The Great Christ Comet

by The Great Christ Comet- Revealing the True Star of Bethlehem (retail) (epub)

  110 On this note, it is interesting that in Luke 1:78–79 Zechariah, at the birth of John the Baptist, prophesied that, on account of God’s tender mercy, “the rising [star]” (not “sunrise,” contra ESV and many English versions) (anatolē; cf. Matt. 2:2, 9) shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” This striking prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah draws heavily on astronomical imagery, particularly from Isa. 9:2. As I. Howard Marshall (The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 1984], 94–95) points out, although anatolē could be used by metonymy for “the rising Sun,” it could equally refer to a rising celestial body other than the Sun. He observes that here, where its second intended meaning is “Shoot” or “Branch,” alluding to Isaiah’s oracle concerning the Messiah’s coming (Isa. 11:1ff.; cf. LXX Jer. 23:5; Zech. 3:8; 6:12; Testament of Judah 24:1, 6), the rising entity is probably the rising “star” prophesied by Balaam (Num. 24:17). Astronomically, what Luke writes in Luke 1:78–79 seems most compatible with an extremely bright comet that rises and shines into the heart of darkness. Observe that the “rising” entity will “visit us from on high.” Visiting from on high most naturally suggests descent. Stars that rise keep rising. However, like inferior planets (Mercury and Venus), many comets descend after rising, and certainly the comet that announced Jesus’s birth did—it rose within Virgo and then descended to be born. On anatolē here being double entendre, see, for example, François Bovon, Das Evangelium nach Lukas, Evangelisch-Katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament, 3 vols. (Zurich: Benziger, 1989–2001), 1:109; Darrell L. Bock, Proclamation from Prophecy and Pattern: Lucan Old Testament Christology (Sheffield: JSOT, 1987), 73; Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, Sacra Pagina (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1991), 47. It is also just possible to detect in anatolē a quiet allusion to the palm branch in Virgo’s right hand. Incidentally, the Christ Comet would have been visible by this time, but its heliacal rising (and the birth of the Messiah) was still some months off (note the future tense: “the rising [star] shall visit”).

  111 In the light of our findings in this chapter, representations of Mary as Virgo in Christian history (on which see Wilhelm Gundel, “Parthenos,” in Paulys Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft 18.4 [Stuttgart: Druckmüller, 1949], 1936–1957) do not seem inappropriate.

  112 Cf. Richard Hinckley Allen, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (New York: G. E. Stechert, 1899), 465, who claimed that Pliny “said that the appearance of a comet within [Virgo’s] borders implied many grievous ills to the female portion of the population.” To the best of my knowledge, Pliny said no such thing.

  113 In the Israelite tradition Yahweh is portrayed as “the sun of righteousness” with “healing in its wings” (Mal. 4:2; cf. Ps. 139:9). On Yahweh as the Sun, see Num. 6:24–26; Ps. 84:11; 1 Sam. 6:9, 12–21 (note Beth-shemesh, “House of the Sun”); and 2 Sam. 23:3–4. On the portrayal of Yahweh in terms of the Sun, see Karel van der Toorn, “Sun,” in Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 6:237–239; M. S. Smith, “The Near Eastern Background of Solar Language for Yahweh,” Journal of Biblical Literature 109 (1990): 29–39. In an astronomical drama, the Sun is the most natural candidate to play the role of God.

  Chapter 8: “With Royal Beauty Bright”

  1 My translation.

  2 For example, Donald A. Hagner, Matthew, 2 vols., Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, 1993–1995), 1:27.

  3 The discovery in 1967 of the Deir ‘Alla Inscription in Jordan from the eighth century BC confirmed that “Balaam son of Beor” was revered as a renowned seer in the Jordan Valley at that point and strengthened the case for regarding him as a historical figure. See especially P. Kyle McCarter Jr., “The Balaam Texts from Deir ‘Alla: The First Combination,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 239 (1980): 49–60.

  4 See chapter 6, note 44.

  5 So also the Good News Bible: Today’s English Version, 2nd ed. (New York: American Bible Society, 1992), 187 (“Like a comet he will come from Israel”). Hans-Jürgen Zobel, “šēḇeṭ,” in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. 14, ed. G. J. Botterweck, H. Ringgren, and H.-J. Fabry (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 2004), 305, comments: “Since the term šēḇeṭ parallels ‘star’ (kôḵāḇ) here, Berend Gemser offered the attractive suggestion that one understand šēḇeṭ as ‘comet’ (BHS: stella crinata) (Berend Gemser, “Der Stern aus Jacob [Num. 24.17],” Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 43 [1925]: 301–302).” While acknowledging that Num. 24:17 is referring to a comet, it seems preferable to me to maintain the formal translation “scepter.”

  6 Timothy R. Ashley, The Book of Numbers, New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 1993), 503.

  7 11QMelch 11:4–9; cf. 1QSb 5:27–28; 4QTest 9–13. Translation from Craig A. Evans, Jesus and His Contemporaries: Comparative Studies (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 71.

  8 Damascus Document (CD) 7:18–21. Translation from ibid., 87–88.

  9 De praemiis et poenis 16 §95 (my translation).

  10 As cited by Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 106.5–6.

  11 See A. P. Hayman, ed. The Old Testament in Syriac, According to the Peshitta Version: Numbers (Leiden: Brill, 1991), 78.

  12 Kevin J. Cathcart, “Numbers 24:17 in Ancient Translations and Interpretations,” in The Interpretation of the Bible: The International Symposium in Slovenia, ed. J. Krašovec (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998), 512–513. Cf. B. Grossfield, The Targum Onqelos to Leviticus and Numbers, The Aramaic Bible (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1988), 138–139.

  13 Martin McNamara, Targum Neofiti 1: Numbers, The Aramaic Bible (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1995), 140.

  14 Evans, Jesus and His Contemporaries, 71.

  15 Ibid., 71–72.

  16 For portrayals of Bar Kokhba in Jewish rabbinical sources, see Richard G. Marks, The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature: False Messiah and National Hero (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994), 14–18, 20–56. Some Jewish traditions claim that the name was inspired by the similarity of Simon’s name (which was taken to be Koziba) and the Hebrew word for “star” (kokhba).

  17 H. C. Kee, “Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,” in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth, 2 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1983), 1:801. Many believe that this chapter reflects a Christian perspective (see, for example, J. J. Collins, The Scepter and the Star: The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature, 2nd ed. [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 2010], 91; 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], 1:234).

  18 Kee, “Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,” 794. On the allegedly Christian nature of this statement, see Cathcart, “Numbers 24:17,” 516.

  19 For some rabbinical interpretations of Num. 24:17, see Marks, Bar Kokhba, 18–20.

  20 On the messianic interpretation of Num. 24:17, see Martin McNamara, “Early Exegesis in the Palestinian Targum (Neofiti 1) Numbers Chapter 24,” Proceedings of the Irish Biblical Association 16 (1993): 57–79; idem, Targum Neofiti 1, 140; Cathcart, “Numbers 24:17,” 511–519.

  21 For more on early Christian interpretation of Num. 24:17, see Jean Daniélou, Primitive Christian Symbols, trans. Donald Attwater (London: Burns & Oates, 1964), 102–123. 2 Pet. 1:19 is also heavily dependent on Isa. 8:11–22.

  22 Cf. Rev. 2:26–28: vv. 26–27 draw on Ps. 2:9, and Rev. 2:28 draws on Num. 24:17.

  23 Dialogue with Trypho 106:5–6. Translation from The Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325, vol. 2, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1868), 233. See
also Dialogue with Trypho 126:1; and First Apology 32:12–13.

  24 Adversus Haereses 3.9.2–3; and Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 58.

  25 Contra Celsum 1:60 (my translation).

  26 Homilies on Numbers 13.7. Origen also reflected a new development in the tradition, namely the idea that Balaam was highly respected by the Mesopotamian Magi and indeed was a founding figure of the Magian community; Origen maintained that the Magi had the text of all of Balaam’s oracles, including Num. 24:17 (Homilies on Numbers 13.7; cf. Eusebius, Demonstratio Evangelica 9.1).

  27 As Joachim Gnilka, Das Matthäusevangelium, 2 vols., Herders theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament (Freiburg: Herder, 1986–1992), 1:41, comments, for Matthew the coming of the Magi to Jesus anticipates the eschatological reign of the Messiah over the world. In my opinion, the Magi themselves probably acted out of this same paradigm.

  28 Ahaz’s subsequent appeal to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, is recorded in 2 Kings 16:6–9.

  29 Most scholars accept that at least the core of Isaiah 7–8 is attributable to the prophet Isaiah during the Syro-Ephraimite Crisis. Many are willing to concede that all or most of it should be assigned to him. My own study suggests that the whole of Isaiah 7–12 is a unity and was composed by Isaiah son of Amoz during the Syro-Ephraimite Crisis. For a defense of Isaiah 7–12’s unity, see John N. Oswalt, “The Significance of the ‘Almah Prophecy in the Context of Isaiah 7–12,” Criswell Theological Review 6.2 (1993): 223–235. According to John H. Hayes and Stuart Irvine (Isaiah the Eighth-Century Prophet: His Times and His Preaching [Nashville: Abingdon, 1987], 13), virtually all of Isaiah 1–39 “derives from the eighth-century B.C.E. prophet,” and chapters 7–12 were written at the time of the Syro-Ephraimite Crisis.

  30 See Stuart A. Irvine, Isaiah, Ahaz, and the Syro-Ephraimite Crisis (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), 107.

  31 Martin Buber, Der Glaube der Propheten (Zürich: Conzett & Huber, 1950), 201.

  32 It is generally reckoned to be his second, Maher-shalal-hash-baz—so, for example, Robert H. Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on His Handbook for a Mixed Church under Persecution, 2nd ed. [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 1994], 25; John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, 2 vols., New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 1986–1998), 1:207–213; Walter Mueller, “A Virgin Shall Conceive,” Evangelical Quarterly 32 (1960): 206; and Herbert M. Wolf, “A Solution to the Immanuel Prophecy in Isaiah 7:14–8:22,” Journal of Biblical Literature 91 (1972): 449–456.

  33 E.g., Walter C. Kaiser, “The Promise of Isaiah 7:14 and the Single-Meaning Hermeneutic,” Evangelical Journal 6 (1988): 64.

  34 E.g., John H. Walton, “Isaiah 7:14: What’s in a Name?,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 30 (1987): 289–297.

  35 E.g., John Calvin, Calvin’s Bible Commentaries: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Part 1, trans. William Pringle (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1845), 99–102; idem, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah—Volume 1, trans. William Pringle (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1850), 244–249; Donald A. Carson, “Matthew,” in Expositor’s Bible Commentary, rev. ed., ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 9 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 104–105.

  36 Of course, the fact that the “sign” is a response to Ahaz’s rebellion (7:12–13) and is expressly directed at “you” (plural), namely, the Davidic house, favors a fulfillment in the near future.

  37 Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah: A Commentary, Old Testament Library (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2000), 66; Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah: A Commentary, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 1965), 1:287.

  38 Walton, “Isaiah 7:14,” 292; Paul Wegner, An Examination of Kingship and Messianic Expectation in Isaiah 1–35 (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1992), 110.

  39 As R. Dick Wilson, “The Meaning of ‘Almah (A.V. ‘Virgin’) in Isaiah VII. 14,” Princeton Theological Review 24 (1926): 316, put it, “the presumption in common law and usage was and is, that every ‘almâ is a virgin, until she is proven not to be.”

  40 Wolf, “Solution,” 450.

  41 The Hebrew word netser seems to be a wordplay on “Nazareth.” This wordplay is recognized by Matthew in Matt. 2:23. It seems to presuppose that the village existed in the prophet’s day and indeed was called Nazareth at that time. There is evidence of habitation there in the Bronze and Iron Ages and in the period running up to Tiglath-pileser’s devastating invasion of Galilee in 733 BC (2 Kings 15:29), which transpired very shortly after Isaiah delivered his prophetic oracles of chapters 7–12 (for an imminent announcement of Galilee’s doom, see Isa. 9:1). Thereafter the site seems to have been unoccupied until the third century BC (James F. Strange, “Nazareth,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. D. N. Freedman, 6 vols. [New York: Doubleday, 1992], 4:1051). Of course, it later became the hometown of Mary and Joseph and Jesus.

  42 The king’s decision to begin worshiping the gods of Syria is difficult to explain in the aftermath of the Assyrian campaign against Syria and Israel. If, however, he had been seeking to secure their aid against the Syrians during the Syro-Ephraimite Crisis, the Assyrian campaign against Syria would have confirmed his faith in the Syrian divinities rather than undermining it. I note that Josephus represented Ahaz as beginning his worship of the gods of Syria “even when he was at war with [the Syrians]” (Ant. 9.12.3 [§255]). The fact that Ahaz gave the instruction for a model of the altar of Ben-Hadad in Damascus to be constructed and put in the place of the altar of burnt offering of the Jerusalem temple at the time of his meeting with Tiglath-pileser in 732/731 BC (2 Kings 16:10–16) is consistent with this interpretation.

  43 See especially Martin Rösel, “Die Jungfrauengeburt des endzeitlichen Immanuel. Jesaja 7 in der Übersetzung der Septuaginta,” Jahrbuch für Biblische Theologie 6 (1991): 135–151. Also W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, Matthew, Anchor Bible (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971), 8; Hagner, Matthew, 1:20; Craig Blomberg, “Matthew,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007), 4. Even though Rodriga F. de Sousa, Eschatology and Messianism in LXX Isaiah 1–12 (New York: T. & T. Clark, 2010), 70–102, rejects the idea that the translation parthenos reflected a high Christology on the part of the LXX translator, he does think that there are other indications in LXX Isa. 7:14–16 that are consistent with a messianic reading of this passage. For a general discussion of the history of interpretation of this controversial verse in the early centuries AD, see Adam Kamesar, “The Virgin of Isaiah 7:14: The Philological Argument from the Second to the Fifth Century,” Journal of Theological Studies 41 (1990): 51–75.

  44 My translation.

  45 The importance of the bracketing of the Gospel by the Immanuel references of 1:23 and 28:20 has been appreciated by many scholars: e.g., W. C. van Unnik, “Dominus Vobiscum: The Background of a Liturgical Formula,” in New Testament Essays, ed. A. J. B. Higgins (Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1959), 287, 293; and Gunther Bornkamm, “The Risen Lord and the Earthly Jesus: Matthew 28:16–20,” in The Future of Our Religious Past, ed. J. Robinson (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 203–229.

  46 See, for example, Ulrich Luz, Matthew 1–7: A Continental Commentary, trans. Wilhelm C. Linss (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1989), 121–22 (who also states that “Allusions to God’s being-with-us permeate the whole Gospel [17:17; 18:20; 26:29]”); and J. D. Kingsbury, Matthew as Story, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 41–42, who writes,

  The key passages 1:23 and 28:20, which stand in a reciprocal relationship to each other, highlight this message. At 1:23, Matthew quotes Isaiah in saying of Jesus: in “Emmanuel . . . God [is] with us.” And at 28:20 the risen Jesus himself declares to the disciples: “I am with you always, to the close of the age.” Strategically located at the beginning and the end of Matthew’s story, these two passages “enclose” it. In combination, they reveal the message of
Matthew’s story: In the person of Jesus Messiah, his Son, God has drawn near to abide to the end of time with his people, the church, thus inaugurating the eschatological age of salvation. (italics his)

  47 Especially as represented by the Septuagint. See I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 1984), 66.

  48 The relevance of Isaiah 1–12 for Luke 2:12 may also be demonstrated by the fact that the sign consists of a baby in a manger. This appears to be based on Isa. 1:3: “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” The angel seems to be implying that the messianic identity of the newborn baby would be demonstrated to the shepherds by the facts that the bed of this newborn infant still wrapped in swaddling clothes was literally a feeding trough and that he shared a room with animals. Is the angel claiming that Isaiah had been prophesying about the circumstances of the newborn Messiah in Isa. 1:3?