THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM

By John W. Pyles
After listening to a Christmas sermon, a friend asked me if I knew where the magi
(wise men) found Jesus. I answered “Bethlehem”, but he pointed out that the account in
Luke states that the family returned from Bethlehem to Nazareth. In order to answer his
question, I did some research, and, in doing so I found the answer to not only where they
found Jesus, but also who they were, when they found Him, the star they followed, how
they knew it was His star, and the date of Jesus’ birth. This essay is a record of what I
found in my research. .For further study, I refer you to the website: starofbethlehem.net.
I will proceed by examining the Biblical clues
There are two accounts in the Bible of the birth of Jesus: Luke 1:5-2:52 (which
includes the story of the birth of John the Baptist as well); and Matthew 1 and 2 which
includes the genealogy of Joseph, Jesus’ stepfather. The account in Matthew does not
mention the fact that Joseph and Mary had lived in Nazareth and does not inform us of
why they went to Bethlehem. The account in Luke tells us that after Mary presented her
offering forty days after giving birth they returned to Nazareth. Matthew, however, tells
us of the magi’s arrival at Jerusalem and that they followed the star till they found Jesus,
and then that the family traveled to Egypt and later to Nazareth. How do we fit these two
accounts together?
Since Luke does not mention either the magi or the trip to Egypt, this trip could
have happened either at Bethlehem or Nazareth or somewhere in between. We know
however from the account of Mary’s offering in Jerusalem for having a male child that
they stayed in the vicinity of Bethlehem for at least 40 days. The normal assumption
from the account in Matthew 2 concerning the magi’s question of, “Where is he who was
born king of the Jews?”, and the scribes’ answer of “Bethlehem”, is that the Magi went to
Bethlehem. Matthew 2:9 reads, “And having heard the king, they went their way, and lo
the star which they had seen in the east, went on before them and stood over where the
child was.” Another fact to consider is the statement in Matthew 2:19 that when the
family was in Egypt after Herod had died, that the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph,
instructing him to move to the land of Israel. So they went on their journey, but on their
way they heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in the place of his father Herod, he
was afraid to go there so he went to Nazareth. Herod’s kingdom was divided between
four of his sons who were called tetrarchs. Archelaus ruled over Judea and Samaria, and
Antipas ruled over Galilee and Perea. Joseph’s first choice was to go this area,
undoubtedly to Bethlehem or the vicinity because this was the only place in this area with
which he had connections. This being the case, it is fairly certain that they had previously
left Bethlehem to go to Egypt. If this is true, how can we reconcile this with the account
in Luke 1 and 2? Luke 2:39-52 tells us that the family returned to Nazareth and the child
grew and became strong, and then gives the account of Jesus being left in Jerusalem
when he was twelve but there is no mention of the trip to Egypt. But we know from
Matthew that they did go to Egypt. Putting the two accounts together, they did return to
Nazareth from Bethlehem with a stopover in Egypt.
But why did Joseph stay in Bethlehem after the offering made on the 40th day for
Mary’s cleansing. At this point there was no more need to be in the vicinity of Jerusalem.
An explanation is that Joseph and Mary had been received messages through dreams and
angelic visitations giving them information and telling them what to do. It is possible that
they stayed there because they had no direction to go anywhere. And, when he was
obeying God to return to the land of Israel (Matthew2”19), he headed back to where he
started from, then deciding to return to Nazareth upon hearing news concerning
Archelaus. The decisions they made are similar to the way God directs us today, if our
bodies are on God’s altar, we will prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of
God (Romans12:1-3). We have the confidence that if we start to go in the wrong
direction, God will let us know. (Isaiah 30:21)
Another part of the puzzle is the fact that Herod “ascertained from them (the
magi) the time the star appeared.” And then, later, when they failed to return as he had
asked them, he proceeded to kill all of the male children in and around Bethlehem two
years old and under according to time that he had ascertained from the magi. Some have
assumed from this that Jesus must have been about two years old when this happened.
But this is not necessarily so for the following reasons: First, Herod, at this time in his
life, was a murderous mad man who had killed some of his wives and his children. He
had no regard for human life if he felt threatened. Second, since birth is a result of nine
month plus pregnancy, and since the wisemen lived a long way away in Babylon or
Persia, why couldn‘t God have given them a message in the stars before Christ was born?
(As we shall see, this is precisely what happened).
Then there is the statement that they came into the “house” (Matt. 2:11) instead of
the stable where Jesus was born. Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem with no lodging
preparations and, since the inn was full, their only recourse was to spend the night in the
stable (probably a cave).But after the shepherds spread the news that the angels had told
them, undoubtedly there were plenty of opportunities to move into a house, since they
needed to be near Jerusalem for at least 40 days. It is understandable that in a bind a
family might spend a night in a barn, but would move into a house later if it was
available. . There is another clue in the warning that Joseph received in a dream
(Matthew 2:13)” to arise and flee to Egypt and to remain there, for Herod is going to
search for the child to destroy it.” If they were at Nazareth at this time, the trip would
require them to return 70 miles to or near Jerusalem on their way to Egypt. It would take
them at least week to get to Jerusalem. Since this message from the angel of the Lord
happened the same night that the magi came, a trip like this would have been dangerous
since Herod would have been looking for travelers with babies. It makes more sense for
having them leave south from Bethlehem before Herod’s murderous purge.
So here is another clue: the magi came to worship Jesus which resulted in the
family moving to Egypt and were there when Herod died. Because of a misinterpretation
of the writings of Josephus the Jewish historian, Herod’s death was assumed to be in 4
BC, but a closer examination reveals that it happened shortly after an eclipse of the moon
which occurred in January 9, 1 BC. Jewish tradition has the date of Herod’s death as
January 26th, 1BC.
Is it possible to determine the month and the day that Jesus was born? In Luke
1:5, we are told that John the Baptist’s father, Zacharias was of the priestly course of
Abijah, and after serving in his course in the temple John the Baptist was conceived. A
thousand years previously, King David had divided the priests into 24 courses so that
each one would have a share in the temple duties. Through this we can determine about
the time that John the Baptist was conceived. After the angel announced to Mary that she
would conceive Jesus (Matt. 1:26-35), he told her that Elizabeth was in her sixth month
of pregnancy. Since John the Baptist was six months older than Jesus, this places Jesus’
birth on the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, which according to the Jewish calendar
was the Tishri 21 which is by our calendar the 21stth of September, 2 BC. Josephus wrote
that between two and three million people attended the three major feasts in Jerusalem.
Since Bethlehem is only six miles from Jerusalem, this explains why there was no room
in the inn for Mary and Joseph.
The only other clues in the gospel accounts are concerning the star that the Magi
saw. In Matthew 2:1, 2, “magi from the east” arrived in Jerusalem, informing them that
they had seen the king’s star in the east. The literal translation is “rising” in the east.
Because of rotation of the earth, all stars and planets rise in the east. There are number of
possible explanations of what they saw: meteorite, comet, super nova, asteroids, and a
supernatural light, but the most plausible explanation is that they saw planetary
movement and conjunctions with other planets and stars. I considered this possibility
years ago, but I assumed that there would be no way to tell what the night sky looked like
2000 years ago.
Johannes Kepler discovered in the nineteenth century that the planets move in
precise elliptical orbits and that their positions and movements can be determined at any
date and time as observed in any location on the earth. In order to do this he had to make
calculations using mathematical formulas on paper. He was a Christian and he spent
much of his life trying to find the Christmas star. At that time it was believed that Herod
died in 4 BC, so he kept checking the skies previous to 4 BC but he couldn’t find it. With
the advent of computers, Kepler’s calculations became easy. Today, it is possible to get
astronomical software for around $50 making it possible to type in a location, day and
time either in the past or future and get a view of the skies at that time and place within
seconds. With these new tools, people began scanning the skies of 3 and 2 BC and what
they found is amazing.
The Bible speaks many times of signs in the heavens. Those who believe in
astrology (not astronomy) teach that the stars control your life. If you were to consult an
astrology chart (don’t do this), you will find information on what to do or not to do on
any particular day according to which sign of the Zodiac in which you were born This
practice is condemned in the Bible because if you believe that the stars control your life,
then, in effect you are worshipping the stars, which is idolatry. In the book of Job, some
of the constellations are mentioned, and there is evidence that God gave us the Zodiac,
not to control us but to provide a way to give us signs such as what the magi saw. An
illustration of this is language. Language consists of words and rules of grammar without
which communication would be almost impossible. Another form of communication is
pictures. Language and pictures can be used to communicate evil, but no one suggests
that because of its evil potential we should abolish language; instead we are directed to
choose the good and reject the evil. The same is true of the Zodiac. The fact that it has
been corrupted to lead people into idolatry and the occult does not mean that it cannot be
used as a vehicle for portraying signs
Here is what the magi understood concerning the planets, the star Regulus, and
three of the Zodiac constellations. The planet Jupiter was known as the “king” planet, the
planet Venus was known as the “mother” planet, the star Regulus was known as the
“king” star both to the Romans and the Babylonians. The constellation Leo was known
as the “king” constellation, the constellation Virgo was the “virgin”, and the constellation
Draco was the “dragon”.
Another fact to consider about the magi was they had the prophecy of
Balaam in Numbers 24:17 that “a star would come from Jacob and a scepter should arise
from Israel”, and the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 concerning the coming of Messiah the
Prince, which was not written in Hebrew but in Aramaic, the common trade language of
the east. This prophecy states that there would be 69 sevens (weeks) of years from the
going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the
prince. Undoubtedly they assumed that this prince would take the throne when he was
about thirty years old, give or take a few years. Having this information they were
searching the night skies in 3 BC. What they saw was convinced them that the prince was
born. . You can see what they saw on the web site: starofbethlehem.net.
On August 12, 3 BC, the Magi saw Venus, the mother planet, in conjunction (side
by side) with Jupiter the king planet in the constellation Leo, the king constellation. This
may have caught their interest. Then on September 14, Jupiter came into conjunction
with Regulus in the Leo constellation. They were looking for a sign of a king, and on this
day they saw the king planet in conjunction with the king star in the king constellation. In
the next seven months Jupiter moved westward from Regulus but then came back and
conjoined Regulus again on February 17th, 2BC .Then it moved again but stopped and
returned to conjoin Regulus a third time on May 8th, 2BC. Each time Jupiter connected
with Regulus was on a different side of the star, giving the appearance of “crowning” the
star. Then on June 17th 2 BC in the early evening hours they saw Jupiter and Venus
rising together again near the star Regulus. This was the most brilliant conjunction
anyone has ever seen so much so that planetariums around the world display this because
it makes such a brilliant planetary display.
But, considering the fact that Jupiter is in orbit around the Sun, how can it move
in one direction ,then reverse its course and move back and then reverse its course again
and then do this two more times. We need to remember that we are on a moving
platform, the planet earth. A similar thing happens when you are in a moving car which
passes another car, and the car being passed appears to be moving backward when it is in
fact moving forward. This kind of planetary motion is called retrograde.
In the book of Revelation chapter 12, verses1-4, the apostle John wrote, “And a
great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet
and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And she was with child, and she cried out with
labor and pain to give birth, and another sign appeared n heaven: a great red dragon . . . .
(verse 4) and the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that
when she gave birth he might devour the child.”. It is clear from these verses that Jesus is
the one who will rule the world with a rod of iron (Rev. 12:5).We also know that his
mother is Mary and that she conceived Him and gave birth to him as a virgin. .
John saw this sign appearing in heaven. The word “heaven” can mean the area
above the earth in which are seen the stars and planets. Did this sign appear, and if so,
when? On September 11, 3 BC, which was the date of the Jewish New Year (Rosh
Hashanah), as Jupiter was approaching Belarus for its first conjunction, in the early
morning hours the sun rose in the constellation Virgo with the moon at the virgin’s feet
as seen from area around Babylon. This can only happen on a new moon, and the only
time it happened during 3 and 2 BC was on September 11, 3 BC. Immediately above
Virgo at that that time was the constellation Draco, the dragon. There were 279 days
between September 11, 3 BC and Jupiter’s brilliant conjunction with Venus on June17th,
2 BC, which is the length of the average human gestation period. This is probably the
date that they left to follow the planet Jupiter as it traveled west.
It is also interesting that each date of the conjunctions and the sign in the
constellation Virgo occurred during a Jewish holiday as you can see:
(1)August 12, 3 BC: Rosh Chodesh (Elul New Moon). (2) September 11 3BC: Rosh
Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) ;( 3) September 14. 3 BC: Halfway between Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur ;.( 4) February 17, 2 BC: Purim ;( 5) May 8th. , 2 BC Shavout
(Feast of Pentecost ;) (6) June 17, 2 BC: Fast of Tammuz.
After Jupiter’s second conjunction with Venus, it progressively traveled westward
for six months until it was over the city of Jerusalem on December 25th 2 BC, and the
magi followed it during this time. Ezra wrote in Ezra 7:8, 9 that he traveled to Jerusalem
from Babylon in four months, so that six months was ample time to travel the distance,
even if the magi came from Persia. December 25, then, is the date the magi inquired,
“Where is he who is born king of the Jews?” There is a historical record that sixty years
previous to this, a delegation of magi came to Rome and informed the senate that they
had seen a message in the sky that a new king had been born. As a result of this message
a number of young boys had been killed. Apparently the magi from the east had a
reputation and were respected, which is probably why Herod and all Jerusalem listened to
their message and were troubled. It could be that they were troubled about how Herod
would respond to the news. Then the evening of the 25th, having learned from the chief
priests and the scribes that the prophet Micah had wrote that the Messiah would be born
in Bethlehem, they rejoiced when they looked at the night sky and saw that Jupiter had
turned south toward Bethlehem They followed it for six miles and then saw it stop
directly over Bethlehem. That is where they found Mary, Joseph and Jesus in the house in
which they were staying. It was necessary for the family to start traveling to Egypt that
same night, and the fact that Jesus was then three months old made it easier for them to
travel.
Is it possible for a planet to stop? Yes. Because the planets are moving at
different speeds and different distances from the sun, from our perspective a planet can
stop. You can see a demonstration of this on the website: bethlehemstar.net.
This leaves an unanswered question. Why is there a discrepancy between the
computed date of Jesus’ birth on September 21st, 2 BC, and the gestation period from the
sign in the constellation Virgo on September 11, 3 BC to the Jupiter-Venus conjunction
on June17th, 2 BC of 279 days? Doesn’t this indicate that June 17th was the date that
Jesus was born?
The magi observed signs in the night sky which led them to Jesus, and the same is
true of the shepherds, although the shepherds received a verbal message from the angels.
Their sign was that they would find the baby wrapped in cloths and laying in a manger.
(Luke 2:12). It is quite possible that at the time they received the message that the baby
may not have been laying in a manger, but He was when they got there. A road sign often
is placed quite a distance from a curve or intersection to allow time to make the necessary
reduction in speed. We need to realize the movements of the planets and constellations
and the conjunctions with the star that we have mentioned could have been predicted at
creation when they were first set in motion. Nothing moved out of its predetermined path.
This means, as far as the signs that the magi saw, Jesus could have been born at any time
before or during their travel. That being the case, there is no reason not to believe the
evidence from the book of Luke that Jesus was born on September 21, 2 BC. We have
shown that the magi came see Jesus at Bethlehem on December 25, 2 BC.
Stores and businesses begin advertising for Christmas around the end of
September, following the back-to-school sales. Their reason of course is increased sales,
but the ads in the media and in the stores remind us once again of the miracle of the birth
of Jesus and start us gearing up for the holidays. The celebration of the birth of Jesus
began on the night He was born with the shepherds, and since they told everyone what
they had seen and heard, there were probably many people who came to see the baby
Messiah. The celebration continued 40 days later on October 31st when they came to
Jerusalem when Anna and Simeon wanted to hold Jesus and prophesy over Him. And it
continued another 54 days until December 25, when the magi came. It ended abruptly
with their trip to Egypt. Our celebration lasts about the same period of time: the
difference being that we celebrate His birth in December instead of September.
Christians accept the fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and spent his early life
in Nazareth simply because of the accounts in both Matthew and Luke. He claimed to be
and is the promised Messiah of the Jews. The scribes in Jerusalem clearly answered the
Magi’s question concerning the birth place of the Messiah, quoting Micah 5:3 that he
who will rule Israel would come out of Bethlehem. But the Jews rejected Jesus as the
Messiah, and today they persistently deny the fact that he was born in Bethlehem. They
do this because they know that the Messiah must fulfill all of the Old Testament
prophecies concerning His life, and if His birth in Bethlehem could be proved it would
challenge their unbelief. Why did the family stay three months in Bethlehem? As we
have seen, the magi arrived there to worship Jesus, being led by the planet Jupiter,
directly over where he was on December 25th, 2 BC. The fact, as attested by planetariums
all over the world, is solid evidence that Jesus is the Messiah to any Jew who is open to
believe. I believe that this is the reason why we celebrate His birth on December 25th.
. The important thing is not so much when we celebrate, but how we celebrate. We
need to do as the shepherds, Anna, Simeon, and the magi: worship Him. .