by The Great Christ Comet- Revealing the True Star of Bethlehem (retail) (epub)
When Herod issued his order to massacre the infants of Bethlehem, he was allowing that the Magi might have been wrong in their contention that the Messiah’s birth coincided with the celestial wonder relating to the Star’s heliacal rising. The Judean king evidently felt that it was only prudent to take seriously the possibility that the Messianic child might have been born at a stage of the Star’s apparition prior to the sign in the eastern sky. In particular, Herod may have wondered if the Messiah’s birth might have occurred at the point when the Star had first appeared. The first appearance, or “birth,” of a “star” in the celestial realm could naturally have been regarded as the equivalent of the appearance on the terrestrial stage, or birth, of the one whom the “star” represented. It is conceivable that what the Magi reported to Herod concerning their first observation of the Star encouraged the king to consider this moment in particular a candidate for the Messiah’s birthday.
Armed with the maximum age and geographical location of the Messiah, the tyrannical king of Judea felt confident that he could succeed in an audacious bid to kill the newborn Davidic King (vv. 7–8, 16).
Following Yonder Star . . . from Jerusalem to Bethlehem
When the Magi learned from Herod that the Scriptures had prophesied that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, they assumed that the messianic baby would still be there and so made their way under the guidance of the Star to the town of David (v. 9). Perhaps the Magi assumed that the Messiah’s family resided there permanently. If so, of course, they were wrong. The Messiah was to be found at Bethlehem even though Mary and Joseph ordinarily resided in Nazareth, because they had come down to Bethlehem for the census and found it more practical to remain there until after they had been purified (and performed the presentation of the child) at the Jerusalem temple on the fortieth day after the childbirth, in accordance with the Torah.103
As the Magi set out from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, the Sun set and, along with the stars and constellations, the comet reappeared in the southern sky in front of them (v. 9b). They recognized it as the celestial entity that they had been tracking for at least a year and that had revealed the Messiah’s birth to them by what it did in connection with its rising—what they had referred to as the Messiah’s Star when speaking to the people of Jerusalem.
Following Yonder Star . . . from Babylon to Judea
We have already seen that the fact that the Magi, on the road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, recognized the Star as the one they had previously seen back in their homeland suggests that they had been following its course in the heavens through the intervening period. The comet was now in a completely different part of the sky than it had been in when it had risen. At its rising it had been low on the eastern pre-dawn horizon, but now, within the space of about a couple of months, it was appearing in the southern evening sky.
The comet’s presence in the evening and night sky presumably encouraged and urged on the Magi as they traveled across the wilderness toward Judea. The comet, as it set over the western horizon each night, may well have seemed to the Magi to be traveling toward Judea ahead of them, urging them onward. Indeed the comet’s behavior as it set may have urged the Magi to depart quickly and may have influenced their choice of route. However, it was not their main reason for electing to journey to Judea. Their primary reason for undertaking this long trip was because of what they had seen the Star do in the eastern sky in connection with its heliacal rising (v. 2).
When the comet appears as the Magi are making their way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, Matthew refers to it as “the star that they had seen at its rising” (v. 9). This retrospective reference is akin to the kind of thing we see in the Babylonian astronomical diaries and monthly summaries, where each new report of a comet is introduced with a summary recollection of an earlier point in its apparition (these retrospective references in the Babylonian records do not imply that the comet was not also seen during the time subsequent to the referenced event). For example, Babylonian entries relating to the 138 BC and 120 BC comets retrospectively referenced earlier heliacal settings, while one entry concerning the 110 BC comet recalled its first appearance.104 In Matthew, the reference back to the Star’s rising functions to remind the reader of the most important stage of the 1+-year cometary apparition, namely, what it did in the eastern sky to reveal the Messiah’s birth and prompt the Magi to travel to Judea in search of the baby Messiah. This reminder highlights that the very same astronomical entity that launched them on their pilgrimage to Judea was now present at its culmination, to help them complete their journey.
Following Yonder Star . . . to the House Where the Virgin and Child Were Staying
The comet would have given the impression of forward movement in front of the Magi on a basically horizontal plane as they traveled southward from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Then, having reoriented itself as it descended toward the western horizon, the comet pinpointed the particular house where the messianic child was. The comet did this by seeming to stand over the house as it was about to set (v. 9). Matthew’s description mandates that the comet at that point had a long tail which, from the Magi’s perspective at the time, projected upwards into the sky from a coma that was stationed over the visible horizon behind the house where Jesus was. The description suggests that the comet that night was probably at least 30 degrees long but no more than about 45 degrees long. According to Matthew, the Star was clearly of such brightness and size that it seemed from the Magi’s perspective to be standing right over the house. For the comet to be regarded as doing so, it must have been angled at between approximately 70 and 110 degrees from the horizon.
The Magi felt great joy when they saw the comet standing up over the house. Incredibly, it had enabled them to complete their mission. The Messiah’s Star had led them right to the Messiah. The comet that had represented the messianic baby in the great celestial wonder marking his birth was now pinpointing his precise location on the earth.
When the Magi went into the house, “they saw the child with Mary his mother” (Matt. 2:11a). The absence of Joseph is striking and pushes the reader to recall that Jesus was born to a virgin mother. The Magi at the climax of their journey therefore saw the virgin and her special child. They immediately realized that this was what they had come to Judea seeking. The Eastern visitors therefore fell down and worshiped the infant and presented him with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (v. 11), tokens of their acknowledgement that he would, as the Hebrew Scriptures had prophesied, die, be buried, rise, and then reign over all nations.
Matthew’s Evidence
We have every reason to believe that Matthew knew exactly what the Star had done in the eastern sky that prompted the Magi to journey westward to Judea. The question is, is Matthew’s account of the nativity, the Magi, and the Star consistent with Revelation 12:1–5’s portrayal of the natal sign? Our brief overview of Matthew 1:18–2:12 suggests that it is.
First, Matthew highlights that the Magi’s observation of what the Star did in relation to its rising coincided with the terrestrial nativity of the Messiah in Bethlehem (2:1–2). Second, the Magi believed that the comet was the Messiah’s “star” and interpreted its behavior in connection with its heliacal rising to signify not only that he was born, but that he was born at that time. In other words, what they saw in the eastern sky they interpreted as a nativity scene. Third, at the climax of the Magi’s journey to Judea in search of the Messiah, the Star led them to the newborn King and his virgin mother (v. 11). The Magi instantly recognized that this is what the Star, during the eastern phase of its apparition, had commissioned them to find, and so they offered their gifts to the child.
Obviously, the most natural celestial context for a heavenly nativity scene announcing the birth of the Messiah to a virgin is the constellation Virgo, the sole zodiacal female. As to where within Virgo the comet would have risen, there is only one plausible suggestion: in her womb.
Moreover, in Matthew 2:2 the Magi seem to allude
to Numbers 24:17’s oracle concerning the rising scepter-star, implying that it was fulfilled by the Star. This probably implies that the comet looked like a scepter at the time when it rose (Matt. 2:2). This is consistent with our conclusion that Revelation 12:5 may well be revealing that the comet as a whole looked like a scepter at the point of the baby’s birth.
Matthew’s narrative is therefore very compatible with what Revelation 12:1–5 recounts regarding the nature of the wonder seen in the eastern sky in connection with the Messiah’s birth.
When it is appreciated that the Magi witnessed a cometary coma create an unfolding nativity drama in the eastern sky even as the comet as a whole simultaneously formed a spectacular scepter, their wonderment and eccentric pilgrimage suddenly make sense. Moreover, when the Magi entered the house in Bethlehem, they were awestruck because they were seeing on the earth what they had earlier seen in the heavens—the divine baby with his virgin mother.
To those who spoke Aramaic (as did people in Mesopotamia and Judea) or Hebrew, the town of Bethlehem, meaning “House of Grain,” may well have seemed a remarkably fitting place for the terrestrial representative of Virgo and her newborn child to be, for Virgo was strongly associated with grain. From at least the first part of the first millennium BC, the Mesopotamians identified the constellation associated with Spica as AB.SIN (“the Furrow”). The astronomical compilation MUL.APIN, from around 1000 BC,105 stated that Spica was the goddess Shala’s ear of grain.106 The Babylonians portrayed this constellation as a virgin with a sprig of grain. Initially “the Furrow” referred only to half of the constellation we know as Virgo; the other half was called “the Frond,” which rose in advance of “the Furrow.” However, when these two constellations were combined into one (probably around the time when the zodiacal band was divided up into twelve equal segments), the new unified constellation seems to have taken on the identity of “the Furrow,” including its close association with Spica and grain, although combining this with some of the traits of “the Frond.” The Greeks regarded Spica as the ear of grain in Virgo’s left hand.
Moreover, Babylonian astrologers referred to the zodiacal constellations as “houses.”107 Therefore the constellation Virgo was astronomically the “House of Grain,” just as, terrestrially, Bethlehem was the “House of Grain.”
We conclude, then, that Matthew’s account of the comet is perfectly consistent with what Revelation 12:1–5 reveals concerning the celestial sign marking Jesus’s birth: the cometary coma played the part of the baby Messiah in a celestial nativity play featuring Virgo as the Messiah’s mother. Back in their homeland, the Magi had seen the heavenly Virgin with her divine baby in the celestial House of Grain. Then, at the climax of their journey west to Judea, they saw on the earth the Virgin Mary with baby Jesus in the terrestrial House of Grain. In addition, at this same time the Magi witnessed the comet as a whole looking like a scepter.
Summary
We suggest, then, based on our study of Revelation 12:1–5 and our fresh analysis of Matthew 1:18–2:12, that while the Virgin Mary was giving birth to Jesus in Bethlehem, the zodiacal constellation figure Virgo was giving birth to a cometary baby.108
What we have preserved in Revelation 12:1–5 is a series of astronomical observations from 6 BC.
The heavenly birth was the climax of the year-plus cometary apparition. It was also the culmination of a pregnancy that had been apparent from the moment that a cometary baby was observed in Virgo’s womb as she heliacally rose, emerging in the eastern predawn sky.109 The cometary coma would initially have looked small in her belly, but over the following weeks, as the comet approached Earth, the “baby” would have become larger and larger, just like a fetus in its mother’s womb. In due course, it descended within Virgo until it made it seem that she was in labor.110 Then, when the coma-baby had fully emerged from its mother’s womb, it was “born.” Revelation implies that this celestial birth coincided with the birth of the Messiah to the terrestrial virgin, Mary. At that time the comet as a whole may well also have formed a massive celestial scepter that stretched from the eastern to the western horizon and seemed to rest on Israel in the west.
According to the New Testament, after the comet completed its time in the eastern sky and crossed to the west, it proceeded to guide the Magi to the place where the terrestrial virgin mother and her child were located. While the Messiah’s Star at its rising had revealed to the Magi the fact, time, and manner of his birth, it subsequently turned into a massive celestial pointer, disclosing to them precisely where the baby Messiah was located. The comet that had played the part of Virgo’s messianic baby in the celestial play eventually led the Magi right to the virgin and her special baby!
The Biblical account suggests that, as the Magi entered the house in Bethlehem, they finally saw on the earth what they had seen in the heavens less than 1½ months beforehand: the virgin with her newborn child.111 Their divine mission was now complete. Heaven and earth were united.
The Interpretation of the Celestial Drama
What interpretation were the Magi to give to the remarkable celestial phenomenon in the eastern sky? Those operating on the faulty assumption that comets were always interpreted as negative omens might judge that ancient astrologers would necessarily have concluded that a terrible curse was about to befall pregnant women in general or perhaps one particular pregnant woman or a royal dynasty.112 However, while such an interpretation was theoretically possible, the image of Virgo being pregnant with a child at her heliacal rising and then going on to have a full pregnancy was more susceptible to a positive interpretation than most cometary apparitions. The presumably baby shape of the cometary coma, coupled with its growth and downward, birth-like movement would have confirmed that this particular sign should be interpreted more joyfully. The only plausible explanation was that the heavens were signaling that a wonderful natal event was transpiring somewhere on the earth around that time. Together with the scepter-like form of the comet as a whole, it suggested that the birth of someone destined to be a mighty king was being heralded.
We can perhaps go further. This astronomical wonder might naturally have been interpreted in light of the broader sequence of celestial events. Back on September 15, 6 BC, the Sun had been located in the region of Virgo’s womb. Subsequently, as Virgo rose heliacally in the eastern sky and the presence of a gloriously bright cometary coma in her womb was detected, this may well have prompted onlookers to interpret the Sun’s role on September 15 as being that of God begetting his divine Son within the celestial Virgin. That is, Virgo clothed with the Sun, and with the Moon under her feet, was liable to be regarded as the first scene in the celestial nativity drama relating to God’s Son. After the cometary baby moved out of Virgo’s womb and down through her birth canal and was born, it would then quickly have seemed to descend toward the horizon and the Sun, a phenomenon which, in context, was susceptible to the interpretation that this newborn king would be delivered from danger by God.113
Based on what they saw in the heavens, one can well understand why observers like the Magi would have concluded that an important birth was taking place at that very time, and indeed that the baby represented a great person who was being born right then to a terrestrial equivalent of Virgo, most naturally herself a virgin. The astrologers would also probably have come to the conclusion that this person’s father was the Most High God, and indeed that he himself was divine. Moreover, it is easy to see how the scepter-like form of the comet as a whole might have prompted them to believe that the baby would become a great ruler. Needless to say, observers would have been eager to know who the mysterious divine child was and where on the earth he was located.
Many pagans in the Greek, Roman, and ancient Near Eastern world in the first and second centuries BC thought of Virgo in terms of Isis, the consort of Osiris and mother of Horus. We recall that Teukros of Babylon reported that Virgo was understood by some of his contemporaries as Isis sitting on a throne, feeding her young son Hor
us. Moreover, the whole celestial story as it played out in September/October of 6 BC was reminiscent of the story of Isis’s pregnancy and delivery of Horus in the face of Seth-Typhon’s determined hostilities. However, the heavenly narrative was different at key points, and these differences challenged any attempt to read it in a thoroughgoing way through that paradigm. For one thing, it was not Osiris, god of the underworld and the dead, who was playing the role of the father of Virgo’s son. Nor was the Sun the son. Rather, the Sun seemed to be playing the role of the father of Virgo’s child. Nevertheless, this international combat myth did offer ancient Near Eastern observers a ready-made paradigm for interpreting the cometary drama in Virgo, one into which the story of the Messiah’s birth could be fitted.
While many ancients would have sought to make sense of what was transpiring in Virgo by resorting to Babylonian, Egyptian, and Greco-Roman religious ideas, the Magi were thoroughly convinced that the comet was the Messiah’s “star” and should be interpreted through the grid of the Hebrew Scriptures. They believed that it was the Messiah who would vanquish the forces of Chaos and would bring Order to the cosmos. Whether the Magi had some inkling of the Star’s messianic significance prior to its heliacal rising we do not know, but they certainly interpreted the wonders in the eastern sky as announcing the Messiah’s birth. We shall explore in the following chapter the particular prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures that provided them with the keys to understanding the heavenly sign. For now it is important to note that, having watched the cometary show in the morning sky and having become convinced that it was disclosing the birth of the Jewish Messiah, the Magi set off urgently for Jerusalem on a quest to find Virgo’s son and worship him. As they did so, they may well have felt concern that the great dragon, representing the forces of evil in the cosmos, was intent on attacking and killing the newborn king. Evidently Herod was a great actor, because the Magi had no idea that it was he who was playing the part of Hydra, determined enemy of Virgo and her son, until they were informed of his malign intentions in a dream.