More on the Christmas Star

Some non-Christian Yelnick readers found the Star of Bethlehem post too cryptic, as lacking a lot of background that people raised in Christian countries take for granted. Let me try to make amends.

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him" (Matthew 2:1-2)

"... and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was." (Matt.2:3-10). 

Here is the synopsis: Two of the Gospels (Matthew and Luke) give stories of Jesus's birth, and in Matthew a star appeared signaling the birth of a new King of the Jews. This star was mystic (or mythic) enough to cause some Magi to come to Israel to find him. The Magi met the ruling King of the Jews (Herod) and told him that the star foretold a new king being born. The ruling King proceeded to put out an order to kill all children 2 years and younger. The Magi found Jesus and gave him gifts. Jesus's family escaped into Egypt and lived there until the death of Herod. 

Not much more to the story but a lot in that little bit.  A 'star' could be a whole variety of stellar objects, but some of the more interesting can be rejected. A meteor is too short lived. A comet is usually attributed to evil or bad tidings. A nova would be good - it would correlate a new star to a new king - but the only known candidate novae are too dim to have warranted all the attention. Most likely the star was a conjunction of planets. And many have been proposed. Kepler (who started all this speculation) proposed a conjunction of Jupiter (the King planet) with Saturn (the defender planet of Palestine), later joined by Mars, in the constellation Pisces (associated with the Jews, as well as with epochal events) in 7 BC.  A similar epochal formation of planets occurred in 6 BC, with all seven planets in the pre-dawn sky, arrayed around the heavens, with Jupiter as the kingpin.  Jupiter later went into retrograde orbit, then stopped in the sky when it went back to the normal procession across the ecliptic - which seems to fit the Gospel account of the Star wandering then stopping over Bethlehem (see above).  Others have proposed a Jupiter conjunction with multiple planets during its retrograde orbit in 3 BC, and again in 1 BC.

Problem with all of these suggestions is we lack sufficient historical knowledge to know the context - what event would have gotten the Magi to come all that way?

Who were these Magi? The root is the same as "Magician", and means Wise Man or Wizard. Probably astronomers, or astrologers, or both.  According to a 1999 analysis by Molnar, they may have been Zoroastrian priests - the Zoroastrian philosophy included the expectation of a Messiah born of a virgin - from the great Parthian Empire, which at this time rivaled Rome. Could have possibly been an embassy to the Israelites to suggest an alliance with the new king. Probably were surprised by the can of worms they had dug up when Herod went after the newborn kids.

How would they have known Jewish myths? In around 600 BC the Jews had been captured and brought to Babylon. During that period a prophet Daniel had predicted the Messiah, and gave timing. (Interesting, his timing can calculate out exactly to Apr 3, 33 AD, when most scholars believe Jesus was crucified.) The Jews were allowed back to Israel, but many stayed on. Quite possibly the Magi were steeped in their myths and history. There is a lot that has been stripped from history of this period. My own investigations suggest that Judeo-Christianity has roots in religious notions of the Megalithic people who built Stonehenge, and were the world's first great astronomers (that we know of). The design of the Jewish Temple, for example, has pillars with sight lines to the summer and winter solstices, and the Temple was oriented to take advantage of various solar angles.

In addition to Daniel there were other Prophets of the Messiah, especially Isaiah. And various books of the Bible discuss stars, including a reference in Numbers: "[T]here shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel." (Num.24:17).  We can assume the Magi knew all of this and more, the more being lost in history.

Hence if the Star story is real, the Star must have been something which connected to Jewish mythology of a Messiah or King. It could not be any old King, or they would not have come at that particular time. Many of the candidate conjunctions of various planets in various constellations for the Star could have applied to any King of Israel, and so lack uniqueness to the one and only Messiah. That is why I think this Star must have been not just predictable but actually foretold, and the Magi were watching for its emergence. The most interesting theory is this Shekinah theory, connecting the Messiah to three prior seminal events in Jewish history, and being based on the Venus/Mercury conjunction which is predictable but rare.

BTW it is not clear if the Star story is true. It sounds remarkably like another Star story, from 63 BC, that Magi came to the Roman Senate to announce that a King of the Romans had been born.  A half-hearted attempt was made then to weed him out, but the Romans were losing their superstitions. Turns out to have been prophetic - it was the birth year of the first Emperor, Augustus. Maybe the Christians added their version to add legitimacy to the Gospels.

The Shekinah is not normally thought of as a star. It is usually described as the presence or Light of God. Burning Bush - Shekinah light. Pillar of light in the sky - Shekinah light.

Left out of the Star of Bethlehem post is how Venus fits into this. The Megalithic People built observatories like Stonehenge to track not just the sun and moon, but also Venus. They also built mysterious buildings with narrow light corridors that opened into rooms surrounded by crystals. (We also see these light corridors in the Great Pyramids - sight lines to stars.) Investigations have determined that some of these mysterious buildings were designed for the crystal room to glow when Venus rose in the morning before the Sun. People used to think the sight lines were for sunrise but they were not quite placed correctly for that. The purpose seems to be rituals surrounding a new king being born. The crystal rooms have a resting place or notch in an altar sized for a baby but not designed for sacrifice.  Speculation is that the new king was placed in the altar in the wee hours so when Venus rose, the Venus light would shine into the crystal room, and the new born babe would receive the blessings of the gods - or perhaps would receive the very soul of the former King, now returned from the heavens and transmuted into the baby.

In any event, the rising of Venus was often thought to presage a new King being born, hence it is more likely Venus is the key planet in the Christmas Star than Jupiter. In the Gospels, Jesus is compared to Venus, as the new rising star in heaven, but never to Jupiter.

What the actual connections were that led to the Magi story are probably truly lost to history. It is quite remarkable speculation that came up with this Venus/Mercury as the Star, and the Star as the Shekinah.

Comments

[Bruce Killian]

The Star or Bethlehem was real; it was prophesied by Jacob/Israel and Balaam. Jesus is identified with the bright morning star. The Magi saw and interpreted a picture in the dawning sky, but because it occurred just before dawn it was hard to see, hence the necessity for the Magi. It was a scepter in the constellation of Leo marked by Venus. See http://www.scripturescholar.com/VenusStarofBethlehem.doc or http://www.scripturescholar.com/VenusStarofBethlehem.htm

[Melanie Stefine]

This is an important message. Please read and pass it along. I have a message to tell you about Revelation. The message is from God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost respectively sent in the Spring of 2006. It is about the meaning of First is Last and Last is First . The message is this:

In the morning I go to Heaven. In the afternoon I live my life. In the evening I die, death. What does this mean? In other words this means Birth is Last and Last is Birth. To understand this don't think from point A to point B. Think of this as a continous circle of life. Birth, Life, Death, Birth. God also said that Judgment will be before Birth in Heaven. AS birth on Earth is painful so will birth in Heaven. It is possible that this message was delivered by one of God's Angels. Yes, God has recently made contact and he sent a messenger. Spread this message along, just like a chain letter. OH, one more point of interest. Did you know that Mike Douglas died on his birthday. Melanie Stefine

[Jesus]

Yes, I have returned Dude. You can find me on the Internet. Hey the net is like in the clouds. I am all over the net. Jesus ;-)

[Melanie Stefine]

God sent this message in the year 2007. The message is this:
We each die in succession, then we are born on the same day.
I received this message in a waking dream from God. He had more to say than this. Melanie

[Jerry]

God sent this message a few seconds ago... "Melanie is suffering delusions."

[Melanie]

Correction: To the meaning of First is Last and Last is First. It means that Birth is Last and Birth is First. Sorry for the error. God talks in symbols and opposites at times so it takes time to figure out what he is saying. Some of his messages are clearer than others, plus they have multiple meanings.

To Jerry,
I am sending God over to your House. Then you can have some delusions too. ENJOY! Besides I think it is time he talked to someone else besides me. Then you can see what it is like for God to talk to you and only you. Then go and tell your friends what God said to you. See what they think?

[Melanie Stefine]

Here is one small piece of proof.

Like I said earlier, the Holy Spirit talked to me, besides his message about First is Last and Last is First, he had something to say about “Who Killed JFK”. Christ tells me that the man who shot JFK is a policeman. He also tells me the name of the shooter, but it is in a jumbled word. The word is “Fritters”. I see the name F. Ritter right off so I think that is the name of the killer. Now God has lots of other messages for me to figure out, so I put “who Killed JFK” on the back burner for over a year. A year or more later , just recently, I have more time to look for F. Ritter. I can’t find a policeman with that name who lived in Dallas, Texas in 1963. So I am searching for information about who killed JFK and there is a picture of a policeman by the name of JD Tippit. Now Tippit kind of looks like Ritter. Now I unjumble the letters of Ritter to TIRRET. Now TIRRET looks more like TIPPIT. Now I make the R’s stand at attention, I get TIPPET. One problem is that the I and the E are not the same. So I do some research on the family name TIPPIT. Turns out that in the late 1800’s JD Tippit’s grandfather changed their name from Tippett to Tippit. So the next step I change the E to I. So Tippet is now Tippit.
Now I have FS Tippit and JD Tippit. The first two initials are not the same. Next I go to Wikipedia there I find; “Some thought that J. D. stood for Jefferson Davis. However JD does not stand for anything. That means his name is just J D. So the initials F S, do not stand for anything. I just have two initials that do not stand for anything. Are you following me?

Next what does FRITTERS mean. If your following my thinking here, God is going to tell you what happened to JD Tippit after he was shot. Fritters are a dough that is deep fried. Bread also means body, like in the last super Christ takes the bread and says this is my body. Look in the dictionary, PIT means HELL. TIP means money paid, gratuity. There are other meanings to.

JD Tippits body (dough) is placed in the deep fryer (lake of fire). Now I think this clue (Fritters) was ingenius. After all God came up with it. I think he does have a sense of humor too. Kids now have a new game to play. They can play God. Pilsbury dough boy fry’s in the lake of fire. You get HELL! fry baby fry!

If you think this is just crazy. Remember I am just the messenger. Jesus is the one that had to talk about JFK. So he had a reason for doing that. Chirst is telling you who killed the president so that you will believe that his messages are from God. Remember only God knows who killed JFK. He told me and I am telling you. I had forgotten about the case years ago. This is a cold case now, it been 45 year since the shooting. Nov. 22 is the anniversary.

I also read the part about giving false prophesy. God says false prophets go to Hell or something like that. I only repeat what God told me. Now what I wrote above is from God. He told me who killed JFK in 2006. The above is not a lie or a joke and I am going to HEAVEN without fear.

Before I forget. Gods messeges usually have more than one meaning. F S could also stand for “Fence Shooter”.

Who are the co-conspirators? Turns out that there are two policemen named Tippit, and one other Tippett working in the Dallas police Department that same year(1963). Back to the clue word Fritters. That is plural, you know about plural. We have two fritters. The co-conspirators name is Gayle M. Tippit.

Now the Dallas Police Departtment obviously covered up and framed Oswald. He was the Patsy. They did it cause it is very possible that one of the other police officers rushing to the scene saw Tippet fleeing the scene carrying a rifle. They covered it up because of the embarrassment of one of their own was the man that killed JFK? And the Warren commission must have also figured that out so they stuck with the Dallas Dept. story saying that it was Oswald. It could have been a National embarrassment. Now if you look at the evidence like I did. It is easy to see that the DAllas Police Dept tampered with the evidence over and over again. And they did a very bad job of it too.

Now this is my opinion, not Gods. I think God is behind the creation of the Internet. I could never have been able to figure out a lot of his messages without the use of the Internet. People on the Net have been a big help to me. God talks to other people too, they just don’t know it. God let me know it was him.

This is proof because it is impossible for any one to do what I did with the clue word FRITTERS. I made it look easy. I can do that over and over again in all of God’s messages. It is impossible for anyone to do what I do.

Gods Messenger, Melaine