Christmas Message: What Could The Christmas Star Be ? By Dr. Phil Chan Aik Hui

What could the Christmas Star be?

https://wallpaperaccess.com/star-of-bethlehem

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Dear Andy,

Thank you very much for being in touch and inviting me to write again.

 

I think I will write on The Christmas Star this year. Unlike people in the current age, ancient people had no social media distractions such as Facebook or Instagram; their past time was to look at the sky above. Most of them would have rather good knowledge of the celestial objects without light pollution of the modern world.

Dear Phil,

We've been together these last 40 years and kept in touch. I thank you in all sincerity for your generous and blessed Christmas contributions to this blog.  

 Chris Tomlin - What Child Is This? 

(Live/Lyrics And Chords) ft. All Sons & Daughters

YouTubeVideo: christomlinmusic

Why look at the stars?

Genesis 1:14 

Moses: "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years”.

 

It is amazing that the night skies proclaim the work of God’s hands day and night; these heavenly objects reveal knowledge without speaking - no words nor sound.

 

Psalm 19:1-4

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.

 

However, expert sky watchers - such as the wise men mentioned in the Bible (likely Magi from Persia) - would have taken notice of any unusual behavior of stars, especially the bright ones.

 

Mathew 2:1-2

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, … Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

 

It seemed that the Magi already knew which star to focus on, since they called it “His Star”. There were many modern theories.

 

What could this star be?

Mathew 2: 9-11

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

 

This celestial object called “His Star” moves and it could stop. Physicists would tell us that celestial objects like stars do not move in our earthy perspective as they are very far away, but we do see planets move in the sky from one constellation to another constellation. In fact, planets also appear to stop (for a few days) and move in the opposite direction. Scientists called this phenomenon Retrograde motion. So, “His Star” could be a planet. Of course the ancients did not have telescopes to verify this. So what planet could it be? 

https://astronavigationdemystified.com/the-retrograde-and-prograde-motions-of-mars-and-jupiter/

 

 It is possible that Jupiter is the Christmas Star

A clue may come from this verse in King James Version: 

Acts 14:12  

“And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker”. In ancient times, common people would have known that the planet Jupiter - being very bright (and still is today) at night - was the King of stars and Mercury, the messenger. The Hebrew name for Jupiter is Tzedek (i.e. righteous one).

 

So what was so special about the behaviour of Jupiter that the Magi may have noticed? Jupiter unusually went into retrograde three times in a period of eight months; Jupiter normally retrogrades only once a year. What is amazing is that Jupiter “circles” only one other star and it is Regulus (meaning “little king”) in the constellation Leo (the Lion of Judah). One can check the above using very accurate state-of-the-art astronomy software for planetary phenomenon taking place between September 3 BC through May 2 BC. 

https://stellarium.org/

 

Feast of Trumpets and Feast of Succoth

There is more. This behaviour of Jupiter seemed to announce the coming of a little king. Interestingly, in the past, Hebrews installed a king by blowing the trumpet (Shofar in Hebrew) as in 1 Kings 1:34. Coincidentally, the Jewish Feast of Trumpets on the biblical calendar (Tishri) also falls around mid-to late September.

 

Around the same period (September/October), another Jewish Festival was celebrated, the Festival of Tabernacles (Succoth in Hebrew) where temporary shelters were built to remember their wilderness journey in Exodus. It makes sense that Mary and Joseph placed baby Jesus in a manger or shelter. Interestingly, the shepherds in the Judean fields knew where to find this baby in Bethlehem as Luke mentioned that they hurried off after hearing from the angels. This shelter where Jesus was to be born was mentioned in Micah 4:8 Migdal Eder … and also in Gen 35:21. (a place or/tower where Jacob set up camp after the death of Rachel). Please refer to last year’s Christmas 2021 post 

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2021/12/christmas-message-away-in-manger-jesus.html

 

Luke 2: 15-16: 

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

 

O Little Town of Bethlehem.

Lyric Video (Chanticleer) 

YouTube Video from Warner Classics.

What can the above tell us?

Jesus likely was born around September, 3 BC. Also December may be cold for sheep and shepherds to roam the Judean hills.

 

When did the Magi see Jesus?

Matthew 2 :11 

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

 

Notice, The Magi were not at the manger/shelter when Jesus was a newly born baby. The gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were presented to the child in a house. Note that the mention was 3 types of gifts but not 3 wise men or Kings commonly portrayed by popular culture. The following verses would inform us that Joseph and Mary brought baby Jesus to Jerusalem then to Nazareth and a short time later when Jesus was about one to two years old to Bethlehem (we know this because King Herod (Matthew 2:16-18) wanted to kill all boys below 2 years old) when the Magi met them before heading to Egypt.

 

Luke 2: 22-23

When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”).

 

Luke 2: 39

When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

 

Matthew 2: 13

When they (Magi) had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you …

Celtic Trio and Choir deliver 

Magical version of O Holy Night.

YouTube video from: Emer Berry and Affiniti

Likely The Magi met Jesus around Hannukah in December

From the time the Magi saw the strange behaviour of Jupiter and followed “His Star”, they would have travelled around 2000km from Persia. This travel probably took several months, even on camels (including preparation for this long journey). Perhaps the traditional date of December 25^th was the date the Magi met child Jesus.

 

The Jewish Festival of Lights or Hanukkah (also known as the Feast of Dedication of the Temple) sometimes coincides with Christmas in December. Hanukkah is an eight-day festival in commemoration of the re-dedication during the 2nd B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt.

 

Jesus also went for Hanukkah celebration

John 10:22-24 

At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area, in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then surrounded Him and began saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 

 

Comments

It is likely the Magi saw a real celestial object.

Modern Christians tend to spiritualize the imagery of the Bible, for instance in Revelations especially chapter 12. However, John wrote in Revelations 1:19 “Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things”.

 

The above portion of scripture seems to point towards 3 different epochs of time, namely 1)what John saw, 2)what is now and 3)what will take place later. Unlike ancient Greeks who preferred abstraction, ancient Hebrews were practical and down-to-earth people. John would have seen the night skies with clear constellations and plethora of stars, very different from that of our modern light-polluted night skies.

 

Conclusion

Genesis 1:14 

reminds us that stars give mankind some knowledge of the seasons. Even physicists inform us that every celestial object serves a purpose, the Newtonian gravitational pull of one massive object will affect another nearby star system. Even though there is no mention in the new Testament to celebrate Jesus’ birthday, the traditional of setting up of lights and giving gifts are meaningful activities at Christmas, reminding us of Hanukkah and the Magi’s gifts to worship Jesus. A detailed historical discussion on how December 25 was decided to be the birthday celebration of Jesus can be found in J. Lenard.

 

Finally, in this Christmas season, let us be merry and enjoy ourselves and bring good tidings of Jesus to all man.

 

Nehemiah 8:10 said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Please feel free to make comments by clicking it below. Thanks.

Bibliography

J. Amaral, Story in the Stars, Hachette Book Group, 2018.

J. Lenard, Mysteries of Jesus’ Life, Wordzworth, 2018.

A. Ben Mordechai, Messiah, Understanding His Life and Teachings, Millennium,. 2002

 

Wishing you and your family a Blessed Christmas, good health and a Happy New Year 2023.

 

Best Regards,

Phil

Phil CHAN Aik Hui PhD, High Energy Physics, 

National University of Singapore (1993) 

Associate Professor (Educator Track), 

Deputy Head (Resources & Exec/Admin Staff)

Christmas Carols to accompany this post.

O Holy Night : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITIaYoWCPkE

O Little Town of Bethlehem : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABZkYBXvnPI

We Three Kings : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERfGXhMD5rI

What child is this : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jroBAl3WW8

"We Three Kings" - Jennifer Avalon

Lyrics on screen.

YouTube Video: buyakga 1946.

Images: Google.

Tekapo - Mt Cook (New Zealand) 

International Dark Sky Reserve

YouTube Video by Little Grey Box.

from Freda Hanum [Facebook]

Thank You, Freda.