Why The Star?

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The verse below is deliberately misquoted. Watch for the revision.

• Matt 2:2 . . Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have
followed his star from the east

No, they didn't follow Jesus' star from the east; rather, they saw it in the
east.

Jerusalem was a logical destination seeing as how it was Israel's capital city.
Personally I think the wise men fully expected to find the new king quartered
right there in Jerusalem rather than elsewhere; so their inquiry "where is he"
was probably not meant for asking directions to another town.

• Matt 2:9 . . After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the
star they had seen in the east went ahead of them.

They likely thought they had seen the last of that star back home, so it was
very reassuring to see it again; and this time as a guiding light rather than a
sign.

• Matt 2:10 . . When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

NOTE: As the earth turns, stars appear to move across the sky from the east
towards the west. Here is a star that moved south, and also came to a stop;
which should alert planetariums that it wasn't an astronomical object.

• Matt 2:9 . . It stopped over the place where the child was.

Normal stars are so far out in space that it is nigh unto impossible to tell the
exact spot on earth where one of them is at any given moment without
special instruments; so I think we can be reasonably confident that this star
was low enough that there was no mistaking the exact house where young
Jesus was lodged. In other words; this star wasn't a star, rather, it was a
God-given apparition.

Now this is curious. The shepherds were given no guide. They had to
conduct a house to house search for baby Jesus; and their target was
different too. The shepherds went looking for a savior whereas the wise men
were seeking a sovereign. Plus the wise men were educated, whereas the
shepherds likely weren't; and the wise men were wealthy and privileged
whereas shepherds were just cow pokes; so to speak.
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Two thousand years ago almost everything that appeared in the night sky was called a star except for the moon. Some say it's a conjecture of planets, but would not be combined long enough for people traveling to find the location, nor was it called comjecture. The most likely celestial phenomenon would be a comet, and a comet can appear to hang over an area for a period of time, The tail of a comet could be the what the magi followed. Just food for thought.

• Matt 2:2 . . Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have
followed his star from the east

• Matt 2:9 . . After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the
star they had seen in the east went ahead of them.

maybe you are reading it wrong?

vs, 2 says they followed his star from the east.........the star was from the east

vs.9 the star in the east went ahead of them..........

I think it is ok IMO

but, shoot, we all serve the need for mysteries which abound in Scripture.........sigh

Some scholars believe(And secular astronomy) claim it was a natural phenomenon such as a comet, supernova, etc. I tend to think that it was more of a supernatural celestial occurrence.

I like your thinking!

Retrograde motion makes astronomical objects (like planets) appear fixed or appear to move backward from our terrestrial perspective.


The Almighty set the planets in their courses. Its mathematical precision was established at the creation, long before the birth of Messiah, for just the right time to guide the Chaldean astronomers (who were from the east, in Babylon) directly to the town where He would be thousands of years later.

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Your astronomical illustration is entertaining but really all it does is muddy
the waters because it fails to explain how an event that takes place millions
of miles out in space might be useful for pinpointing the exact house where
Jesus was lodged.

I think it best to regard the wise men's star as just simply an apparition
rather than an astronomical event/object. That way one need not have the
IQ of a Copernicus, a Newton, a Carl Sagan, a Stephen Hawking, or a Neil
deGrasse Tyson to figure it all out.

• Luke 10:21 . . I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you
have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to
little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

• 1Cor 1:26 . . For ye see your calling, brethren; how that not many wise
men after the flesh are called
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Hmm. You say this...and yet you're the one seeking a different explanation because you can't accept the text for what it says. It doesn't take a genius to accept what is written.

The text says it was a star...but you can't accept it because you can't understand how stars can appear to move one moment but then appear to stop at another. The Almighty isn't magic, friend. He set the heavens in their courses.

Stars are often are angels in the Bible. I believe it could have been an angel that guided them to baby Jesus. The star stood over where the young child was.

Matthew 2
9 When they had 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.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

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That's a reasonable possibility. God likened angels to stars at Job 38:7, and
when it's taken into consideration the amount of angelic activity relative to
Christ's appearance-- e.g. Zaharias, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds --then
it shouldn't surprise anybody that the glowing object seen by the wise men
was an angel too.

Angels have interacted with people in a variety of forms, e.g. human, wind, fire,
voices, and smoke.
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I took an interest in astronomy back in 1971 and anon began grinding a 10"
mirror intending it for a home-made reflecting telescope; and along with it
constructed a Foucault testing device. But had to abandon the project for
certain reasons.

I picked up on retrograde motion almost right away. I also picked up on
parallax, refraction, sidereal time, hour angle, right ascension and
declination, and even taught myself some rudimentary spherical
trigonometry so I could calculate the best times to view my favorite celestial
objects.

This was all prior to hand held calculators, personal computers, and
astronomy aps like Starry Night. I did all the heavy math with a Frederick
Post Co. versalog slide rule. In point of fact, I still have that very slide rule.
Of course it's obsolete now; just a sentimental curio retained from a bygone
era.

Anyway, some night, when the moon is clearly visible; raise your arm and
point at it while an associate positioned some distance away to your left or
your right does the same. Your friend will appear to be pointing in the wrong
direction; in fact your arm and his will seem aimed at two different moons
instead of the same one.

You can also try walking with the moon to your left or right. You'll notice
that the moon appears to be moving with you instead of staying back where
it was when you began walking. This is really noticeable from a car. No
matter how fast it goes, the moon easily keeps up.

The reason for this phenomenon is that the moon is so high in the sky that
the angle it subtends between two nearby locations on the ground is too
small to detect without instruments. Ergo: had the wise men's star been
millions of miles out in space instead of close enough to the ground to be
easily seen right above Jesus' house, the men would've had to knock on every
door in Bethlehem.
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Ok. A few things...

1)

It's folklore that the astronomers were led to the exact house. The star led the astronomers to the TOWN of Bethlehem, westward from their land of Babylon in the east. The shepherds already living in the town - who were told by Gabriel about Messiah the night of the birth - weren't the astronomers who were led there many months later. Scripture says the astronomers went to King Herod when they arrived in the town asking where the child Messiah was.


Matthew 2:1-2
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

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.


They didn't know where He specifically was in the town when they arrived, but they knew He as there because of the star. If it was an apparition leading them, would they even have needed to ask King Herod? Herod then asked them to report back to him when they found the Messiah "so that he could also worship Him" (actually kill Him).


2)

It's not because the moon is far from us that it seems to follow us everywhere but because it's close to us that such an effect happens. Meanwhile, it's specifically because stars are much further away from us that they can be used for navigation.

For example, sailers for hundreds and hundreds of years would use the north star as well as the constellations for navigation because these are relatively fixed in the sky every night for roughly a month because they progress through the sky much slower than the moon (which change positions every day). There was no other way to find their way across vast oceans that otherwise had no landmarks since there wasn't such a thing as GPS.

No sailor could or would ever use the moon for navigation. The moon is like the "seconds" hand on a clock while the constellations are like the "hours", and planets are like "minute" hands.

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For an experiment, download a free astronomy app on your phone...one that uses your phone's GPS. When it starts it will show you that you're currently under a specific constellation. Next, find a planet (one of the planets we learned about in school). Note the hour of the day. Note where you are. Then, each night for the entire week, I want you to notice the position of that planet from where/when you first found it. Also, notice the degree that the constellation above you has shifted each night.

You will see that:

a) The movement of the constellation is significantly slower than the movement of the sun, moon, and planets BECAUSE the stars are so very far away.

b) You should notice that if you were to follow the planet you chose (i.e. imagine walking in a direction with the planet always making sure that planet stays in front of you; checked each night) it could guide you on a certain Heading (you'd need to adjust your heading each night)...and if that planet performs a retrograde (appearing to move backward or appearing to stop for a night or two) your nightly adjustment would be affected too.


3)

Genesis 1:14-19 - Let the stars be for signs, seasons, days, years.

Psalm 19:1 - The heavens declare God's glory. The Messiah is called "the glory of the Father". The sky announced the Messiah's birth.

Psalm 147:4 explains that as far as Hebrew astronomy, each planet and constellation has a name that tells part of the story. So when conjunctions occur in the sky they "speak" a message from the Almighty.

Revelation 12 details that there was an astronomical sign during the time of the Messiah's birth, happening in Virgo.

Daniel was made head over the Chaldean astronomers in Babylon when Judah was in exile. We know that Daniel was given visions of the coming Messiah. It's safe to assume these "wise men" were his descendent students/disciples. They knew of the prophecy of the coming King and so they were waiting for the sign in the sky to take Daniel's treasure to the Messiah.

The following video I found gives a great summary of what happened, but there was a conjunction in "Leo" ("Ariel", the lion of the tribe of Judah) where the star "Regulus" ("HaMelech", the King) appeared to merge with "Jupiter" ("HeTzedek", The Righteous) forming the message "The King of Righteousness".

This conjunction would've caused a notable brightness in the night sky because both bodies are already very bright on their own, creating the appearance of a single star of immense brightness. This conjunction of two was The Star of Bethlehem.

"Regulus" is fixed between the feet of "Leo". Genesis 49:10 says "the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes." The conjunction between Leo's feet was the fulfillment of this passage...and it occurred on the Feast of Trumpets. Daniel's students would've known all of this; the converging of multiple signs.

Several other conjunctions occurred in the sky confirming what they were waiting for and so they prepared for travel, following these conjunctions in the sky to the Town of Bethlehem. The conjunctions started when the Messiah was born, but the astronomers didn't leave to meet Him until the last conjunction when He was 2yrs old [when a Hebrew baby is born he's considered 1yr old or a "yearling"].

They give Daniel's treasure to His family, and then the astronomers and the Messiah's family flee Herod.

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The stars spoken of by Genesis 1:14-15 are celestial objects whereas the
wise men's star was terrestrial; i.e. it was down low enough in the sky to
point out the exact house where Jesus was lodged.

"Stars" is a nondescript category of shining objects that includes planets,
meteors, meteorites, asteroids, and super hot plasma spheres like our solar
system's Sun.

Objects in the "star" category range in size from little bitty shooting stars no
bigger than a grain of sand to massive red giants like Betelgeuse out there
in the constellation of Orion. That being the case, then it's quite possible that
the wise men's star was no bigger than a basketball or an SUV; who really
knows for sure?

But I strongly suspect that the wise men's star was visible to themselves
alone, viz: no one else in their country back home saw it nor did anyone in
Israel, i.e. it was a private viewing intended for the wise men's eyes only.

Personally; i don't believe the star was all that much of a guide for the wise
men. I suspect that they spotted it in their homeland and didn't see it again
till they got on the road south to Bethlehem where they found it hovering
over the exact house lodging Jesus. It's commonly believed that the star led
them to Jerusalem and thus to Herod, but I seriously doubt that's true.

The question often arises how the wise men knew their star was associated
with the Jews. Well; Matt 2:12 strongly suggests to me that their entire
odyssey was micro-managed by God from start to finish so that when the
men spotted the star back home in the east, they were at the same time
informed by God as to its purpose and urged to pack up and head for the
land of Israel; specifically the city of Jerusalem because that's always been a
sort of Washington DC for David's dynasty.

I think the wise men fully expected to find the young king there because
they didn't inquire as to where he'd be born, rather: where is he that "is
born" because they were sure in their own minds that he was already out
and about even before they left home.
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Correct. Many "scholars" and "experts" refuse to believe in the supernatural, but that Star of Bethlehem was a very special star, and may only have been created for the purpose for which is shown -- the birth of the King of the Jews. This would be going back to the Torah and the prophecy regarding Messiah:

He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: I shall see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. (Numbers 24:16,17)

The magi may have started out as pagan astrologers in Persia, and then been converted through the Torah (as proselytes). They had continued with astronomy and noted that a special star had appeared in the sky. They may even have been given an intimation by God Himself that they were to treat that Star as the one leading to the King of the Jews, since the royal scepter belonged to Him.

They traveled at least 1,000 miles to Jerusalem with very costly gifts, no doubt on camels, since they traveled through Arabia. It could not have been an easy journey, since highway bandits were common in those days. But the Star guided them all the way to Bethlehem, where they literally worshiped the child Jesus. So the first believers and worshipers of Christ were Gentiles, not Jews.

In contrast to these Gentiles, the Jewish scribes and chief priests suppressed a very important revelation about the King of the Jews who would be born in Bethlehem. They omitted the fact that He is God from everlasting to everlasting, by omitting this clause in Micah 5:2: But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

What they roughly quoted was this: And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel...

Again, no scripture says a star showed them the exact house. But to explain the relatively low position; it's an effect of perspective. Notice the conjunction of Regulus & Jupiter (HaMelech HaTzedeck: "The King of Righteousness") at 13:00 hrs in Iran on 9/12/-2. Notice how far away the conjunction (in upper-left corner) is from the tree drawing.




Next, notice how in just an hour, the same conjunction appears to be resting just above the same tree. Of course, these stars are millions of miles away but the perspective shows them above the treeline about to set behind it for the night.



...And then the next day, the position of the former conjunction will once again be far above the tree because of the earth's rotation.

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Because the heavens are a calendar ("for signs, seasons, days, years"), operating in fixed courses set by the Almighty, it's all math. And with this math, as long as we know a specific date, time, and location, we can use astronomy software to roll back the clock and see exactly the position of all the stars in the sky at any given time...from any fixed location...to get an idea of what the astronomers were taught to look for by Daniel.

It was written that "...knowledge shall increase".

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My sign is Capricorn and that's because I was born a goat boy with two
horns and cloven hooves. Awwww-Haw-Haw-Haw-Hawwwww!
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Seriously folks, I really don't think we should go about alleging that God
lined up constellations and/or planetary conjunctions in a manner to signal
the birth of a king; primarily because it makes Christ's followers appear to
be superstitious kooks.

I think most Christians-- and much of the world too --is/are comfortable with
regarding the wise men's star as the supernatural appearance of something
remarkable and/or unexpected; hung not out in space, but instead first up in
the sky, and then later over Jesus' house like a Huey hovering above an LZ.

NOTE: Luke 21:25 speaks of unusual activity in the stars as signs
relative to Christ's return, which at first glance appear to be astrological
signs, but when we examine those activities as they are spelled out in Isa
13:9-13 and Matt 24:29, it's readily seen that Luke 21:25 actually depicts
real-life calamities rather than astrological sign language and/or mystic
messages.

I suspect that the unusual activity planned for the stars will both frighten
and fluster professional astrologers because they probably won't have a clue
how to chart them. Back in Jesus' time, the planets were stars too, a.k.a.
wandering stars, so they're included in Luke 21:25.
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And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Use caution when appraising the intention of our Father in creating the bodies of His heavens. There were astrologers even in the early writing os the Old testament. They managed the calendar, knew the holy days , and could read signes from them.
They were NOT slaves to the Zodiac, that came much later and became totally pagan, however the wise men knew how to read siigns when given. How do I know? It is in the Book.. I believe it quite possible, even probable for many believers to also see signs in the latter heartbeats of this age, for certain signs are foretold.

Yes tru astrology had nothing to do with the question, "What' your sign." That is gobblygook.

That is a false and misleading statement. Now note carefully: When they had 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. The Bible could not be any plainer. That star showed the wise men the exact house.

Let me get this straight...

Claiming that the God of the universe - who we say made everything - aligned, in advance, the entire heavens to signal the birth of His Son, sounds kookie...but saying a magical floating apparition hovered over the exact house of His Son's birth - one that no one else in the entire town saw - ISN'T kookie and is a perfectly reasonable Christian belief. lol, gotcha.

It's a shame that the majesty of creation is so commonplace now that it's treated as "natural" and not of God.