The Great Christ Comet
Page 51
49 As Otto Neugebauer, A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy, 3 vols. (Berlin: Springer, 1975), 555, concluded.
50 Boiy, Babylon, 308–309.
51 Mark R. Kidger, The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer’s View (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), 29–30.
52 Colin J. Humphreys, “The Star of Bethlehem, a Comet in 5 B.C., and the Date of the Christ’s Birth,” Tyndale Bulletin 43 (1992): 34 and 48. See also idem, “The Star of Bethlehem—A Comet in 5 B.C.—And the Date of the Birth of Christ,” Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 32 (1991): 389–407; idem, “The Star of Bethlehem,” Science and Christian Belief 5 (1995): 83–101.
53 E.g., Kenneth D. Boa, “The Star of Bethlehem” (ThM thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1972), 34 (http://www.kenboa.org/downloads/pdf/TheStarofBethlehem.pdf, accessed March 12, 2013).
54 Even if one were to assume that the Magi’s joy marked the appearance of the Star as they embarked on their journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, that would hardly require that they had not seen it for the duration of their journey. The Eastern astrologers might conceivably have assumed that the Star, having led them to Judea, had done its job and would therefore no longer play a role in their pilgrimage.
55 Most modern scholars believe that the use of the singular phrase en tē anatolē should be rendered “at its rising.” However, a minority favor “in the east,” claiming that the preposition with the article can on rare occasions be used of compass directions, as in Hermas, Vis 1.4.1, 3. Furthermore, they point out that the singular form of anatolē can be used of “the east,” as in Rev. 21:13 and Hermas, Vis 1.4.1, 3, and as is common in Josephus (Friedrich Blass, Albert Debrunner, and R. W. Funk, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961], §141.2). They try to explain the change from the plural (anatolōn) in Matt. 2:1 to the singular (anatolē) in v. 2 as merely stylistic. Luz, Matthew 1–7, 128n1, states that it is awkward to assign different senses to anatolē in vv. 1 and 2 (although he does opt for the meaning “rising” rather than “east” here). However, the case for “at its rising” in v. 2 is stronger: (a) This meaning is more likely in an astronomical context. (b) The preposition with the article is only rarely used of compass directions (see Blass et al., Greek Grammar, §253.5). (c) The employment of the singular in v. 2 (en tē anatolē), in contrast to the plural form in v. 1 (apo anatolōn, “in the east”), suggests that the sense is different. Of course, whichever way we translate it, the phenomenon was probably seen in the east, since generally heliacal risings occur in the east (on “heliacal” risings, see note 57, and the accompanying main text). In the final analysis, “in the east” is possible, but “at its rising” is to be preferred.
56 For the nontechnical usage of anatolē referring to a heliacal rising, see the first-century BC Greek astronomer and mathematician Geminos’s Introduction to the Phaenomena 13.3–5. Note especially Introduction aux phénomènes, ed. and trans. Germaine Aujac (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1975), 68n1, which points out that, although Geminos insisted on using distinct terms for heliacal and daily risings and criticized others for employing them interchangeably, he actually did this himself on occasion, as did other astronomical writers, for example Autolykos (see James Evans and J. Lennart Berggren, Geminos’s Introduction to the Phenomena: A Translation and Study of a Hellenistic Survey of Astronomy [Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006], 70–71). Other instances of anatolē being used in the same nontechnical way as Matthew to refer to a heliacal rising include Homer, Odyssey 12:4; Plato, Politicus 269a; Euripides, Phoenissae 504; Testament of Levi 18:3; and Papyri Graecae Magicae 13:1027. The term for a heliacal rising preferred by Ptolemy was epitolē.
57 Cf. Clive L. N. Ruggles, Ancient Astronomy: An Encyclopedia of Cosmologies and Myth (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005), 398. For a contemporary Greco-Roman explanation of heliacal risings, see Geminos’s Introduction to the Phenomena 13.3, 5 and 9–10 (Evans and Berggren, Geminos’s Introduction, 200–201). For the importance of heliacal risings in Babylonian astronomy, see Rochberg, Babylonian Horoscopes, 6, 124. With respect to the Moon or a comet, a heliacal rising may also occur in the western evening sky, as the entity moves away from the Sun after being in conjunction with it. See the discussion in Courtney Roberts, The Star of the Magi: The Mystery That Heralded the Coming of Christ (Franklin, NJ: Career Press, 2007), 120–121.
58 By “inner solar system” I am referring to the area from the asteroid belt to the Sun. Some distinguished comets, like Hale-Bopp, are capable of heliacally rising also when in the “outer solar system” (i.e., the region from Neptune to Jupiter).
59 The Babylonian Diaries contain many records of the weather and reveal that, surprisingly often, astronomical observations were impossible due to clouds, rain, mist, and fog, and that frequently over a number of nights in a row observations of the stars were rendered impossible (Noel M. Swerdlow, The Babylonian Theory of the Planets [Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998], 17–18).
60 Among the many who have appreciated that a heliacal rising is in view here are: A. H. McNeile, The Gospel according to St. Matthew: Greek Text with Introduction, Notes, and Indices (London: Macmillan, 1915), 15; W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, 3 vols., International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1988–1997), 1:235–236; Kidger, Star of Bethlehem, 27; J. Neville Birdsall, in Owen Gingerich, “Review Symposium: The Star of Bethlehem,” Journal of Biblical Literature 33 (2002): 391, 393, 394; Tim Hegedus, Early Christianity and Ancient Astrology (New York: Peter Lang, 2007), 202; and Richard Coates, “A Linguist’s Angle on the Star of Bethlehem,” Astronomy and Geophysics 49.5 (October 2008): 28.
61 Brown, Birth of the Messiah, 173. The “ecliptic” is the apparent path of the Sun through the sky. The “zodiac” in astronomy refers to the band of sky around the ecliptic through which the Sun, Moon, and planets appear to traverse. The zodiacal constellations are the 13 constellations through which the ecliptic passes. On the ecliptic and the zodiacal constellations, see fig. 7.12. The vast majority of constellations fall outside the zodiac. Zodiacal signs—fixed 30-degree geometric zones of the ecliptical band—should not be confused with zodiacal constellations, which are star groupings of unequal sizes.
62 Matthew employs en plus the dative in a general time reference in, for example, 3:1; 11:25; 12:1 and 14:1. In Luke 14:14 Jesus states that eschatological rewards will be dispensed “at the resurrection” (en tē anastasei), and in 20:33 the Sadducees ask whose wife the woman who was married to the seven brothers will be “at the resurrection” (en tē anastasei). In each case the temporal en-phrase is used generally of the period that begins with the resurrection. “At its rising” in Matt. 2:2 could be regarded as synecdoche (a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole, or vice versa) for the entire period during which the Star was in the eastern sky; cf. Matt. 5:45, where the Sun’s rising represents its shining during its entire daily course through the sky.
63 Rochberg, Babylonian Horoscopes, 15.
64 Ibid., 1–2, 33–39.
65 Ibid., 33.
66 Ibid., 3.
67 Ibid., 7.
68 Ibid., 11, 39–45.
69 Ibid., 14.
70 Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1988), §53.56.
71 See, for example, Matt. 4:9–10; 14:33; 28:9, 17; so H. Greeven, “proskuneō,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, 10 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–1976), 6:763–764; Davies and Allison, Matthew, 1:236–237; John P. Meier, Matthew, New Testament Message (Dublin: Veritas, 1980), 11.
72 David L. Turner, Matthew, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 81.
73 Davies and Allison, Matthew, 1:236–237, 248. They also argue that Matthew, in his redaction, tends to use the word only with reference to God (237).
74 E.g., Josephus, Ant. 16.10.2 §311.
75 See Josephus, Ant. 15–17; Harold W. Hoehner, Herod Antipas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972), 269–276; Peter Richardson, Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996), 33–36; Jerry Knoblet, Herod the Great (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2005), 133–138.
76 Richardson, Herod, 295, who qualifies his statement by pointing out that Herod took a more tolerant approach to the Essene movement.
77 Notably, when speaking to the Magi, Herod claimed to hold to a high Christology (“that I too may come and worship him”), evidently because his Eastern visitors did (v. 8).
78 Richardson, Herod, 295.
79 Blomberg, Matthew, 63; R. A. Horsley, The Liberation of Christmas: The Infancy Narratives in Social Context (New York: Crossroad, 1989), 49–52; and Turner, Matthew, 81.
80 So, for example, Kenneth Boa and William Proctor, The Return of the Star of Bethlehem: Comet, Stellar Explosion, or Signal from Above? (New York: Doubleday, 1980), 24, 38.
81 Cf. Kidger, Star of Bethlehem, 29.
82 Brown, Birth of the Messiah, 175.
83 My translation.
84 Incidentally, Luke 2:4–5 informs us that Jesus’s legal father, Joseph, was forced to go with his betrothed to Bethlehem for a census because “he was of the house and lineage of David.”
85 At the same time, Micah seems to portray Israel/Zion as being in labor and giving birth to the Messiah.
86 Davies and Allison, Matthew, 1:244.
87 See Carson, “Matthew,” 115.
88 R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007), 73.
89 Cf. Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2006), 40.
90 Most scholars appreciate that Herod had already concocted his plan to assassinate the newborn Messiah (so, for example, Luz, Matthew 1–7, 136; Carson, “Matthew,” 115).
91 My translation.
92 Brown, Birth of the Messiah, 175.
93 As we shall see, when the Magi saw the Star, it was in the southern sky (the direction of Bethlehem from Jerusalem) and hence at its culmination (the highest point of a celestial body’s nightly path across the sky). That rules out the possibility that the Star had been below the horizon before the Magi saw it. If skies were clear, in the hours before it was seen by the Magi the Star must have been in the dome of the sky but below the threshold for easy daytime visibility. Accordingly, assuming clear skies, the Star must have appeared around sunset.
94 The secret summoning of the Magi has been interpreted by some scholars (e.g., Robert H. Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on His Handbook for a Mixed Church under Persecution, 2nd ed. [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994], 30; Luz, Matthew 1–7, 137) as disclosing that the meeting occurred under cover of darkness. However, secretive behavior is not restricted to the deep darkness of night.
95 The main Jerusalem-to-Hebron (north-south) road, the Way to Ephrath, was the obvious choice for travelers heading from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. When the Star guided the Magi to Bethlehem, it must have been moving toward the south-southwest.
96 Although the verb histēmi can mean “stop” when the subject has previously been moving, here, where it is followed by the preposition epanō (“over”), the most natural meaning is “stood over,” without any necessary nuance of cessation of movement (see “came and stood over,” KJV, ASV, NASB; contra ESV, RSV, NRSV, NIV, NET). Note that Josephus, J.W. 6.5.3 (§289) refers to a sword-like star that “stood over the city” of Rome, using the same verb with the preposition huper (“over”).
97 Carson, “Matthew,” 115.
98 Hagner, Matthew, 1:30, who goes on to say that if the Star was an astronomical phenomenon, v. 9 would have to be regarded as “romantic myth” or a theological touch.
99 Hughes, Star of Bethlehem Mystery, 20–21.
100 France, Gospel of Matthew, 74; cf. Gundry, Matthew, 31.
101 So, for example, Hughes, Star of Bethlehem Mystery, 22.
102 My translation. It is regrettable that some modern English translations treat the Greek participle “coming” as redundant (e.g., NIV; NET).
103 E.g., Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 41.
104 E.g., France, Gospel of Matthew, 74.
105 Luz, Matthew 1–7, 137.
106 Davies and Allison, Matthew, 1:248.
107 See W. W. Müller, “Frankincense,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. D. N. Freedman, 6 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 2:854.
108 Davies and Allison, Matthew, 1:249; Victor Matthews, “Perfumes and Spices,” in Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 5:226–227.
109 Nabataea, through which travelers taking a reasonably direct route from Babylon to Jerusalem would have passed, was a major hub for international trade in gold and especially frankincense and myrrh (Diodorus Siculus 19.94.5; Strabo 17.1.13).
110 Frankincense and myrrh were the costliest spices in the Near East (Müller, “Frankincense,” 2:854).
111 Did the Magi inform Joseph of their warning dream, exposing Herod’s scheme and putting Joseph on high alert in the brief period leading up to his own dream?
112 See chapter 1, note 24.
113 Hauerwas, Matthew, 41; and Turner, Matthew, 78.
114 For a successful defense of the historical credibility of Luke’s account of the Presentation of Jesus at the temple (Luke 2:22–24), see Richard Bauckham, “Luke’s Infancy Narrative as Oral History in Scriptural Form,” in The Gospels: History and Christology: The Search of Joseph Ratzinger–Benedict XVI, ed. Bernardo Estrada, Ermenegildo Manicardi, and Armand Puig i Tàrrech, vol. 1 (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013), 399–417.
115 Davies and Allison, Matthew, 1:245.
116 Those following a lunar calendar of twelve months (with years totaling about 354 days) must add a leap month every few years to get it back into sync with the 365-day solar year.
117 Note Davies and Allison, Matthew, 1:244; Davies and Allison suggest that the assumption being made by Herod is that the Star’s first appearance occurred at the time of the birth of the child.
Chapter 4: “What Star Is This?”
1 If you download planetarium software, you will be able to discover what the sky looked like at any particular moment in history, even thousands of years ago. Those unfamiliar with astronomy are often taken aback by this fact. But when we remember that all the celestial bodies, including Earth, the Moon, the stars, and the planets, operate by well-understood set laws and regularities, it makes sense.
2 David W. Hughes, The Star of Bethlehem Mystery (London: J. M. Dent, 1979); and Simo Parpola, “The Magi and the Star: Babylonian Astronomy Dates Jesus’ Birth,” in The First Christmas: The Story of Jesus’ Birth in History and Tradition, ed. Sara Murphy (Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society, 2009), 13–24; cf. A. Strobel, “Weltenjahr, große Konjunktion und Messiasstern, Ein themageschichtlicher Überblick,” Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt 2.20.2 (1987): 988–1187. Jeanne K. Hanson, The Star of Bethlehem: The History, Mystery, and Beauty of the Christmas Star (New York: Hearst, 1994), 51–55, also takes this view.
3 See Mark R. Kidger, The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer’s View (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), 202; and especially Parpola, “Magi and the Star,” 21–23.
4 Calculations were done on planetarium software, specifically Starry Night® Pro 6.4.3, Simulation Curriculum Corporation, 11900 Wayzata Blvd, Suite 126, Minnetonka, MN 55305, http://astronomy.starrynight.com. For more on the conjunctions, see Hughes, Star of Bethlehem Mystery, 139; U. Holzmeister, �
�La stella dei Magi,” Civiltà Cattolica 93 (1942): 12–15. “Degree” and “arcminute” are astronomical measurements. A circle is 360 degrees. From the horizon to directly above your head (the zenith) is 90 degrees. There are 60 arcminutes in 1 degree.
5 Hughes, Star of Bethlehem Mystery, 131.
6 Ibid., 213–214.
7 Ulrich Luz, Matthew 1–7: A Continental Commentary, trans. Wilhelm C. Linss (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1989), 132, comments that the triple conjunction hypothesis is a reasonable candidate for the Star of Bethlehem because Jupiter could be regarded as the Star of royalty, and Saturn as the Star of Sabbath and the Jews. He refers in a footnote (132n25) to Albinus Tibullus 1.3.18; Tacitus, Hist. 5.4; Sextus Julius Frontinus, Strategemata 2.1.17, ed. Gotthold Gundermann (Leipzig: Teubner, 1888); and Cassius Dio 37.17–18.
8 Ethelbert Stauffer, Jesus and His Story (New York: Knopf, 1960), 36–37; Parpola, “Magi and the Star,” 20.
9 Parpola (ibid., 18) wrongly claims that Jupiter is the “brightest planet.” That distinction belongs to Venus. At the time of the second conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC, Venus was almost two magnitudes brighter than Jupiter.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid., 19.
14 It seems to me, however, that during the second conjunction this description is not particularly appropriate.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid., 18.
17 Hughes, Star of Bethlehem Mystery, 220. It is, however, worth noting that the acronychal risings of Jupiter and Saturn probably did not occur on the same day or as late as September 15 in 7 BC.
18 Parpola, “Magi and the Star,” 23.