The Great Christ Comet
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49 Dialogue with Trypho 33. Translation from Ante-Nicene Christian Library, 35–36.
50 Dialogue with Trypho 66. Translation from Ante-Nicene Christian Library, 178–179.
51 Dialogue with Trypho 43. Translation from Ante-Nicene Christian Library, 142.
52 Those who acknowledge Revelation’s echo of Isa. 7:14 here include J. Massyngberde Ford, Revelation: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary, Anchor Bible (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975), 195; Brian K. Blount, Revelation: A Commentary, New Testament Library (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2009), 227; and G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 631.
53 Franz Boll, Aus der Offenbarung Johannis: hellenistische Studien zum Weltbild der Apokalypse (Leipzig and Berlin: Teubner, 1914), 121–123, stressed the importance of Isa. 7:14 (LXX) for early Christians’ Christology and for the interpretation of Revelation 12. However, he drove a wedge between Matthew and Revelation, claiming that the first Gospel reflects a strictly terrestrial interpretation of Isa. 7:14, taking it to refer to the Virgin Mary and Jesus, in contrast to Revelation 12, which, he maintained, reflects a celestial interpretation, taking it (creatively) to refer to the celestial Virgin and her divine Child. Boll did not appreciate that Rev. 12:1–5 is describing an astronomical sign that attended the Messiah’s birth and was perceived to disclose the nature and significance of the terrestrial moment and in particular to intimate that what was transpiring on the earth was bringing to fulfillment Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the Messiah’s virginal conception.
54 Note how the Targum of Isaiah renders v. 11: “Request a sign from Yahweh your God, that a great wonder may be done for you on earth or that a sign may be shown to you in the heavens” (cf. Bruce Chilton, The Isaiah Targum [Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1987], 16; C. W. H. Pauli, trans., The Chaldee Paraphrase on the Prophet Isaiah [London: London Society’s House, 1871], 23).
55 James Evans, The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 39.
56 MUL.APIN, a Babylonian astronomical text from around 1000 BC, identifies the constellation Furrow (which, together with the Frond, occupied the part of the sky that became known as Virgo) with the virgin goddess Shala (meaning “maiden”). A Babylonian line drawing from the Seleucid-era Uruk portrays the Furrow as a virgin holding an ear of grain (Louvre Museum, item AO 6448; see fig. 7.2). See H. van der Waerden, Science Awakening II (Leyden, Netherlands: Noordhoff, 1974), 81 plate 11c, 125, 288; F. Thureau-Dangin, Tablettes d’Uruk à l’usage des prêtres du Temple d’Anu au temps des Séleucides (Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1922), no. 14.
57 It is widely agreed that these verses belong to the period of the Syro-Ephraimite Crisis. The fact that Isaiah is here issuing advance warning that there would be no fresh revelation or signs during the period of Assyria’s conquest of Syria and Israel and the regional superpower’s subsequent oppression of Judah mandates that the section be dated to 733 BC.
58 Hans Wildberger, Isaiah 1–12, trans. Thomas H. Trapp, Continental Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1991), 380–381.
59 Young, Book of Isaiah, 1:322, rightly comments with respect to this verse, “Only light can dispel the gloom of despair and desperation, but that light is not to be seen.”
60 That the Messiah’s birth is in view is patently obvious. Commenting on this section, Childs (Isaiah, 81) wrote the following: “The description of his reign makes it absolutely clear that his role is messianic. There is no end to his rule upon the throne of David, and he will reign with justice and righteousness forever. Moreover, it is the ardour of the Lord of Hosts who will bring this eschatological purpose to fulfillment. The language is not just that of a wishful thinking for a better time, but the confession of Israel’s belief in a divine ruler who will replace once and for all the unfaithful reign of kings like Ahaz.”
61 Since this subsection is very closely related to the preceding verses and is focused on the fate of Galilee in 733/732 BC, there can be no serious doubt that 9:1–7 stems from the prophet Isaiah during the Syro-Ephraimite Crisis (so, for example, Wildberger, Isaiah 1–12, 393; cf. M. E. W. Thompson, “Israel’s Ideal King,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 7 (1982): 79–88, although, while dating 9:1 to 732 BC, he assigns 9:2–7 to 731–723 BC).
62 Wildberger, Isaiah 1–12, 392.
63 That “Mighty God” signifies divinity is clear from 10:21, where it is used of Yahweh.
64 The “latter time” of the northern tribes’ glorification was certainly not the period after the Assyrian termination of the northern kingdom in 722–721 BC, when the land was desolate and in ruins.
65 Interestingly, M. E. W. Thompson, Situation and Theology: Old Testament Interpretations of the Syro-Ephraimite War (Sheffield: Almond Press, 1982), 14, came to a similar conclusion: “The ‘latter time’ spoken of in 8.23 [9:1 in English translations] . . . is a reference to the new situation to be brought about through the advent of the ruler spoken of in 9.1–6 [9:2–7]. . . . 8.23 [9:1] [is] the connecting verse used to apply the Isaianic oracle of 9.1–6 [i.e., 9:2–7], concerning the ideal Davidic king, to the situation in the lands of the northern kingdom after they had fallen to Tiglath-pileser III.”
66 Wildberger, Isaiah 1–12, 395.
67 Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis (Part 1) (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1989), 45 (“those that seem the biggest to us”).
68 Note that the great light associated with the Messiah’s coming shines during the night, when deep darkness holds sway. It cannot therefore be the Sun.
69 Marvin A. Sweeney, Isaiah 1–39, with an Introduction to Prophetic Literature, The Forms of the Old Testament Literature (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 183, states concerning 8:19–9:1 that “the contrasting images of light and darkness in this passage have defied adequate explanation.” When, however, the imagery is interpreted in light of Yahweh’s offer to do a celestial sign in 7:10–14, it can be readily explained.
70 A probably second- or third-century BC passage in the Sibylline Oracles refers to the Star in connection with the fulfillment of Isa. 7:14 by the virgin birth. According to Sib. Or. 1:323–324 (J. L. Lightfoot, The Sibylline Oracles [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007], 311),
When the heifer God the Highest’s word shall bear,
(323a)
The manless maid the Logos give a name.
(323b)
Then from the east a star in fullest day
(323c)
That brightly shines shall from the heavens beam
(323d)
Announcing a great sign for mortal men.
(323e)
Then God’s great son will come to humankind
(324)
Note the allusions to Isa. 7:14 (“shall bear,” “give a name,” and “sign”). In fact, the reference to the Star (lines c and d) is sandwiched between the strong allusions to Isa. 7:14 (lines a and b and line e).
71 Richard Beaton, “Isaiah in Matthew’s Gospel,” in Isaiah in the New Testament, ed. S. Moyise and M. J. J. Menken (London: Continuum, 2005), 67.
72 My translation of the Greek verb anatellō, which was used in 2:2 and 9 of the Star’s “rising.”
73 Gundry, Matthew, 60.
74 Frederick Dale Bruner, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 516–517.
75 David Mark Ball, “I Am” in John’s Gospel: Literary Function, Background, and Theological Implications (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), 221.
76 Bruner, Gospel of John, 516–517.
77 Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach about Jesus’s Birth (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), draw out how Matthew’s Nativity account is in some respects similar to John’s prologue: in Matthew’s account, “the uses of light and darkness . . . are t
hus many and rich. Jesus’s birth is the coming of light into the darkness. But the darkness seeks to extinguish the light (Herod’s plot to kill Jesus). Drawn to the light, wise men from the nations pay homage to Jesus. Jesus is the light of the nations. Thus Matthew’s story makes the point made in only slightly different language in John: ‘Jesus is the light of the world’” (184).
78 Ibid., 180 (italics theirs). Richard Bauckham, “The Qumran Community and the Gospel of John,” in The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty Years after Their Discovery: Proceedings of the Jerusalem Congress, July 20–25, 1997, ed. L. H. Schiffman, E. Tov, and J. C. Vanderkam (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2000), 113, writes that “John’s image of Christ as the light of the world is also, more directly, a form of messianic exegesis of prophecies in Isaiah. It reflects Isa. 9:1[2] ( . . . cf. John 1:5; 8:12; 12:35),” in addition to Isa. 42:6–7 and 49:6 (cf. John 9); and Isa. 60:1–3. According to Bauckham, together “These passages . . . readily supply the central Johannine image of the great light shining in the darkness of the world to give light to people, as well as the christological-soteriological significance which this image bears in the Fourth Gospel” (113).
79 It is interesting that John speaks of the light as “coming into the world” (1:9; compare what Jesus claims in 3:19), referring to Jesus’s incarnation and birth.
80 So Murray J. Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), 334; Craig S. Keener, 1–2 Corinthians, New Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 174. In favor of Isa. 9:1–2 being in mind is Paul’s use of the same Greek words as the Septuagint—“light,” “darkness,” and “shine”—and, in fact, the same Greek phrase (phōs lampsei).
81 When the Magi read Isa. 7:14 in light of the celestial sign, they may well have been more inclined to interpret Isaiah’s oracle as referring to the nonsexual conception of a virgin girl, since it was widely thought that Virgo was a pure virgin.
Chapter 9: “Lo, the Star Appeareth”
1 Note that this is not where Jesus was born, but where he was some weeks after his birth.
2 If the Magi journeyed across the desert from Judea back to their homeland, as seems to be suggested by Matt. 2:12, this would mandate that they had traveled across the desert by camel caravan from their homeland to Jerusalem. Otherwise they would have been ill-equipped to make the return journey through the desolate, inhospitable, and dangerous desert.
3 James K. Hoffmeier, Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 120.
4 “Based on comparative travel distances derived from ancient texts,” Hoffmeier, Ancient Israel in Sinai, 119–120, 143–144, concludes that ancient travelers generally traveled at 15–20 miles per day. The numbers suggested by scholars on this topic are all rather similar, although some are more conservative—H. Clay Trumbull, Kadesh-Barnea: Its Importance and Probable Site (Philadelphia: J. D. Wattles, 1895), 71–74, suggested 15–18 miles per day—and some are more liberal—Graham Davies, “The Significance of Deuteronomy 1:2 for the location of Mount Horeb,” Palestine Exploration Quarterly 111 (1979): 96, opts for 16–23 miles a day, while Barry Beitzel, “Travel and Communication (OT World),” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. D. N. Freedman, 6 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 6:646, suggests 17–23 miles per day.
5 My calculations suggest that the two cities are precisely 543 miles apart as the crow flies.
6 A camel caravan traveling 550 miles that was 15–18 miles closer to their destination at the end of an average day would have taken about 31–37 days, one that made average progress of 16–23 miles per day would have taken 24–35 days, and one advancing an average of 17–23 miles per day would have taken 24–33 days. Cf. Mark R. Kidger, The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer’s View (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), 260.
7 Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans; Livonia, MI: Dove, 1997), 10.
8 One gets a glimpse of ancient rules of hospitality in Judg. 19:1–9: when prevailed upon to stay with his concubine’s father, the Levite “remained with him three days. So they ate and drank and spent the night there. And on the fourth day they arose early in the morning, and he prepared to go” (vv. 4–5). However, the girl’s father persuaded him to remain his guest for a fourth day and night and then for a fifth day and night before the Levite finally declined to accept any further hospitality and so left on the sixth day.
9 By September 29/30, Virgo’s lower womb area would have been about 8–9 degrees from the Sun. A very bright coma would have been detectable at that distance from the Sun.
10 The predawn celestial announcement of Jesus’s birth is consistent with Luke’s record of the angelic birth announcement to the shepherds who were keeping watch over their flock “by night” (Luke 2:8). The angel made it clear that the Messiah had been born at that very time and would be lying in a manger when they found him in Bethlehem (v. 11).
11 Richard A. Parker and Waldo H. Dubberstein, Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C.—A.D. 75 (Providence, RI: Brown University Press, 1956), 45, whose formula is similar to the one employed by the Babylonians in their calculations, start the Babylonian month Tishratu on the evening of October 14, so that Tishratu 1 = October 15 in 6 BC. See the helpful work of Rita Gautschy, “Last and First Sightings of the Lunar Crescent,” at http://www.gautschy.ch/~rita/archast/mond/mondeng.html (last modified February 15, 2013), on first sightings of the new Moon in history, and especially her application of the “Yallop method” for different sites across the ancient Near East.
12 Ancient Bethlehem was located on a narrow ridge at a high altitude (over 2,500 feet above sea level) surrounded by valleys on all sides, stretching from east to west.
13 For a useful collection of calculated orbits of historical comets up to the eighteenth century AD, see the first volume of Gary W. Kronk, Cometography: A Catalog of Comets, 6 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999–).
14 Astronomers assume an eccentricity of 1.0 when observational data is limited or imprecise. We follow this standard practice. For our purposes, whether the eccentricity is 1.0 or a smidgeon above or below it has little bearing on the comet’s course around perihelion time. Note too that when a solar system object’s eccentricity is high and its inclination is close to 180 degrees, subtracting the argument of perihelion from the longitude of the ascending node gives us what can legitimately be reckoned the ecliptic “longitude of perihelion” (David Asher, personal email message to the author, May 8, 2013). The longitude of perihelion is essentially the angle between the First Point of Aries (the vernal equinox) and the point of perihelion (although, strangely, it encompasses measurements on two different planes). Different pairs of values for the argument of perihelion and longitude of the ascending node will produce essentially the same longitude of perihelion.
15 Calvin (Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Part 1, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom31.html [accessed April 5, 2013]), believed that the Magi arrived in Bethlehem in advance of Mary and Joseph’s temple visit.
16 The view that the Magi arrived in Judea after Mary and Joseph’s temple visit is held by many, including Robert H. Stein, Jesus the Messiah: A Survey of the Life of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 53; Darrell L. Bock, Luke 1:1–9:50, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1994), 235; idem, Jesus according to Scripture: Restoring the Portrait from the Gospels (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2002), 68–71.
17 The fact that during the second half of their journey from Babylon to Jerusalem through the Syrian Desert they would have passed through the Harra, a basalt boulder-strewn region, could help explain a slower rate of progress. Lady Anne Blunt and her husband traveled through part of the Harra in December 1878 and recalled that it was slow going. For example, she mentioned that at
the end of one day their camel caravan ended up “barely twelve miles from where we began” (Anne Blunt, A Pilgrimage to Nejd, the Cradle of the Arab Race, 2nd ed., 2 vols. [London: John Murray, 1881], 1:69). Later she stated that “That black wilderness had become like a nightmare with its horrible boulders and little tortuous paths, which prevented the camels from doing more than about two miles an hour” (75). By contrast, the first half of the Magi’s journey would have been through the Hamad, an area of open desert plains through which faster progress might be expected.
18 Assuming that the Judeans inserted an intercalary month in the late winter/early spring of 7 BC to ensure that the Passover fell shortly after the vernal equinox. The Babylonians inserted their intercalary month in the spring of 6 BC.
19 Richard Schmude, Comets and How to Observe Them (New York: Springer, 2010), 16–17.
20 Ibid., 7 table 1.2.
21 David Seargent, Sungrazing Comets: Snowballs in the Furnace (Kindle Digital book, Amazon Media, 2012).
22 See Schmude, Comets and How to Observe Them, 20–21, esp. fig. 1.25; also 28–29, including figs. 1.32 and 1.33; cf. John C. Brandt and Robert D. Chapman, Introduction to Comets, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 75 fig. 2.7.
23 Martin Mobberley, Hunting and Imaging Comets (Berlin: Springer, 2011), 167–168.
24 Kronk, Cometography, 2:326.
25 Schmude, Comets and How to Observe Them, 39–40; Robert Burnham, Great Comets (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 103.
26 Schmude, Comets and How to Observe Them, 39–40, including table 1.10.