What Did the Magi See? Ancient Astrology and the Star of Bethlehem
By Melissa Cain Travis
Three years ago, in December of 2020, a great conjunction occurred in the evening sky. From the perspective of earth-bound observers, this planetary event appeared as a close rendezvous of Jupiter and Saturn, the “gas giants” that are visible to the naked eye. It had been almost four centuries since the two planets had aligned so closely, and almost eight centuries since this occurred at night. Due to its brightness, the conjunction was easily visible in the evening sky, and since it happened in the month of December (culminating on the 21st), it was popularly known as a “Christmas Star.”
Over the centuries, many scholars have speculated about the nature of the actual Christmas star mentioned in Matthew’s gospel—the one the Magi (who were astrologers) believed had royal significance. As a child, I’d assumed that the star of Bethlehem was a miraculous de novo creation that served its purpose and then faded away. It wasn’t until adulthood that I learned of the various other proposals: a conjunction, a nova (a star that grows more brilliant for a time and then returns to its usual brightness), a meteor, or a comet. My great intellectual hero, Johannes Kepler, believed that the Magi saw a nova, perhaps within a constellation that indicated the birth of royalty.
Before considering two of the leading theories about the nature of the star, let’s take a look at the biblical account of the Magi:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the time of King Herod, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are in no way least among the rulers of Judah,
for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.” After listening to the king they left, and once again the star they saw when it rose led them until it stopped above the place where the child was. When they saw the star they shouted joyfully. As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back by another route to their own country.[1]
What was this celestial object that rose from the east and then appeared to stop above the place where the holy family dwelt? In the context of the passage, it seems that Herod was previously unaware of any novel astronomical event. Anything remarkable would have been observed by the majority of people living under those ancient glittery skies, when phenomena weren’t obscured by light pollution. Furthermore, Herod’s court astronomers would surely have noticed (and reported) anything particularly rare that went unnoticed by casual observers.
In The Great Christ Comet: Revealing the True Star of Bethlehem (Crossway, 2015), biblical scholar Colin Nicholl persuasively argues that the object in the night sky that led the Magi on their journey was a comet. With impressive precision, Nicholl explains how a comet could have guided the Magi to Jerusalem, then Bethlehem, and finally to the house where Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus were staying. When the star appeared to stop over the place where the Christ child could be found, this was the comet “descending” towards the far horizon (see Fig. 1). Only a comet following a very specific trajectory could have done all that the Christmas star is said to have done, Nicholl argues.
I read Nicholl’s book when it was first published, and because I did not have the requisite training in astronomy to judge the veracity of the more technical aspects, I was thrilled to discover a book review written by Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, the astronomer who co-authored The Privileged Planet. He writes:
The input from astronomers is evident in the high quality and great depth of discussions relating to the technical aspects of astronomy. Nicholl carefully explains the basic motions of celestial bodies in the night sky, always with attention to details relevant to ANE [Ancient Near-Eastern] observers. He also does a very good job explaining the anatomy, orbital mechanics, brightness changes, and visual appearances of comets…I couldn’t find any obvious errors in the book’s astronomy content.[2]
Gonzalez concludes his review by saying that he’s tempted (despite minor issues, such as a chronological discrepancy concerning Herod’s reign) to say that Nicholl has solved the mystery of the Bethlehem star. Gonzalez points out that “even a single brief note of a comet appearing at a certain date and in a particular constellation consistent with Nicholl’s theory would be enough to confirm it.”[3] Several esteemed scholars have endorsed The Great Christ Comet, including J.P. Moreland, John Lennox, Edwin Yamauchi, and Walter Kaiser, Jr. For those who may be interested, Eric Metaxas (another endorser) interviewed Nicholl about the book shortly after its publication. The video can be found here.
Another theory that I think has great merit is presented in The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi by Michael R. Molnar (Rutgers University Press, updated edition, 2013). For part of his career, Molnar served as an astronomy professor at Rutgers. He was also a collector of ancient coins and enjoyed writing articles about the intriguing astrological symbolism found on some. He believed that one of his acquisitions, a Bronze Age Roman coin featuring a leaping ram gazing back at a star, was directly relevant to the biblical account (see Fig. 2). The image symbolizes Jupiter moving through the constellation of Aries (the Ram), a phenomenon that is known to have occurred in 6 B.C. The bright planet passed through the constellation and then went into retrograde (backwards) motion, which sent it through Aries a second time, where it then appeared to briefly stop prior to resuming its forward orbital motion. Twice, a lunar occultation took place (the moon eclipsed Jupiter), for the first time on March 20th and the second time on April 17th. According to ancient astrology, a lunar occultation of Jupiter was indicative of a king’s birth. Moreover, Claudius Ptolemy, the famous pagan astronomer who devised the long-reigning geocentric cosmology based upon Aristotelian principles, wrote in his Tetrabiblios (c. 150 A.D.) that the land of Judea was ruled by the constellation Aries.[4] Other astrological sources corroborate Ptolemy on this assertion. Thus, says Molnar, the astrologers would have viewed this event as indicative of the birth of a great king in Judea.
Nicholl offers a point-by-point critique of Molnar’s theory in chapter 4 of his book. First and foremost, he says, is the problem that neither of the lunar occultations of 6 B.C. would have been visible in Babylon, from whence the Magi would have traveled. In addition, a lunar occultation of Jupiter in Aries wasn’t incredibly rare; another instance followed in 54 A.D. Nicholl lists several other reasons why he thinks Molnar’s theory is deficient, some of them more convincing than others. Still, the fact remains that there’s currently no known record in the ancient literature of a comet passing over the ancient Near East within a viable time frame.
Ultimately, we may never have a definitive solution to the mystery of the Bethlehem star, but the speculations are quite fascinating! Perhaps more clues will surface as research continues.
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Notes
[1] Matthew 2:1-12 (NET).
[2] Guillermo Gonzalez, “The Great Christ Comet: Revealing the True Star of Bethlehem,” The Gospel Coalition, October 9, 2015.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Michael Molnar, “The Evidence for Aries the Ram as the Astrological Sign of Judea,” Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol. 34, Part 3, No. 116, p. 325-327 (2003).
— Melissa Cain Travis, PhD, is an Affiliate Faculty at Colorado Christian University and a Fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. She is the author of Thinking God's Thoughts: Johannes Kepler and the Miracle of Cosmic Comprehensibility (2022) and Science and the Mind of the Maker: What the Conversation Between Faith and Science Reveals About God (2018). She serves on the Executive Committee of the Evangelical Philosophical Society and as President of the Society for Women of Letters.
Natural Law
A Short Companion
David VanDrunen’s Natural Law: A Short Companion outlines what Scripture teaches about natural law. Scripture never uses the term “natural law,” but it repeatedly refers to the reality of natural law or assumes its existence. The existence of natural law underlies what Scripture says about God’s own nature, the cosmic order, the image of God, human community, the gospel of Christ, and the final judgment. Moreover, the story of Scripture from the original creation to the new creation wouldn’t hold together without natural law. Through this work, readers should come to know their Bibles better and know God better.
“As the public square spirals, natural law could not be more relevant. Without it, we lose the ability to persuade non-Christians of a moral framework so critical to the survival of human dignity and a just society. Employing natural law in the public square can be intimidating, but VanDrunen’s accessible, lucid book is the guide every Protestant needs to recover natural law today.”
— Matthew Barrett, professor of Christian theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Find Natural Law: A Short Companion at Amazon, B&H Academic, and other major booksellers.
"...LIKE GOD?": Post Modern Infatuation With New Age and Neo-Spiritism
“In this thorough and well-researched work, David Sonnesyn brings a lawyer’s mind to the task of exposing and challenging the leading false worldviews of our day. He leaves no heresy unexposed and exposes all of them to the liberating truth of Christianity.”
— Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy and Apologetics at Denver Seminary, author of Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith; Walking Through Twilight: A Wife’s Illness—A Philosopher’s Lament; Philosophy in Seven Sentences; and twelve other books.
Find . . . Like God? at Xulon Press, Amazon, and other major booksellers.
Too Good to be False
How Jesus' Incomparable Character Reveals His Reality
What if we take the story of Jesus seriously—as a story? Skeptics urge us to do that—it’s “only a story,” they say, a legend just like many other god-stories from ancient days. Why do we treat it as anything more than that? Too Good to be False takes up that question with an approach no author has taken in close to a century.
This book shows that although the skeptics’ question may be a fine one, the answer they give is as far from truth as it could be. Jesus’ character is unlike any other. No other hero—whether of history, myth, imagination, or legend—has loved as he loved, led as he led, cared as he cared, or understood himself as Jesus understood himself. Christians reading this book will encounter Jesus in fresh, worshipful new ways, and skeptics may discover his character is too unique, too consistent, and entirely too good to be false.
“Engaging … exhilarating. … Tom makes the compelling case that Jesus couldn’t possibly be the product of mere legends because he is quite literally too good not to be true. This might be the most surprising and refreshing book you’ll read this year!”
— Lee Strobel, New York Times bestselling author, and founding director of the Lee Strobel Center at Colorado Christian University
“I have never approached the gospels in this way and, with Gilson’s guidance, I have come to love, respect, and worship Jesus with renewed vigor and insight. Honestly, this book must be in your library.”
— J. P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University; author of The Soul: How We Know It's Real and Why It Matters
Find Too Good to Be False at Amazon and other major booksellers.
Would you like to grow in your knowledge of and ability to defend the Christian worldview?
Would you welcome the opportunity to learn from world-class Christian scholars and apologists?
If so, please consider subscribing to The Worldview Bulletin. Use the link below and receive 25% off of a one-year subscription!
You’ll receive exclusive articles, access to our full archive of past essays, and the ability to join our video tutorials and presentations, as well as stream them at your convenience.
You’ll also be supporting our work of equipping Christians around the world to contend for the faith and demonstrating the truth, goodness, and beauty of the Christian worldview to nonbelievers.
If you prefer to give a one-time or recurring donation instead, you can do so here.
Thank you!
“The Worldview Bulletin offers readers compelling essays on apologetics, morality, and culture written by top evangelical thinkers.”
— Douglas Groothuis, professor of philosophy, Denver Seminary
“I find The Worldview Bulletin very stimulating and would encourage all thinking Christians to read it.”
— John Lennox, emeritus professor of mathematics, University of Oxford, emeritus fellow in mathematics and philosophy of science, Green Templeton College, author of Cosmic Chemistry: Do God and Science Mix? (Lion)
“It has made such a difference to me to realise that my Christian faith is intellectually respectable.” — Duncan Cooke, M.D.
Advertise in The Worldview Bulletin
Do you have a ministry, book, course, conference, or product you’d like to promote to 6,885 Worldview Bulletin readers? Click here to learn how. We’re currently booking for December-January.
Really fascinating piece! Thank you!