[CondorFlight]

Hmmm. . .

a ) I don’t think God was busy dealing in astrology; and

b ) the celestial event was apparently not visible to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who became expectant and excited when told that the star had been seen; ergo, it doesn’t appear to have been something that everybody clearly saw.

[muir_redwoods]

I’m having a bit of trouble relating your comments to my recommendation of a short story by Arthur Clarke

[El Gato]

) the celestial event was apparently not visible to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who became expectant and excited when told that the star had been seen; ergo, it doesn’t appear to have been something that everybody clearly saw.

Even the inhabitants of Jerusalem of that time would not have been as familiar with the night sky as eastern astrologers. Something that might not be all that obvious as something unusual, would look quite " out of place" to those who really studied the night sky".

As far as the "star" remaining stationary over Bethlehem, I suspect that is a little literary license, or misunderstanding of the way such events are spoken of, and whatever it was merely appeared in the same place relative to the other stars for a long time, which I tend to think discredits the conjunction hypothesis, especially involving Venus. Jupiter and/or Saturn and a "background star", perhaps.