Perhaps no other part of the Christmas story has prompted more discussion and arguments than the Christmas Star.
Specu-lation has continued for centu-ries as to what it could have been.
To say that it was a natural phenomenon can in no way take away the spiritual significance. The Bible is full of instances where God used the forces of nature to get His point across.
Was it a comet? Records indi-cate one was spotted in the region of Christ’s birth in 17 B.C., but this would have been too early. Another was seen in 66 A.D., but this one was too late. Some of the most precise observ-ers of astronomy of this time were the Chinese who kept de-tailed records. They recorded a comet that was visible over a period of 70 days in 5 B.C. (Historians think we may be at least five years off on the re-corded date of Christ’s birth).
Other astronomers think that it was a conjunction of our bright-est planets, a theory brought about by the German astrono-mer Johannes Kepler. In 1603, he watched the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the con-stellation of Pisces, the fish. This called to his memory some-thing that ancient astronomers had written that this near-meet-ing of the planets signified the night – even the hour – when the Messiah would be born, because Pisces was considered the sign of Christ, the planet Jupiter rep-resented royalty, and Saturn the protector of Israel.
Using calcu-lations, Kepler concluded that this rare and strange conjunc-tion occurred also in 6 or 7 B.C. For years, this theory was disre-garded, but in 1925, ancient papers were found in the School of Astrology in Babylon. On the papers was clearly marked a conjunction of Jupiter and Sat-urn in the constellation of Pisces that was observed for five months in the year 7 B.C.
Babylon is thought to possibly be the area the Wise Men came from.
One thing is certain, the Christmas Star had to be some-thing out of the ordinary. It had to be exceedingly brilliant for the Wise Men to notice it as they would have been viewing the heavens with their naked eyes. They had been watching for the star and knew what it repre-sented.
In the book of Mat-thew, they are quoted as saying “We have seen His star.” For sure, the birth of no ordinary child would have prompted them to undertake such a journey, nor would they have worshipped an infant had they not known He was Christ.
If this were not enough, their gifts were not gifts one would ordinarily present to an infant. Gold represented his royalty, frankincense His divin-ity and myrrh for His death for our salvation.
Why is it that the Wise Men saw the star, knew the signifi-cance of it and traveled a great distance to worship the Messiah, while those in Jerusalem and even Bethlehem did not seem to even notice it, let alone under-stand it? Perhaps it was in-tended for those who would be-lieve to see it and those who would later reject the Messiah to be left out.
Do you still see or believe in the one who is truly the “Star” of Christmas?
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, mcclungs@email.com.