Editor’s Note: Several years ago, Paul Wallace wrote a series of articles in Nurturing Faith Journal, the forerunner to Good Faith Magazine, titled “Questions Christians Ask Scientists.” The following was an installment from that series.
There is only one passage in which the so-called Star of Bethlehem appears in the Bible: Matthew 2:8–10. We are told that “in the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we have observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage.’”
When Herod heard this, he was frightened and tried to deceive the wise men. He “sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.”
None of the other gospels mention the star, and no other biblical writings refer to it. But this one passage has proven sufficient to drive wars of speculators, mathematicians, astronomers, and biblical scholars to determine, as best they can, the precise nature of this celestial event.
Many explanations have been forwarded, and here are five of the top contenders.
STAR — Normal stars do not appear suddenly from nowhere. The wise men, who were really magi or astrologers, were intimately familiar with the night sky and would not have been surprised or even particularly interested in the regular appearance of even the brightest of known stars.
SUPERNOVA — Certain massive stars end in dramatic bursts of radiation called supernovas. These shine extremely brightly—sometimes millions of times brighter than the original star—and are visible for months. Throughout recorded history several supernovas have been witnessed by human beings who recorded their appearance. The most recent occurred in February of 1987, so scientists believe the Star of Bethlehem could have been such an event, but there is no record in any known ancient world culture of a bright supernova anywhere near the time of Jesus’ birth.
COMET — Comets are icy bodies that orbit the sun and spend much of their time beyond Pluto. Occasionally, their orbits bring them closer to the sun, and they develop bright tails that can persist for weeks or months. A bright comet could have attracted attention, but comets were generally viewed as omens of doom, which does not fit the Matthew narrative very well.
PLANETARY CONJUNCTION — An image of the sky as it appeared looking east-northeast from Palestine at 5 a.m. on August 12, 3 B.C., shows bright light floating just above Leo’s paws. It is not one thing, however, but two: Jupiter and Venus, so close together that they could not be resolved by the human eye. Such planetary conjunctions were often associated with royal events in ancient astrology.
LITERARY TROPE — A trope is any commonly used metaphor or symbol of a literary motif. Old stories of the births of great kings and emperors often featured celestial events, whether or not those events were historical. Many legends concerning miracles and portents were floating around the Roman Empire at the time Augustus was born. Perhaps this tradition was picked up by Matthew, Mark, widely believed to be the first gospel writer, makes no mention of the star or the magi.
Adding the star to the story would make the point that Jesus’ birth was important enough to alter history. It would also help place Jesus in the category of Son of God, which was a title used by many powerful rulers in Rome and the ancient Near East.
None of these theories comes without problems, except for the literary trope. I leave it to you to decide which theory you prefer.
Whichever theory appeals to you the most, I wish you a very Merry Christmas.
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Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Agnes Scott College. He is the author of 35 Questions Christians Ask Scientists, published by Nurturing Faith Books.
