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"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. ."--2 Pet. 3:3-4 |
The Berean Christadelphians |
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Index
Chronological Charts |
The Star From: The Bible as History by Werner Keller (German Historian) translated into English by William Neil pages 330 - 334 
Shortly before Christmas 1603, on December 17th, the Imperial Mathematician and Astronomer Royal Johannes Kepler was sitting though the night high above the the Moldava in the Hradcyn in Prague, observing with his modest telescope the approach of two planets. "Conjunction" is the technical name for the position of two celestial bodies on the same degree of longitude. Sometimes two planets move so close to one another that they have the appearance of a single larger and more brilliant star. That night Saturn and Jupiter had a rendezvous in space within the constellation of Pisces. Looking through his notes later Kepler suddenly remembered something he had read in the rabbinic writer Abarbanel, referring to an unusual influence which Jewish astrologers were said to have ascribed to this same constellation. Messiah would appear when there was a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the constellation of Pisces. Could it have been the same conjunction at the time of the birth of Christ as Kepler had observed at Christmastide in 1603? Kepler checked his calculations again and again. He was a mixture of scholar and quack, astronomer and astrologer, a disciple of those doctrines which had been put in the same class as mixing poisons as far back as the Code of Justinian. The result was a threefold conjunction within the space of a year. Astronomical calculations gave the year as 7 B.C. According to astrological tables it must have been 6 B.C. Kepler decided in favour of 6 B.C. and dated the conception of Mary consequently 7 B.C. His fascinating discovery was published in a number of books, but this enlightened genius who established the planetary laws named after him eventually steeped himself overmuch in the realm of mysticism. Consequently Kepler's hypotheses were for a long time rejected and finally disregarded. It was not until the 19th century that astronomers remembered them again. But even then, it was impossible to produce clear scientific proof. Science has provided it in our own day. In 1925 the German scholar P. Schnabel deciphered the "papers" in Neo-babylonian cuneiform of a famous professional institute in the ancient world, the School of Astrology at Sippar in Babylonia. Among endless series of prosaic dates of observations he came across a note about the position of the planets in the constellation of Pisces. Jupiter and Saturn are carefully marked in over a period of five months. Reckoned in our calendar the year was 7 B.C.! Archeologists and historians have to reconstruct their picture of a bygone age with enormous effort, from monuments and documents, from individual discoveries and broken fragments. It is simpler for the modern astronomer. He can turn back the cosmic clock at will. In his planetarium he can arrange the starry sky exactly as it was thousands of years ago for any given year, any month, even any day. The position of the stars can be calculated backwards with equal precision. In the year 7 B.C. Jupiter and Saturn did in fact meet in Pisces and, as Kepler had already discovered, they met three times. Mathematical calculations established further that this threefold conjunction of the planets was particularly clearly visible in the Mediterranean area. The time-table of this planetary encounter when it is presented in the prosaic dating system of modern astronomical calculations looks something like this: About the end of February in 7 B.C. the clustering began. Jupiter moved out of the constellation Aquarius towards Saturn in the constellation of Pisces. Since the sun at that time was also in the sign of Pisces its light covered the constellation. It was not until April 12th that both planets rose in Pisces heliacally with a difference of 8 degrees of longitude. "Heliacal" is the word used by astronomers to indicate the first visible rising of a star at daybreak. On May 29th, visible for fully two hours in the morning sky, the first close encounter took place in the 21st degree of Pisces with a difference of 0 degree of longitude and of 0 - 98 degrees of latitude. The second conjunction took place on October 3rd in the 18th degree of the constellation of Pisces. On December 4th for the third and last time a close encounter of the planets Jupiter and Saturn took place. This time it was in the 16th degree of Pisces. At the end of January in the year 6 B.C. the planet Jupiter moved out of Pisces into Aries. "We have seen his star in the east" (Matt. 2:2), said the Wise Men, according to the A.V. Ingenious textual critics discovered that the words "in the east" are in the original "En te anatole"--the Greek singular--but that elsewhere "the east" is represented by "anatolai"--the Greek plural. The singular form "anatole" has, it is maintained, quite a special astronomical significance, in that it implies the observation of the early rising of the star, the so called heliacal rising. The translators of the Authorised Version could not have known this. "We have seen his star appear in the first rays of dawn." That would have corresponded exactly with the astronomical facts. But why this ancient learned expedition of the three Wise Men to Palestine when, as we know, they could see the occurrence just as well in Babylon. The sky gazers of the East in their capacity as astrologers attached a special significance to each star. According to the Chaldeans, Pisces was the sign of the West, the Mediterranean countries: in Jewish tradition it was the sign of Israel, the sign of the Messiah. The constellation of Pisces stood at the end of the sun's old course and at the beginning of its new one. What is more likely than that they saw in it the sign of the end of an old age and the start of a new one? Jupiter was always thought of by all nations as a lucky star and royal star. According to old Jewish traditions Saturn was supposed to protect Israel: Tacitus equates him with the god of the Jews. Babylonian astrology reckoned the ringed planet to be the special star of the neighbouring lands of Syria and Palestine. Since Nebuchadnezzar's time many thousands of Jews had lived in Babylon. Many of them may have studied at the School of Astrology in Sippar. This wonderful encounter of Jupiter with Saturn, guardian of Israel, in the constellation of the "West country," of the Messiah, must have deeply moved the Jewish astrologers. For according to astrological ways of thinking it pointed to the appearance of a mighty king in the West country, the land of their fathers. To experience that in person, to see it with their own eyes, that was the reason for the journey of the wise astronomers from the East. On May 29th, in the year 7 B.C. they observed the first encounter of the two planets from the roof of the School of Astrology at Sippar. At that time of year the heat was already unbearable in Mesopotamia. Summer is no time for long and difficult journeys. Besides that, they knew about the second conjunction on October 3rd. They could predict this encounter in advance as accurately as future eclipses of the sun and moon. The fact that October 3rd was the Jewish Day of Atonement may have been taken as an admonition, and at that point they may have started out on their journey. Travel on the caravan routes even on camels, the swiftest means of transport, was a leisurely affair. If we think in terms of a journey lasting about six weeks, the Wise Men would arrive in Jerusalem towards the end of November. "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." "When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him" (Matt. 2: 2-3). For these Eastern astronomers that must have been the first and obvious question, which would however arouse nothing but startled concern in Jerusalem. They knew nothing about schools of astrology in the Holy City. Herod, the hated Tyrant, was alarmed. The announcement of a new-born king brought his sovereignty into question. The people on the other hand were pleasurably startled, as appears from other historical sources. About a year after this conjunction of planets which has just been described, a strong Messianic movement came into being. Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, records that about this time a rumour went around that God had decided to bring the rule of the Roman foreigners to an end that that a sign from heaven had announced the coming of a Jewish King. Herod who had been appointed by the Romans, was in fact not a Jew but an Idumaean. Herod did not hesitate. He 'gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together" and "demanded of them where Christ should be born". They searched through the ancient sacred scriptures of the nation and found the allusion which is contained int eh book of the prophet Micah, who had lived 700 years before in the kingdom of Judah: "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..." (Micah 5:2). Herod therefore summoned the Wise Men and "sent them to Bethlehem" (Matt. 2:4-8). Since Jupiter and Saturn came together for the time in the constellation of Pisces on the 4th December, "they rejoiced with exceeding great joy" and set out for Bethlehem "and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them" (Matt. 2:9-10). On the road to Hebron, 5 miles from Jerusalem, lies the village of "Bet Lahm", which was the old Bethlehem of Judah. The ancient highway, which Abraham had once passed along, lay almost due north and south. At their third conjunction the planets of Jupiter and Saturn appeared to have dissolved into one great brilliant star. In the twilight of the evening they were visible in a southerly direction, so that the Wise Men of the East on their way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem had the bright star in front of their eyes all the time. As the gospel says, the star actually "went before them". End Quote From the above, does it not seem likely that this was in fact, the star that the wise men from the east were following. Some are disturbed at the impression that the wise men were in fact, Babylonian astrologers, but with no reason. Did not Jesus himself say that
It is further noteworthy that the second conjunction of the planets occurred on the Jewish Day of Atonement. As the Passover was chosen by God as the day of Jesus' death, would it not be consistent that the Day of Atonement was established as the day of Jesus' birth? Finally, the third conjunction was two months later, in the month of December. This is also very consistent with the Gospel accounts. When Jesus was born, he was in a manger in an Inn. But when the Wise Men found him, he was in a house (Matt. 2:11.) One can imagine that after the taxes were paid, the demand for space lessened, and Joseph, not wanting to travel with a newborn child found a house for the winter. Some also question the account that the star went before him, indicating that
the star itself moved. This seems unlikely, because of the lack of
attention received by any other than the Wise Men themselves. |
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