What was the Christmas Star?

I missed the Dec 21st conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 2020. While the mist caressing the pine trees of the Pacific Northwest is seductive, this same mist obfuscates the sky more than not. The irony is that this was not the Christmas star that heralded Jesus' birth, even though it happened around the right time, 7 years before the common era. In fact, we know the exact date of the sign that made the magi travel so far, April 17th, 6 B.C.

All of us owe a debt to the research of Michael Molnar, a Rutgers astronomer with the uncommon hobby of studying ancient coins with pictures representing zodiacs. In brief, Molnar makes the case that the language of the magi in Matthew, as well as the angelic heralds of Luke, describe the most powerful astrological event (perhaps ever) that pointed the entire ancient world to "the" most royal birth and unambiguously that it was in Judea. 

Molnar suggests that it was not a visually spectacular event that would have caught the attention of astrologers such as the magi (ever wonder why Herod missed the sign?). Rather it was a particular Greco/Roman horoscope where Jupiter rose as a morning star ("in the east") and then was quickly covered by the moon (along with other alignments that magnified this event) in the astrological sign of Aries the Ram, which singled out Judea as the birth place of an emperor bigger than the Caesars, a being worthy of gifts and worship. I do not wish to argue Molnar's case for him. He does so much better than I can. I prefer to grapple with what he suggests.

The Bible has a long history of God putting signs in the sky. It literally starts in Genesis 1:14. "Let there be lights in the dome of the heavens for the purpose of distinguishing between the day and the night, and for omens ("signs"), and for seasons/festivals, and for days and for years." It is super important to learn from Genesis that God rules the calendar, and that star gazing is nothing less than a religious endeavor. To this day good scientific astronomy naturally leads to contemplating our size and significance in the cosmos. It was no different back then. This is why there were so many arguments within the Judaisms of Jesus' time about the calendar, sabbath, and festival keeping. Authority over the calendar was (and is) tantamount to authority over the cosmos and earthly governance.

God fearing priests of Jesus' day watched the sky to know when it was sunset, and when months turned, and when religious festivals began, and when they ended. Today we take for granted who writes our  calendar, the laborious mathematics that went into calculating it, and the politics that adopted it. Wrapped up in every turn is authority and observation, no less today than back then.

Is it strange that God might speak to pagans in the language familiar to pagans? Does God know the language of astrologers? Might God chose for the savior of the world to be born among people at a time that would make it easy for the goyim to believe? The answer is not theoretical. I believe we are constrained by the affirmative based on history. God speaks the language of people.

And then might we consider the connection between angels and stars in the Bible. The common phrase, "Lord of Hosts" will suffice. This archaic phrase might sooner call to mind the "host" that seats one in a restaurant than what the English translators had in mind. "Zabo'ath" ranges in meaning from an earthly king's "army" to the heavenly king's heavenly armies, that is the innumerable "stars" of the sky. Older English translations uses the word "hosts", holding in tension the ambiguity between "army hosts" and "starry hosts". Translations (and songs) that merge the ideas as "angel armies" are often closest in meaning to what the Bible has in mind.

Perhaps "hark the herald angels sing" from Luke's account were the "hosts" of heavenly stars all pointing, indeed bowing to the "glory of a new born king." Figure 22 and 23 from Molnar removed any doubt for me. It was as if all the heavenly bodies that could point to a king born in Judea were pointing as such during the most potent astrological times of the day. And it seems this was a powerful evangelistic message in the Greco-Roman world into which Jesus was born.

Just a hypothesis - when the religious leaders came demanding a "sign from heaven" from Jesus (literally a "sky sign"), and Jesus scolds them for not interpreting the "signs of the times", could Jesus have been referring to the omens surrounding the time of his birth? This deserves further research.

This leaves us at an impasse. Atheists will not accept the testimony of the stars anymore than Christians will accept the testimony of the zodiac. As the beliefs of the ancient world fall into obscurity it seems as if the Bible falls into an irrelevance equally as deep.  

I contend that God is not done speaking. Perhaps no longer in astrology (although the thought of a similar portent happening again is intriguing). God still speaks in astronomy and in signs and miracles. God knows the language of scientists, astronomers, and politicians alike. I contend that God will continue as God always has, speaking to people in their own dialect, quietly, powerfully. God's signs will always be inconvenient for those that govern and the hope of those that suffer. And few of us will be ready for what God asks of us. It was no different then. It will be no different for us, or our children.