Radio Script #324
Little Talks On Common Things
December 23, 1956
As has been our custom for the past eight years, we shall devote this program entirely to the subject of Christmas. On every Christmas Sunday since 1948, “Little Talks on Common Things” has made the greatest of our annual holidays its single theme. Each year we have tried to present some of the unusual features of Christmas and have emphasized its spiritual rather than its material significance. ‘v’e Christians can respect other religions; we can recognize the contributions some of them have made to Christian thought. But we may still proudly say that Christmas is peculiarly our day. For whatever else the holiday means whether it is for some simply the best trading season of the year, for others the time of the company’s distribution of bonuses, or for others just the time of gifts and greeting cards — for members of the various Christian sects al lover the earth Christmas celebrates God’s supreme gift to man, through the acceptance of which man can find unity with God.
There has been much speculation about the Star of Bethlehem. When one thinks of a sudden bright light in the sky, but one which lingers and does not quickly fade out like a shooting star, one is lead by the star-gazers throughout the ages to think of one of two phenomena, a comet or a new star, what astronomers call a nova. Now there is some reason for thinking that the Star of Bethlehem was a comet. From the time of earliest written records, and doubtless for millennia before that, comets were supposed to predict special events. The Romans have left us many records of comets observed in one part or another of the Empire.
In 83 B.C. a comet appeared suddenly and was observed for a whole night in all the mediterranean lands. Shortly after the Ides of March in 44 B.C., when Caesar was assassinated, a brilliant comet appeared in the sky. The next to be reported was in 66 A.D. shortly before Nero committed suicide. Between 44 B.C. and 66 A.D. the Roman records are si lent about comets. But not so the Chinese records. Translating the dates and the names for the Zodiac signs into our own usage, th i sis what the 0ld Chinese records say: t’l n the first year of the Emperor Yuen-Yen, on the 25th of August, a comet was seen in the region of the sky known as the Twins. It passed over that consTellation, proceeded northerly through Castor and Pol lux into the constellaTion of the Lion. On the 56th day it disappeared into the constellation of the Scorpion. Altogether the comet was seen for 63 days.”
That old Chinese account is the first description of the famous Halley’s Comet, last seen in 1911 and sure to be visible again in 1986. Now the first year of the Emperor Yuen-Yen is known to have been the year 12 B.C. That comes somewhere near the time of Jesus’ birth, but not quite near enough. Astronomers we 11 know That Halley ‘s comet is not equa Ily visi b Ie ina II parts of the earth. Visible in China in 12 B.C., it may not have been seen at al I in the Mediterranean countries. That is why the Roman records are silent about it.
What about a nova, a new star? Does that explain the Star of Bethlehem? A nova is the result of an atomic explosion of colossal violence taking place within a mass of matTer in space. When such an explosion happens, the brilliance is so noticeable that observers marvel at it. But what do the records say about such happenings at the time of Jesus’ birth? The blazing light of a new star — although of course the Roman observers did not know it was a new star — is mentioned in 134 B.C. and 173 A.D. Those TWO descriptions fit exactly what modern astronomers know as the phenomena which accompany a nova. There was, in the Mediterranean world, a new star 134 years before the Christian era, and another 173 years after that era began. But none of the 0ld recorded sourCes or even the traditions say anything about a new star in or near the year zero.
It seems extremely doubtful, therefore, whether the Star of Bethlehem could h ave been e i the r a comet or a new star. What then was it? It was what astronomers call a conjunction of two planets. Sometimes two of the Earth’s planets move so close to each other that they have the appearance of a single and more brilliant star. We now know that on the night Jesus was born the planets Saturn and Jupiter had such a conjunction within the constellation of the Fishes. Shortly before Christmas in 1603 the astronomer Kepler, with his modest home-made telescope, watched a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. Suddenly he remembered a statement in an old Hebrew writing of the Rabbi Abarbanel that the Messiah ‘would appear when Saturn and Jupiter were in conjunction in the constellation of the Fishes. Kepler started carefully checking the mathematics of this phenomenon, and figured out that a similar conjunction must have occurred in 7 B.C. But few people believed Kepler, and it was not until 1925 that a German scholar, Schnabel, deciphered an old cuneiform record from Mesopotamia.
It was a record from the School of Astrology at Sippar in Babylonia. Here was a fact clearly shown. In the year 7 B.C. Jupiter and Saturn did meet in the constellation of the Fishes. Since Schnabel’s discovery, scholars have done a lot of work on the matter. They now know that the meeting of two planets in 7 B.C. began near the end of February. It was not until April 12, however, that both planets had their heliacal rising in the constellation of the Fishes. Heliacal is a technical word used by astronomers, and it means the first visible rising of a star at daybreak.
On May 29, seen for fully two hours in the morning sky, Saturn and Jupiter were incomplete conjunct10n. The same thing happened again on October 3, and for the third and last time on December 4. 11ltJe have seen his star in the east, said the wise men. Now the Greek word is anatole, which was the common astrological term for heliacal rising. So a better translation might well be, n’tJe have seen his star appear in the first rays of dawn”.
Now comes an interesting question. Why did the three wise men, the three astrologers from Babylon, come to Palestine to see a star they could just as well see at home? We find the answer in the significance which the ancient Chaldean astrologers gave to each constellation and each planet. Pisces (the Fishes) was the sign of the west, of the Mediterranean countries west of Babylonia. What is more, from very ancient Hebrew times it was the sign of Israel and of Israel’s Messiah. The constellation, as symbol of the west, stood at the end of the sun’s course and at the beginning of its new run. It represented then, under certain circumstances, the end of one age and the beginning of another.
Now let us see why Jupiter and Saturn provided the unusual circumstances. All ancient nations considered Jupiter both the regal and the lucky star. Saturn, according to al I Jewish tradition, was the special protector of Israel. Babylonian astrology considered Saturn to be the special star of Syria and Palestine. Since the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem in Nebuchadnezzar!s time; many Jews had -lived in Babylon. Many of them had studied at the School of Astrology in Sippar. This wonderful encounter of royal Jupiter with Saturn, guardian of Israel, in the constellation of the west country, country of the Messiah, stirred those exiled Jewish astrologers, for it pointed to the appearance of a mighty king in the land of their fathers. To experience it in person, to see it with their own eyes that was the reason why the three Magi that is, Jewish astrologers — journeyed from Babylon to Palestine. Arriving in Palestine, the three men inquired where the Messiah would be born, according to the revered prophetic predictions. This is clearly told us in Matthew’s gospel. Five miles south of Jerusalem, on the road to ancient Hebron, is Bethlehem, and there the eastern travelers were di rected. The ancient highway, which Abraham had once traversed, lay almost due north and south. It was now early December and the planets Jupiter and Saturn blazed together as one star. As the Wise Men of the East made their way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem in the twi light, the blazing double planet would have been directly ahead of them. As the gospel says, the star went before them!.
About this time, if you have been fol lowing me closely, you are thinking something is wrong with this computation. If the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred in the first week of December, how did December 25 come to be fixed as Christmas Day? December 25 was first designated as the day to celebrate Jesus’ birth some time in the 4th century, more than 300 years after the crucifixion. In the 6th century, under the Roman Emperor Justinian, it was first recognized as an official holiday. In the Roman calendar December 25 was the day of the winter solstice, the changing daTe from autumn to winter, equivalent to our December 21. It was also the last day of the Roman Saturnalia, the great carefree festival, a kind of ancient Mardi Gras, when all Rome was in hilarious celebration and the Christians could feel most safe from persecution. Those TWO facts fastened December 25 as a great Christian day.
But what about the year 7 B.C.? Isn’t that seven years too early? Some time ago New Testament scholars fixed the actual year of Jesus’ birth as 4 B.C. Now we know it must have been three years earlier than that. The first verse of the second chapter of Matthew reads: ‘~Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in The days of Herod the king”. There is plenty of evidence outside the Bible to show exactly when Herod reigned. He was designated King of Judea by the Romans in 40 B. C., and he continued as king until his death in 4 B.C. Jesus must therefore have been born before 4 8. C. And since the evidence shows convincingly that a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred at the time of Jesus’ birth, it must have been when those two planets blazed forth as a single star in 7 B.C.
Finally as witnesses alongside the astronomers appear the meteorologists, the weather men. They know that the climate of Palestine has changed very little in the past 2,000 years. Their contemporary temperature readings show persistent frost in the Judea hills from December 18 to March 1. At Christmas time Bethlehem is in the grip of frozen ground and no flocks are in the fields. After remaining in the open for almost eight months, the flocks are brought indoors before the end of November. That this practice of today was true 2,000 years ago is borne out by several references in the Talmud. Now in Luke’s gospel we read, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night”. That must mean that the birth in the stable of the Bethlehem inn took place before the onset of winter. So Jesus! birthday must have been some ti me in November in the year 7 B.C.
After all, it doesn’t matter a great deal to know .exactly when Jesus was born. The present Queen Elizabeth of England has her annual official birthday on a day that is not even in the month of her birth. Why then have I gone to such lengths to talk about the Star of Bethlehem? will tell you just why I have done it and I hope you will agree it is a good reason.
For a long time many people have scoffed at the Bible narratives, calling them just myths and legends. During recent years the investigations of archeologists and other scientists have given us literally ,hundreds of examp les of the Bible stories’ accuracy. Modern science, not the enemy but the partner of religion, is responsible for our knowledge today that nearly two thousand years ago, on the ancient road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, three astrologers from Babylon followed no hallucination, but a real blazing star.
Year: 1956