trimmer believes that myrrh is the
most ominous signifier of these three gifts since it was often used as
embalming oil. Trimmer explains, “To
give this to a children is rather like turning up at a baby shower with a
ready-to-be-engraved headstone as a gift. However, there is a dual meaning
here. It was also a key ingredient of the anointing oil” (Trimmer, 2013,
December 23, para. 13). Trimmer additionally notes that that an early Church Father,
Origen of Alexander (A.D. 186-232) in his treatise Contra Celsum, when he wrote, "gold, as to a king; myrrh, as
to one who was mortal; and incense, as to a God" (Trimmer, 2013, December
23, para. 14).
____________
The Science behind the Star
Only after learning why the Magi came can critics possibly explore the
astronomical event that signaled the
birth of Jesus Christ:
Everitt, Henry. (n. d.). The Star of Bethlehem: A chronology of the life of Jesus. Physics Department. Duke University. Retrieved from http://www.phy.duke.edu/~everitt/StarofBethlehem.pdf
Taking Colin
J. Humphrey’s “The Star of Bethlehem—a Comet in 5 NV—and the date of the birth
of Christ”, which appeared in the Quarterly
Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 32, p. 389, as a primary
source, Everitt sets out to discover the birth year of Christ (n.d., p.
1). For starters, Dionysius Exiguus, who
came up with the B.C. /A.D. dating scheme in A.D. 525, was slightly off on the
date Jesus was born since evidence indicates that King Herod died in March 4 B.C.
as noted in Matthew 2:19-21 (Everitt, n.d., p. 2). Moreover, Pope Julius I arbitrarily set the
date of Christ’s birth in A.D. 349, dating his circumcision on January 1st and then counting back to eight days earlier to December 25th to
coincide with the Roman festival of Sol
Invictus. Here, Luke 2:8 also
provides a clue since the shepherds only watch their flocks by night during the
foaling season in the spring (Everitt, n.d., p. 3).
As for the
Magi, or Wise Men, if they had come from Babylon, they would have been aware of
Jewish Messianic prophecies, and may very aware have had Jewish advisers. However, since a 500 mile trip from Babylon,
would have taken anywhere between 25 to 50 days, the celestial event that
captured their attention would have needed to last awhile, rise in the East and
move from east to south and then have “stood” over Bethlehem. Also, it would have needed to be
insignificant enough for Herod not to have noticed it (Everitt, n.d., pp.
6-8). Accordingly, Everitt argues that
it wasn’t a star, a planetary conjunction, a nova, or super nova since all of
these don’t stand over a location whereas a comet takes from one to two months
to make its observable journey, would first appear in the east in the morning
sky, and its tail would appear to point out a particular location (Everitt,
n.d., p. 9).
Using the
dates of John the Baptist’s ministry and the year of Herod’s death in 4 B.C.,
Everitt estimates that Christ was born between 7 B.C. and 4 B.C. whereupon
Everitt hypothesizes that a comet that Chinese astronomers recorded in 5 B.C.
that appeared from March 9th to April 6th in the
constellation of Capricorn and lasted for seventy days is the Star of Bethlehem
(Everitt, n.d. pp. 10-17).
Gardner,
Martin. (1999, December). The star of Bethlehem: Notes of a fringe watcher. Committee
for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), 23(6).
Retrieved from http://www.csicop.org/si/show/star_of_bethlehem
Johannes
Kepler’s original conjecture that the Star of Bethlehem was a conjunction of Jupiter
and Saturn that occurred in 7 B.C.
became popular among Higher Criticism scholars during the 19th century arose as Christian scholars sought natural causes for supernatural
events (Gardner, 1999, December, para. 1-2); however, Gardner argues that this
goes against the prevailing practice of believing that a star heralded the
births of both famous mortals and the gods, including Caesar, Pythagoras,
Aeneas, and Krishna, so Matthew does his best to provide a proof text linking
the birth of Christ with a supernatural prophecy found in Numbers 24:17
(Gardner, 1999, December, para. 27).
I see him,
but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will
come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush
the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls of all the people of Sheth.
(Numbers 24:17 NIV)
New Testament
scholars now believe that Jesus was born between 4 and 8 B.C., and since Herod
died in early 4 B.C., Jesus must have been born before this time (Gardner,
1999, December, para. 4). But what is
in question is the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, since according to Roy K
Marshall in “The Star of Bethlehem (Morehead Planetarium, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1949, Jupiter and Saturn never came closer than two
diameters of the moon (Gardner, 1999, December para. 5), even though British
astronomer Charles Pritchard in 1846 established that they were in conjunction
three times during 7 B.C. for just a few days for each encounter (Gardner,
1999, December, para. 5-8). More
recently, in 1973 and 1986 respectively, however, astronomers James D. Young
and James Hilton as well as Roger Sinnott have pointed out the merging of
Jupiter and Venus on June 17, 2 B.C. while David H. Clark in 1988 conjectured
that the Star of Bethlehem was a
supernova in the constellation of Capricorn that occurred in the spring of 5 B.C.
(Gardner, 1999, para. 21-22). Even so,
Gardner counsels, “Let the Bible be the Bible.
It’s not about science. It’s not accurate history” (1999, para. 29).
Gill,
Victoria. (2012, December 23). Star of
Bethlehem: The astronomical explanation.
BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20730828
In contrast
to Everitt’s assumption that the Star of Bethlehem wasn’t particularly
spectacular, Gill suggests that it must have been ”rare and visually
spectacular” to capture the attention of Babylon astronomers (Gill, 2012,
December 23, para. 5-6). Gill believes
that the best celestial candidate for the Bethlehem Star was a conjunction of
Jupiter and Saturn that would have appeared in the constellation of Pisces that
occurs once every 900 years (2012, December 23, para. 15-16). Her next best guess favors a comet that
Chinese astronomers recorded in 5 B.C. that appeared in the constellation of
Capricorn (Gill, 2012, December 23, para. 17-22). Gill, nevertheless, argues that a comet
probably wasn’t the Star of Bethlehem because folklore has traditionally
associated comets with doom, death, disease and disaster (2012, December 23,
para. 26). Gill then goes on to note
other astronomical anomalies that appeared about the time of Christ’s birth,
including Halley’s comet in 12 B.C., which obviously arrived too early to be
the Star of Bethlehem, a new star in the small northern constellation of Aquila
in 4 B.C., and the planet Uranus, which otherwise wasn't discovered until 1781 (para. 23, 28, and 36).
Mickle,
Ronald E. (2003). Star of
Bethlehem. Denver Astrosociety.org. Retrieved from http://www.denverastrosociety.org/dfiles/mickle/StarofBethlehem.pdf
Mickle uses
the Christmas story in an attempt to come up with a birth date for Jesus Christ
after first establishing that while any evidence scholars come up with is
factual, the interpretation of it is subjective (2003, p. 1). Even so, Mickle comes up with several
parameters that help estimate the year of Christ’s birth: 1) The final years of Herod’s reign and death, 2) the Roman census, and 3) celestial events.
Flavius Josephus in A.D. 100
recorded that Herod died after a lunar eclipse and was buried before
Passover Four eclipses occurred during the later years of Herod’s reign—March
23, 5 B.C., September 15, 5 B.C., March
13, 4 B.C., and January 10, 1 B.C. Mickle first rules out the March 23rd date since there was not enough time between this eclipse and Herod’s burial to
conform to Jewish customs and September 15 B.C. since Herod was still living at
his palace at Jericho at this date (2003, p. 1-2).
The Romans
conducted a census once every five years, so Roman citizens and those Jews who
descended from Jewish royalty could reaffirm their allegiance to Rome. There
was definitely such a census in 8/7 B.C., so most likely there was also one in
3/2 B.C. Going by biblical sources,
Mickle believes that Jesus was born six months after his cousin, John the Baptist. So if John was born in March 3 B.C., this
would place Jesus’ birth in September 3 B.C. (2003, p. 2).
O’Neill, Jan.
(2011, December 20). The star of
Bethlehem. Was it Jupiter? Discovery
News. Retrieved from http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/the-star-of-bethlehem-was-it-jupiter.htm
BBC
astronomer Mark Thompson upon scanning historical records and using computer
simulations believes that the Star of Bethlehem can be explained by the motion of Jupiter (O’Neill, 2011, December 20, para.
5). Between September 3 B.C. and 2 B.C., Jupiter passed close to Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation of Leo
three times—September 14, 3 B.C., February
17, 2 B.C., and May 8, 2 B.C. (O’Neill, 2011, December 20, para.
6). Moreover, the planet passed Regulus in an
easterly motion before appearing in retrograde in a westerly direction
(O’Neill, 2011, December 20, para 7).
Rao, Joe.
(2011, December 23). Was the star of Bethlehem
a star, comet . . . or miracle? Space.com.
Retrieved from http://www.space.com/14036-christmas-star-bethlehem-comet-planet-theories.html
Rao narrows
down the possibilities of just what the Star of Bethlehem could have been, must
weeding out the improbable candidates:
- An unusually bright meteor wouldn’t last long enough to lead the Magi;
- Halley’s Comet in 11 B.C. appeared at too late a date; furthermore, myth and folklore have traditionally viewed comets as “omens of evil”;
- A supernova outburst, or the explosion are unpredictable, although the Chinese did record that an inconspicuous supernovae explosion did occur in the constellations of Capricorn and Aquarius during the spring of 5 B.C.;
- Planetary groupings, or conjunctions, visible to the naked eye occurred in 6 and 7 B.C. as well as in 3 B.C.;
- Finally, the Star of Bethlehem could have been a supernatural sign.
(Rao, para. 2011, December 23, para. 17-47)
Regas,
Dean. (2013, December 20). Star of Bethlehem: Heavenly and scientific mystery. Huffington
Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dean-regas/star-of-bethlehem_b_4466740.html
After
agreeing that a planetary conjunction between Jupiter and Venus is the most
popular scientific explanation for the Star of Bethlehem, Regas uses biblical
text to argue that this is impossible since “no astronomical event will stop
its motion across the sky” (2013, December 20, para. 10). To comply with Matthew’s story of the Magi, Regas argues that the Star of Bethlehem would need to be very distinct, an object that doesn’t
move in a normal fashion, and an object visible to the Magi during their travels and on the
day they found Jesus, but not visible to Herod. Additionally, it must not be visible to any other source, and
last seen in the Bethlehem area (2013, December 20, para. 12). Thus, Regas concludes that the Christmas
Star was a U.F.O. (2013, December 20, para. 13).
Vanderbei,
Robert J. (2011, December 26). Searching for the Star of Bethlehem
(updated). National Geographic. Retrieved from http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/12/26/searching-for-the-star-of-bethlehem/
Astronomer
Robert J. Vanderbei refutes the population explanation for the Star of
Bethlehem that appears on http://www.bethlehemstar.net/
as the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus that took place on June 17, 2 B.C.
because the juxtaposition of both these planets would only be 16 percent
brighter than Venus itself. Furthermore,
this event wasn’t particularly rare since the two planets have appeared as a
single celestial object to the naked eye 38 times between 100 B.C. and December
2011 (Vanderbei, 2011, December 26, para. 5-6).
Roger Sinnott first proposed the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus as a
possible candidate for the Star of Bethlehem in “First Venus/Jupiter
Conjunction”, Sky and Telescope,
December 1968, pp. 384-386, based on the calculations of a 17th-century
mathematician and astronomer, Johannes Kepler (Vanderbei, 2011, December
25, Addendum, para. 11). Vanderbei also
thinks that the Magi would have known the difference between the conjunction of
two planets and a star; however, Everitt notes that at this point in time,
astronomers referred to any celestial event as a “star” (n.d., p. 3).
Viviano, Jo
Anne. (2013, December 20). Star of
Bethlehem a literary creation says Ohio State physics scholar. Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved from http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/faith_and_values/2013/12/20/telling-of-star-story-still-causes-many-to-wonder.html
Aaron Adair
in The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical
View (2013) argues that the Star of Bethlehem was a literary creation of
Matthew rather than an actual celestial event since “the conjunction of Jupiter
and Venus in 2 B.C. would have to change history to fit the story” (Viviano,
2013, December 20, para. 2-3). Adair
then points out that literature at that time used legend and myth to explain
theological truths (Viviano, 2013, December 20, para. 6). Brett Ellman, the
planetarium director at the Kent State University, seems to underline this
point since he notes that since no other gospels mention the tale of the Wise
Men that this leaves researchers “ill-equipped” to verify this event (Viviano,
2013, December 20, para. 12).
____________
Music Celebrating Epiphany
Bach, J. S.
(2012, April 25). Cantate BWV 123—Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen.
You Tube. (21:23 minutes. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx1u2cCnpWU
---. (2007, August 12). Herr,
wenn die stolzen Feinde Schnauben 16.
You Tube. (7: 23 minutes).
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQNodYPmNhk
---. (2012,
May 21). Sie warden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV65 (McCreesh). You Tube. (14:35
minutes). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsuqNqpAD98
____________
Books on the Magi &
the Star of Bethlehem
Landau,
Brent. (2010). Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men’s Journey to
Bethlehem. New York: Harper One.
Landau
translates a lost Syrian Christian manuscript found in the Vatican that gives
the story of their journey in first person from their point of view. The tale resembles a Jewish Midrash, or
exposition of Biblical texts and reveals that both the star and the Messiah
both existed from the beginning of time.
Van Dyke,
Henry. (1895). The Other Wise Man and the Mansion. Reprint
1920. New York: Harper & Brothers
Publishers. Google Books. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=BaIXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Other+Wise+Man&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Z9C8UtHvL9K_kQf_74HwBA&ved=0CGAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=The%20Other%20Wise%20Man&f=false
This
fictional tale explores the story of the Wise Man who stays behind to help a
dying man and thus does not see the Christ Child, so he spends the rest of his
life looking for the Messiah.
____________
Cakes Fit for Kings:
Feast of Epiphany Recipes
Christmas
cake. Food Recipes. BBC.
Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/christmascake_2359
Brandy, dried
fruits, black treacle, marmalade, and almonds are some of the ingredients in
this traditional English fruitcake.
English
Epiphany jam tart. (2001). The Recipe Link.
Retrieved from http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_3/2001/DEC/5780.html
This
Victorian pastry combines different jams into a tart.
Franklin,
Rebecca. (2013). Galette des Rois Recipe.
French Food. About.com. Retrieved from http://frenchfood.about.com/od/desserts/r/Galette-des-Rois-Recipe.htm
The French
celebrate Epiphany with this almond, cream-filled, puff pastry.
McKenna,
Fracine. (2013). “Three Kings Day” cake
recipe. Bella Online. Retrieved from http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art12820.asp
German cooks
shape the sweet yeast bread in this Dreikoenigkuchen into a crown, folding
citrus fruit, raisins, and rum into the batter.
Traditional
king cake recipe. (2009, February). Southern
Living. Retrieved from http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/traditional-king-cake-10000001152929/
Indulge in
this sinfully rich King Cake recipe on the Feast of Epiphany. Is it any wonder, that that Louisianans enjoy
this cake during Mardi Gras.
