December 2007 Message

There is an ancient mystery in the "star of wonder" that led the Magi  to Bethlehem. Gazing at the night sky this time of year, I can't help but wonder what made the Magi  go.

For years, I've enjoyed astronomy in a pedestrian sort of way.  First, I got hooked on Carl Sagan, and then came Isaac Asimov, Steven Hawking and Simon Singh.  I have a good telescope and several astronomy software programs.  I enjoy the awe and wonder of a star filled night sky.  I enjoy knowing that I share that awe with countless millions of people down through thousands of years of human history.  I'm not a cosmologist or an astrophysicist, a planetary scientist or a mathematician; I'm just a casual observer who wonders at what I see.  The Magi  on the other hand were masters at science, math and wonder.  The Bible calls them ‘wise men' and the Bible rarely calls anybody wise.  I wonder what made them go.

Was the Christmas star an actual astronomical event? Modern astronomers have developed an array of possible explanations.  Christian history, on the other hand, emphasizes the symbolic meaning of the star and the Magi.  For the Church, the star represents the light of Christ, calling all to turn to Him. That the light takes the form of a star is something the church addresses mainly in poetic terms. But early Church Fathers debated the form in which the star appeared.  Sorting through the many interpretations and theories can make one wonder.  The Magi  didn't have to wonder, they just had to go.   

The Bible says they saw a star and followed it.  They took gifts for a king they fully expected to find. After a journey of perhaps as long as 1,200 miles, probably from Persia, they found the king they were looking for, a little child in a house with his parents. They were not dissuaded from paying homage when they found the king was born a commoner. They had seen his star on the rise; he was born to the gold, frankincense and myrrh. "We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage," they said. The certitude of the Magi  shines undiminished throughout the Gospel.  "After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage."

Now the Magi  were expert astrologers. They followed the planets long before they followed the star into the New Testament. It was their job -- and quite likely they felt it was their divine calling -- to know the stars, to predict and confirm their changing positions, and to believe the destinies they saw written there. At some point, they interpreted there, "Newborn king of the Jews." Is that what made them go?

"The answer lies not in modern astrology, or astronomy, but in ancient Greek astrology," said Michael Molnar, a computer professional with a doctorate in astrophysics. To crack the code of the Magi , Molnar undertook a detailed study of their system of astrology. He related his findings in his book, The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi. By studying contemporary documents and other evidence, Molnar arrived at a Magi's-eye view of the star. He also found that the Gospel account of the Magi's visit is sprinkled with phrases of specific astronomical meaning, the translation of which is key to understanding what the Magi  saw.

The Magi  were highly respected healers, interpreters of dreams and astral experts, Molnar said. Their understanding of star movements and meanings made up a unified body of knowledge. That intricate system allowed the Magi  to predict and chart the movements and mathematical relationships of the sun, moon and planets against the backdrop of the fixed stars and constellations. From charts and tables, the Magi could interpret the celestial omens.  When they visited the Christ child, they almost certainly described the star that prompted their visit in the context of their specialized knowledge, Molnar said. The Gospel writer, not sharing their expertise, got it down as best he could. The early Christians introduced their faith into many cultures where star worship was common and astrology was highly respected.

The Magi  originated in Persia as a caste of Zoroastrian priests. A monotheistic faith, the Zoroastrian theology included the expectation of a Messiah born of a virgin. As Zoroastrian priests, the Magi  may well have been watching for signs of the birth of a king to fulfill their messianic prophecies.  Perhaps this is what made the Magi  go.

There is nothing to tell us how many Magi made the journey. Their probable origin in Persia appears in the accounts of early Church Fathers. The earliest representations of the Magi in Christian iconography show them dressed in Persian garb.

An Icon of the Magi  is even credited with saving the Church of the Nativity, built on the site of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem.  According to an early chronicler, Persian invaders in 614 were surprised to discover a mosaic of Persian Magi  on the building's wall. "So out of reverence and respect for their ancestors, they decided to honor these sages by sparing the church."

In Molnar's theory, the Magi, in their charting of the planets across the sky, saw a day overflowing with astrological omens for the birth of a great king. The formation was centered in the part of the sky known as the sign of Aries. When the Magi  related the geography of their world to the map of outer space, Aries was the sign for Judea and adjoining lands in Herod's kingdom. With that information, the Magi knew what they were looking for and where to go. Molnar believes that a star chart, accurately representing the positions of the planets in the heavens, is what made the magi go.

Owen Gingerich, professor of astronomy and the history of science at Harvard University, calls Molnar's work the most important contribution of the 20th-century in terms of interpreting the star the Magi. "It makes good sense in the cultural context of its time, and it lends credibility to the historical authenticity of the Magi coming to Jerusalem in search of a newborn king," he said.

According to Molnar, an ideal set of astrological conditions, heralding the birth of a king of the Jews of divine destiny, appeared in the skies on April 17 of 6 B.C. That day, the beneficent king planet, Jupiter, rose as the morning star, in its position of greatest power, reborn of the power of the sun.

The biblical phrase describing where the Magi  originally saw the star, whether translated "in the East" or "at its rising," means both of those and more in their ancient astrological language. The Magi were speaking of a star in its "heliacal rising," in the morning, in the East, a fairly precise distance ahead of the sun at dawn. In its simplest form, Molnar's theory identifies the star of Bethlehem as the planet Jupiter in its heliacal rise.

The sun rose in Aries that day, in Jupiter's wake, creating a combination that makes "most powerful emperors, just and fortunate," according to an ancient astrological text of the pagan-turned-Christian Julius Firmicus Maternus.

In the chart of that day, all seven of the known planets, a count including the sun and moon and the inner planets out through Saturn, were grouped around Jupiter like a celestial royal family, gathered with attendants and spear-bearers for a portrait in the throne room. Lesser planets were arrayed in specific attendant relationships around the greater planets, an arrangement providing a third sign of a great ruler. Firmicus called this conjunction a sign of an "almost divine and immortal nature."

During the magi's journey, Jupiter, the central star of the formation they had charted, made a noteworthy zigzag across the sky. Molnar says the biblical account describes that planetary movement in words that contain astronomical meanings. It is not that the star "preceded them," but that it "went before." Sometimes a planet, as seen from Earth, appears to go backwards in its orbit for many days or weeks at a time. Then it stops, or "stations," and resumes its normal course. Jupiter "went before," on a zigzag course, in the latter half of 6 B.C. At the end of the zigzag, it stood still in the sky, or one might say it stopped to mark the place, on Dec. 19.

By the time it stopped, that zigzag motion had brought Jupiter back into the sign of Aries, where it originally had been when the Magi  saw it in April at its rising in the East. Jupiter's zigzag motion, its reappearance in Aries and its stationing in late December would explain the biblical description of the star's movement, Molnar said.

Molnar calls his book "a historical analysis," and he takes care to distinguish it from both modern astrology and religion.  It may be the perfect book to read as we journey through Advent.  There is a fascinating fit between Molnar's findings and the biblical account. The available astrological writings of the ancients support the event; the writings of the Church Fathers interpret the meaning.  For me, additional confirmation simply comes from looking up at the wintry night sky, picking out the brightest star, and wondering.