Matthew doesn’t focus on Herod, the chief priests and scribes, Mary and Joseph, or the wise men in his gospel. Matthew tells us what God did. According to Matthew 2, God prepared a star to guide foreign dignitaries to Jerusalem, where the star disappeared. Because they had no star to guide them, the wise men jolted Jerusalem with their question: “Where is the Born King[1] of the Jews?” To a usurper king like Herod, that question was a threat.
Having gotten their answer, the Bible tells us that the same star they had seen in the east “went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.” We see God’s hand in this – guiding the wise men with the star, bringing them to Jerusalem, hiding the star, provoking their question. God used the wise men to herald the news of Christ’s birth so that Herod the King, the chief priests and scribes, and “all Jerusalem” would hear the news of the birth of Christ.
Then, God gave them the star to guide them once again. I’m surprised, frankly, at the natural explanations that have been offered for this star. Even the more conservative commentators tend to overlook its supernatural nature.
Many have suggested that it was formed by an alignment of two planets (Jupiter and Saturn). Astrologers tell us that these planets aligned in 7 BC and “would have suggested to Babylonian astrologers the idea of a king in ‘the Westland,’ as they called Palestine.”[2] Others have suggested a supernova; apparently, there is evidence for a prominent one between 5 and 4 BC. My favorite suggestion is that the star was Halley’s Comet, rumored to have appeared in 12 BC. All I can say to that is, you’d need some speedy camels to keep up with that.
An obvious question in response to these suggestions would be, can anyone tell which star stands over your city of residence? Is there a star that stands over Utah but not Indiana? From my house in Utah, I have seen the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper overhead. I also observed these same constellations overhead while visiting family in Pennsylvania. Sailors use the stars to chart their course, yet I doubt it would be possible to discern which state or nation a star might stand over.
When the star reappeared, some insist that it was there symbolically, but it wasn’t much help.
Continue reading “What Was That Star of Bethlehem?”Matthew does not say that the rising star the Magi had seen … led them to Jerusalem. They went first to the capital city because they thought it the natural place for the king of the Jews to be born. But now the star reappeared ahead of them (v. 9) as they made their way to Bethlehem …. Taking this as confirming their purposes, the Magi were overjoyed (v. 10). The Greek text does not imply that the star pointed out the house where Jesus was; it may simply have hovered over Bethlehem as the Magi approached it. They would then have found the exact house through discreet inquiry… (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, emphasis mine)
The Village Smithy 