The Huron Expositor, 1963-11-28, Page 3r
($y DR. PETER MIL(,.MAN)
At this Christmas season we
are continually reminded of the
brief but beautiful accounts in
our Bible concerning the arriv-
al of the Christ Child in Beth-
lehem of Judea, almost 20 cen-
turies ago.
We have the story of the
shepherds and the story of the
wise men; an astronomer is of-
ten asked about the star which
guided the wise men to Bethle-
hem and which figures so prom-
inently in Christmas pageantry
and art.
What is the view of scientists
concerning this celestial appari-
tion? Can we identify it today
in the sky? Is there any other
historical record of this star?
Let us look first at the facts
as recounted in the second chap-
ter of St. Matthew's Gospel,
The King James version of the
Bible tells it as well and as
clearly as any.
Now when Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of Judea in the days
of Herod the king, behold,
there came wise men from the
east to Jerusalem 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.
Troubled King
When Herod the King had
heard these things he was .trou-
bled and all Jerusalem with
him. And when he had gather-
.ed all the chief priests and
scribes of the people together,
he demanded of them where
Christ should be born. ' And
they said unto him, in Bethle-
hem of Judea
Then Herod, when he had
called the wise men, enquired
of them diligently what time
the star appeared. And he sent
them to Bethlehem, and sai, Go
and search diligently for the
young child; ,anll when ye have
found hum, bring me wort
again, that I may come :and
worship him also.
When they had heard the
king they departed; and, 10, the
star, which they saw in the east
went before them, till it calve
and stood over where the young
child was. When they saw the
star they rejoiced with exceed-
ing great joy.
And ' when they were come
into the house, they saw the
young child with Mary his
mother, and fell down and wor-
shipped him; and when they
had opened their treasures,
they presented unto him gifts;
gold a n d frankincense, and
myrrh. And being warned of
God, in a dream that they
should not return to Herod,
they departed into their own
country another way . .
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Then Herod, When he! Saw,
that he 100 rocked of the..wiae •
men,' Was .exceeding wroth, and
sent forth, and slew all file
children that were in Bethle-
hem, and in all the coasts
thereof, from two years old and
under, according to the time
which he had diligently enquir-
ed of the wise Men.
The other well-known English
versions differ only in minute
details from the above wording.
The term "Wise men" is also
rendered "Magi" and "astrolo-
gers." It should be noted that
until the last two or three hun-
dred years most astronomers in-
dulged in a certain amount of
astrological prediction, if only
to support themselves, and so at
the time of Christ the terms as-
trologer and astronomer may
he regarded as synonymour.
Came Later
In Christmas pageants it is
usual to portray the wise men
as arriving at the manger short-
ly after the visit of the shep-
herds. However, the Bible ac-
count, both by inference and
wording, indicates that the visit
of the Magi occurred some time
after the night of the Nativity,
probably between a month and
a year and a half later.
The wise men entered a
"house" not the stable, and
Joseph is not mentioned as be-
ing present when they paid
their homage to the baby Jesus.
Now let us examine the
astronomical facts in the story.
It is certain that the star did
not always appear in front of
them on their journey west to
Palestine as no celestial object
could remain fixed in that posi-
tion. It is more likely that they
were familiar with some of the
old Hebrew prophecies from
the days of Daniel (see Daniel
9 and Numbers 24, 17), and,
having observed a most unus-
ual celestial object they were
guided to Jerusalem by their
astrological interpretation of
this event.
Early Evening
After talking to Herod, the
wise men evidently saw the star
again, this time in the eastern
sky at the beginning of the eve-
ning. They had been told to
go to Bethlehem and, as they
travelled south about five miles
along the road to the little
town, the star rose higher and
higher until, as they reached
their destination, the star was
directly overhead.
. This was a position that
wuold be assumed by an object
roughly 32 degrees north of the
celestial equator when it had
reached the meridian. Herod's
instruction that from the time
the wise men first saw the star,
to the time Herod issued his
terrible order, was a period of
about two years or a little less.
Whether the Magi observed the
star originally at the exact time
of the birth of Christ, or earl-
ier, is not known.
The possible astronomical ex-
planations are: That the star
was a close conjunction of some
of the bright planets in a con-
stellation of royal significance
astrologically; that it was a
bright comet; or that it was a
nova or new star which pos-
sibly rose twice to •high lum-
inosity as has happened in mo-
dern times. The first explana-
tion is not generally favored,
as it is doubtful if the wise
men would attach such unusual
significance to an occurrence in-
volving, well-known planets.
A' comet might have been
seen both before and after a
close approach to the sun, but
the time interval between the
two apparitions would more
likely be a month or two rather
than the longer period of a
year or more. The suggestion
of a nova with two maxima
then seems to be the best all-
round explanation but we have
not enough evidence to give a
final answer.
It must be remembered that
the Bible was not written as a
text book of science, and such
scientific allusions as we do find
are not very detailed. It is not
surprising; therefore, that the
exact scientific answers to Bibli-
cal events cannot always be
given.
New Discoveries
However, as new arch eologi-
cal discoveries are being made,
it is becoming increasingly evi-
dent that the Bible is essential-
ly accurate in its casual refer-
ences to peoples and events in
the historical setting with which
it deals.
My own view is that. though
the Star of Bethlehem is not
mentioned elsewhere as far as
we know, the second chapter of
Matthew gives us definite evi-
dence of an unusual astronomi-
cal event which marked the be-
ginning of the Christian era,
and which adds both interest
and beauty to the Christmas
story.
Christmas pudding was orig-
inally soup—and eaten as the
first course, instead of as a des-
sert, Later, it became known as
plum pottage, and was `a con-
cootion of boiled beef or mut-
ton, raisins, plums and other
fruits. It was then eaten as a
breakfast dish.
How about this for a Christ-
mas pie? It weighed 168 pounds
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except on wheels, which were
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ing four geese, four turkeys,
four wild ducks, six snipe, six
pigeons, four partridges, two
rabbits and two ox -tongues. The
pie was mane in Berwick, Eng-
land, and sent to London by
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