Many Christmas crib scenes show the Holy Family surrounded
by oxen, asses, shepherds and kings, with the Star of Bethlehem shining down
from above. The star is referenced in the account of the Nativity given in
Matthew’s gospel, according to which “wise men from the east” had seen the star
that announced the birth of the new “King of the Jews” and made their way to
Jerusalem to ask for further directions.
The New Testament gives two accounts of the Nativity, in the
gospels of Matthew and Luke, and they are very different. In fact, there are
hardly any points of agreement between them! Many efforts have been made to
reconcile the two accounts, but the attempts often seem extremely forced and
lacking in credibility.
So either Matthew or Luke must be wrong, or perhaps both are
– after all, the authors of the works (whoever they were, and they were not called
either Matthew or Luke!) were not eye witnesses and their prime concern seems
to have been to tell stories that fitted supposed ancient prophecies.
However, there are features of the stories that might just
have had a basis in reality, although this is more probable in the case of “Matthew”
than of “Luke”. One of these features is the Star of Bethlehem.
It has been thought that references to a star being followed
suggest a comet, and various suggestions have been made as to which comet this
might have been. However, although a comet has a tail that might suggest an
arrow pointing in a certain direction, it would not have “stood over the place
where the young child was”, which is claimed in Matthew 2:9.
This is also the case with any other sort of astronomical
event, such as a planetary conjunction or a supernova, so that part of the
account can be easily dismissed as fiction.
A supernova is probably the best candidate for being the
star, and there is evidence that there was such an event at about the right
time. Chinese astronomers during the Han Dynasty had recorded the sudden appearance
of a bright star that lasted for several weeks until it faded from view.
A supernova is the explosion of a star that is considerably
larger than our own Sun. If one were to explode relatively close to our solar
system, then it would outshine everything else in the night sky and even be
visible during daylight hours, even to the naked eye.
If a supernova had been observed in China, then it would certainly
have been seen in Palestine. Just such an event was awaited by scholars who
knew, from the Book of Numbers (24:17), that “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”.
Not many miles to the east of Jerusalem is the Dead Sea, on
the shores of which lived a Jewish sect known as the Essenes. These were
zealots who were desperately awaiting the arrival of the Messiah who would free
the Jewish lands from the yoke of oppression under the Roman Empire. A
supernova explosion was all they needed to get extremely excited about the
prospect of their hopes being fulfilled.
So were the wise men Essene zealots from not very far away?
One thing to remember is that for “wise men” to be interested in the birth of a
Messiah, they must have been Jewish – the idea that oriental “magi” would have
made a long journey to the west to bring “gold, frankincense and myrrh” does
sound extremely fanciful.
There are certainly elements of Matthew’s Nativity account that
do not hang together, but the Star of Bethlehem may be something that the author
of the gospel got right.
© John Welford
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