We all know about the wise men from the east who came to visit Jesus.
The story begins with the Roman Emperor Augustus decreeing a world wide census of his domains, which required that everyone return to their ancestral homes. This meant Joseph and Mary, descendants of King David, had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It’s a trip of 150km – and a difficult one for a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy.
At some point following Jesus’ birth, wise men came from the east to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2).
Who were these wise men, or Magi?
Introducing: the Magi
The Magi trace their origins to a 7th century BC Median tribe, evolving into a hereditary priesthood with political influence across empires like the Median, Babylonian, Persian, and Parthian. At the time of Jesus’ birth, they constituted the Megistanes, a constitutional council pivotal in electing and advising Parthian kings. The Magi, in the council's upper house, acted as kingmakers alongside the royal family. It was from this council that the Magi, not just political insiders but chosen for wisdom and intelligence, visited Jesus. They were scholars tracking lineages and astronomers believing celestial movements indicated significant events like the birth of kings.
And it would appear that a group of these Magi had traveled a thousand kilometres to Jerusalem, escorted by Parthian cavalry, baggage handlers, servants, cooks and more, to acknowledge what they believed was the prophesied birth of a new Jewish king.
It’s worth noting that Herod, a non-Jewish king ruling a Jewish kingdom, was constantly worried about being usurped. At this time, many of the troops that normally protected Jerusalem were away fighting. 40 years prior, Herod had faced a Parthian invasion, compelling him to flee Israel. He had sought refuge in Rome, where he was confirmed as the legitimate ruler and received military aid, before he successfully reclaimed the land.
So you can imagine his consternation when these Parthian Magi turn up proclaiming, it would seem to Herod, the birth of yet another contender for his throne! It would have felt like history repeating itself.
Why did the Magi make such a perilous trip in the first place? Why did they think a Jewish king had been or was about to be born?
Prophecies and presumptions
Around this time, the world had a strange feeling of expectation, waiting for the coming of a king. Even the Roman historians knew about this. The Roman historian Suetonius wrote, "There had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judea to rule the world."1 Tacitus, another historian, adds that "there was a firm persuasion ... that at this very time the east was to grow powerful, and rulers coming from Judea were to acquire universal empire."2
The prophet Daniel, held in such high regard that Nebuchadnezzar had actually made him chief of the Magi and astrologers, had prophesied the future death of the coming Messiah with remarkable specificity. In fact, the Messiah’s death was to occur exactly 483 years after a decree to rebuild Jerusalem.3 The Persian king Artaxerxes I issued this decree in 445 BC,4 which, using the Jewish calendar system, takes you to 30 AD – the year Jesus died. But then if you go on to deduct the likely age of Jesus when he died you arrive at a 2-3BC. The Magi would have been familiar with these Messianic prophecies, expectating a significant royal birth around this time.
There was also a prophet called Balaam, who had foretold the coming of a star that would herald a future Messiah for all the tribes of Israel. "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a sceptre will rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17). Most Biblical scholars recognise this as a clear messianic prophecy pointing to the coming of Jesus.
Zoroaster, a pupil of Daniel, had incorporated these prophecies with others into his work, called the Zend Avesta. It predicted that there would be born unto the Jews a Messiah, and that his coming would be heralded by a sign in the heavens in the constellation Virgo.
Signs in the heavens
All of this begs the question, what was this “star” that the Magi were seeing in 2-3 BC? Was it a comet, a meteor, a supernova?
Examining Matthew 2, the account requires this star to appear in the eastern sky, move across the starry background, go before the Magi to Judea and then pause over the birthplace of the child.
One astronomical phenomena fits this scenario. A class of objects, known to the ancients as “wandering stars”, and to us today as planets. When we examine the night sky with planets in mind, a series of amazing celestial events come into play.
It begins on 1 August, 3 BC, with a new rising of Jupiter just as the sun is coming up at dawn. While many translations of Matthew 2:2 use the phrase “we saw his star in the east” the more accurate translation of "en te anatole" is “we saw his star at its rising”. The Greek singular form "anatole" has retained the special astronomical meaning of a star appearing in the rays of the rising sun, a very unique phenomena that heralds something of significance to those who observe the stars..
Then, on 14 September 3 BC, and 17 February and 8 May the next year, Jupiter – known as the king planet – continues its movements through the night sky and passes close to Regulus, the star of kingship and the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Leo was the constellation of kings, and it was also closely associated by some with the lion of the tribe of Judah.
This is beginning to look interesting for the Magi astronomers. Three times, the royal planet approaches the royal star in the royal constellation representing the king of Israel. On 14 September, 3 BC, Jupiter was not only very close to Regulus, but the sun was in the constellation Virgo. Why is this significant? In Revelation 12:1-5 we read:
A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth ... She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre…
The constellation which rises in the east behind Leo is Virgo, the virgin. When Jupiter and Regulus were first meeting, Virgo rose, clothed in the sun with the moon at her feet.
This second sign could well indicate either the conception or birth of the prophesied future Jewish king.
Then, nine months later on 17 June, 2 BC, Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets in the Solar System, appear to collide. They stood an incredible 1/50th degree apart and seemed to fuse into one immense ball of light. This was an unprecedented event and would have formed the brightest celestial object after the sun and moon in the night skies that anyone had ever seen during their lifetimes.
If the events of 14 September represented the conception of Jesus, then it's interesting to note that 17 June is exactly nine months later. Could this conjunction be a sign of Jesus' birth?
But that was not all. Two months later, on 27 August, there was a final major coming together or conjunction of the planets in Virgo. Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Venus were all placed incredibly close together. This whole sequence of celestial events would have been of incredible significance to the magi astronomers, and it was enough to persuade them that the prophecies of Daniel and Balaam and the Old Testament prophets were now coming to pass. A messiah king had been born in Judea.
At this point something even more amazing happened. As the planets drifted apart from their last conjunction, Jupiter began to move westwards across the sky. This was the sign the Magi were waiting for. Jupiter, the key player in the Christmas star sequence, was leading them west towards Judea. And as Jupiter passed its zenith overhead, they too set out westward. From that moment in November, Jupiter actually went before them in the sky towards Judea. Six weeks later, as the Magi checked the pre-dawn sky, Jupiter was on the meridian due south of Jerusalem. It would appear directly over Bethlehem, 65 degrees above the southern horizon. By now Jupiter had also reached its furthest point westward, where it stopped and no longer moved. It actually “stood over” where the young child was, before beginning its retrograde movement back towards the east. Incredibly, the day on which Jupiter stopped moving and paused directly in line of sight over Bethlehem was the 25 December, during the Jewish Hanukkah – the season of giving presents.
What an amazing co-incidence of celestial events with prophecy and the actual birth of Jesus. God is not above using the night skies to herald his activities.
Which are you?
So what does this mean for us today?
God cares for the fate of all humanity and has left signs and prophetic words among many people and cultures over the ages to bring them to himself. But, as always, while God may leave a witness to himself, what always remains important and up to the individual is how they will respond to that witness.
Who will you be like? Will you be like Herod – angry, rejecting, afraid of losing power, afraid of letting God be God in your life and ultimately missing out on life itself? Or maybe you’ll be like the scribes who told Herod where the child was to be born. They knew the Bible and understood the prophecy. They knew the truth but they were indifferent to it. They didn’t allow it the chance of entering in and changing them.
Which one are you?
1 Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, 4:5
2 Tacitus, Histories, 5:13
3 Daniel 9:25-26
4 Nehemiah 2:1
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
We all know about the wise men from the east who came to visit Jesus.
The story begins with the Roman Emperor Augustus decreeing a world wide census of his domains, which required that everyone return to their ancestral homes. This meant Joseph and Mary, descendants of King David, had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It’s a trip of 150km – and a difficult one for a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy.
At some point following Jesus’ birth, wise men came from the east to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2).
Who were these wise men, or Magi?
Introducing: the Magi
The Magi trace their origins to a 7th century BC Median tribe, evolving into a hereditary priesthood with political influence across empires like the Median, Babylonian, Persian, and Parthian. At the time of Jesus’ birth, they constituted the Megistanes, a constitutional council pivotal in electing and advising Parthian kings. The Magi, in the council's upper house, acted as kingmakers alongside the royal family. It was from this council that the Magi, not just political insiders but chosen for wisdom and intelligence, visited Jesus. They were scholars tracking lineages and astronomers believing celestial movements indicated significant events like the birth of kings.
And it would appear that a group of these Magi had traveled a thousand kilometres to Jerusalem, escorted by Parthian cavalry, baggage handlers, servants, cooks and more, to acknowledge what they believed was the prophesied birth of a new Jewish king.
It’s worth noting that Herod, a non-Jewish king ruling a Jewish kingdom, was constantly worried about being usurped. At this time, many of the troops that normally protected Jerusalem were away fighting. 40 years prior, Herod had faced a Parthian invasion, compelling him to flee Israel. He had sought refuge in Rome, where he was confirmed as the legitimate ruler and received military aid, before he successfully reclaimed the land.
So you can imagine his consternation when these Parthian Magi turn up proclaiming, it would seem to Herod, the birth of yet another contender for his throne! It would have felt like history repeating itself.
Why did the Magi make such a perilous trip in the first place? Why did they think a Jewish king had been or was about to be born?
Prophecies and presumptions
Around this time, the world had a strange feeling of expectation, waiting for the coming of a king. Even the Roman historians knew about this. The Roman historian Suetonius wrote, "There had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judea to rule the world."1 Tacitus, another historian, adds that "there was a firm persuasion ... that at this very time the east was to grow powerful, and rulers coming from Judea were to acquire universal empire."2
The prophet Daniel, held in such high regard that Nebuchadnezzar had actually made him chief of the Magi and astrologers, had prophesied the future death of the coming Messiah with remarkable specificity. In fact, the Messiah’s death was to occur exactly 483 years after a decree to rebuild Jerusalem.3 The Persian king Artaxerxes I issued this decree in 445 BC,4 which, using the Jewish calendar system, takes you to 30 AD – the year Jesus died. But then if you go on to deduct the likely age of Jesus when he died you arrive at a 2-3BC. The Magi would have been familiar with these Messianic prophecies, expectating a significant royal birth around this time.
There was also a prophet called Balaam, who had foretold the coming of a star that would herald a future Messiah for all the tribes of Israel. "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a sceptre will rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17). Most Biblical scholars recognise this as a clear messianic prophecy pointing to the coming of Jesus.
Zoroaster, a pupil of Daniel, had incorporated these prophecies with others into his work, called the Zend Avesta. It predicted that there would be born unto the Jews a Messiah, and that his coming would be heralded by a sign in the heavens in the constellation Virgo.
Signs in the heavens
All of this begs the question, what was this “star” that the Magi were seeing in 2-3 BC? Was it a comet, a meteor, a supernova?
Examining Matthew 2, the account requires this star to appear in the eastern sky, move across the starry background, go before the Magi to Judea and then pause over the birthplace of the child.
One astronomical phenomena fits this scenario. A class of objects, known to the ancients as “wandering stars”, and to us today as planets. When we examine the night sky with planets in mind, a series of amazing celestial events come into play.
It begins on 1 August, 3 BC, with a new rising of Jupiter just as the sun is coming up at dawn. While many translations of Matthew 2:2 use the phrase “we saw his star in the east” the more accurate translation of "en te anatole" is “we saw his star at its rising”. The Greek singular form "anatole" has retained the special astronomical meaning of a star appearing in the rays of the rising sun, a very unique phenomena that heralds something of significance to those who observe the stars..
Then, on 14 September 3 BC, and 17 February and 8 May the next year, Jupiter – known as the king planet – continues its movements through the night sky and passes close to Regulus, the star of kingship and the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Leo was the constellation of kings, and it was also closely associated by some with the lion of the tribe of Judah.
This is beginning to look interesting for the Magi astronomers. Three times, the royal planet approaches the royal star in the royal constellation representing the king of Israel. On 14 September, 3 BC, Jupiter was not only very close to Regulus, but the sun was in the constellation Virgo. Why is this significant? In Revelation 12:1-5 we read:
A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth ... She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre…
The constellation which rises in the east behind Leo is Virgo, the virgin. When Jupiter and Regulus were first meeting, Virgo rose, clothed in the sun with the moon at her feet.
This second sign could well indicate either the conception or birth of the prophesied future Jewish king.
Then, nine months later on 17 June, 2 BC, Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets in the Solar System, appear to collide. They stood an incredible 1/50th degree apart and seemed to fuse into one immense ball of light. This was an unprecedented event and would have formed the brightest celestial object after the sun and moon in the night skies that anyone had ever seen during their lifetimes.
If the events of 14 September represented the conception of Jesus, then it's interesting to note that 17 June is exactly nine months later. Could this conjunction be a sign of Jesus' birth?
But that was not all. Two months later, on 27 August, there was a final major coming together or conjunction of the planets in Virgo. Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Venus were all placed incredibly close together. This whole sequence of celestial events would have been of incredible significance to the magi astronomers, and it was enough to persuade them that the prophecies of Daniel and Balaam and the Old Testament prophets were now coming to pass. A messiah king had been born in Judea.
At this point something even more amazing happened. As the planets drifted apart from their last conjunction, Jupiter began to move westwards across the sky. This was the sign the Magi were waiting for. Jupiter, the key player in the Christmas star sequence, was leading them west towards Judea. And as Jupiter passed its zenith overhead, they too set out westward. From that moment in November, Jupiter actually went before them in the sky towards Judea. Six weeks later, as the Magi checked the pre-dawn sky, Jupiter was on the meridian due south of Jerusalem. It would appear directly over Bethlehem, 65 degrees above the southern horizon. By now Jupiter had also reached its furthest point westward, where it stopped and no longer moved. It actually “stood over” where the young child was, before beginning its retrograde movement back towards the east. Incredibly, the day on which Jupiter stopped moving and paused directly in line of sight over Bethlehem was the 25 December, during the Jewish Hanukkah – the season of giving presents.
What an amazing co-incidence of celestial events with prophecy and the actual birth of Jesus. God is not above using the night skies to herald his activities.
Which are you?
So what does this mean for us today?
God cares for the fate of all humanity and has left signs and prophetic words among many people and cultures over the ages to bring them to himself. But, as always, while God may leave a witness to himself, what always remains important and up to the individual is how they will respond to that witness.
Who will you be like? Will you be like Herod – angry, rejecting, afraid of losing power, afraid of letting God be God in your life and ultimately missing out on life itself? Or maybe you’ll be like the scribes who told Herod where the child was to be born. They knew the Bible and understood the prophecy. They knew the truth but they were indifferent to it. They didn’t allow it the chance of entering in and changing them.
Which one are you?
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
