This was no ordinary celestial object. It was the Magis burning bush!
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Clearly the star was a supernatural manifestation and here is what I think can be deduced from reading Matthew 2 verses 1 to 12:
Verse 1 says that “the wise men came from the east to Jerusalem” and when they got to Jerusalem, they said “where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.” This says that they weren’t just on a casual fishing expedition…. they had detailed information in advance that meant that they knew exactly what they were doing and who they were looking for. I don’t believe there were any prophetical passages in scripture that can be pointed to as to giving guidance to the wise men as to what they were seeing and what they needed to do. Numbers 24:17 is sometimes mentioned, but this verse has no specificity at all…. And yet the wise men knew plenty of the details of what the mission was that they were on, and this indicates that there was something that went on here that is not recorded in scripture. Did all these wise men wake up one day having all dreamed the same vivid dream the night before? Later on in verse 12, we do find out that God did talk to them in a dream…… Whatever it was, they also knew that they were being given the star to guide them to Jesus…. Not just any star, they had enough details of what the mission was that then knew it was HIS star.
There is nothing in verses 1 to 10 that indicate that anyone else could even see this ‘star’. Yes, scripture calls it a star but there are plenty of reasons to believe the ‘celestial object’ was not a star as we understand a star to be…. there just probably wasn’t another word that existed to describe what it was. If the star was the vehicle to give them direction on where to go, it seems that this celestial object appeared to be essentially right over their heads at just about the height of treetops and could be seen both day and night by them and no one else. Notice that when they got to Jerusalem, it seems like the light switched off…. that means it was not a normal star, supernova etc. Note that there was no one else who joined in along the way on the trip of chasing this ‘moving star’ and there was no one in Jerusalem who was talking about the star….this again seems to indicate that no else had seen it. When the light switched off at Jerusalem, Phase 1 of their mission was over.
When the wise men got to Jerusalem, they had enough details about their mission to know to ask questions about where to find Jesus…. And this forced Herod, and the chief priests and scribes to dig into scriptures to find the prophecies that said the birthplace was in Bethlehem. Notice that the wise men weren’t the ones to figure out that Jesus was born in Bethlehem... that information came from Herod. This signaled that God’s objective of having them go first to Jerusalem was accomplished. With this first phase of their mission over, the light switched on again so that they could complete the second part of their mission… travelling to Bethlehem so that they could meet the Child. Verse 10 says that “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” Why was this? It was because it suddenly dawned on them that while God had brought them to Jerusalem, that was just the phase 1 detour on the way to the goal of meeting Jesus. As soon as the star lead them to and stopped directly over the home where Jesus was, they knew that the mission phase 2 was accomplished (verse 11 “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him....”).
After this, they were warned directly by God in a dream to not go back to see Herod but go directly to their own country. If a dream was collectively given to them to close out the mission, it certainly seems like it very likely was a dream that kicked off the mission. One can only wonder if the wise men were so far from home that they still needed the light to help them get back…. scripture doesn’t actually say when the light was switched off for good.
As a side note, there are 2 or three historical Bethlehems. The present day Bethlehem did not exist at that time.
Well I did have a few thoughts along some of the tracks you have described like yours but I only speculated based on what the bible says and also based on what stars, constellations, and planets do which can be observed. Not pooh poohing your thoughts at all but I kept some of those thoughts out of my posting...glad you said them first...hahaha!
The Magi were also well versed no doubt in religious customs in the levant at the time and were no doubt seeking the divine thru astrology and mathematics and were amongst the intelligent of all who existed at that time.
They knew the times and the skies and whatever they saw prompted them to act over a two year period. That we know from the horrible orders to kill the newborn males of 2 years and younger in that region of Israel.
Whatever supernatural unction that spurred them on their way has remained unwritten in the Bible but it wouldn’t surprise me me in that group had dreams or other strange observations regarding the star.
Just a stationary star appearing never to wander but always fixed when everything else is moving around it thru the night, in this day and age would have modern astronomers dumfounded and UFO conspiracists going nuts! Smart Magi who knew the times and the celestial seasons would have gotten very interested in even an ordinary star that did what it did. Otherwise most ordinary people probably would not have noticed it.
Just imagine what will happen when the Sign of the Coming of the Son of man appears in the heavens where all can see it!
God bless you sir or ma’m!
If three (or more) guys from lands far to the East had showed up and told them about the sign they had seen in the sky foretelling the birth of a great Jewish king, then they would have been dismissed as hallucinating crazy men if they were describing something that was only visible to them.
They were not dismissed at all. In fact, Herod took them very seriously and was clearly very interested in what these men had to say after they explained what motivated them to travel to Jerusalem.