As has been our custom for the past eight years, we shall devote this\u00a0program entirely to the subject of Christmas. On every Christmas Sunday since\u00a01948, “Little Talks on Common Things” has made the greatest of our annual holidays\u00a0its single theme. Each year we have tried to present some of the unusual\u00a0features of Christmas and have emphasized its spiritual rather than its material\u00a0significance. ‘v’e <\/em>Christians can respect other religions; we can recognize\u00a0the contributions some of them have made to Christian thought. But we may\u00a0still proudly say that Christmas is peculiarly our day. For whatever else the\u00a0holiday means whether it is for some simply the best trading season of the\u00a0year, for others the time of the company’s distribution of bonuses, or for\u00a0others just the time of gifts and greeting cards — for members of the various\u00a0Christian sects al lover the earth Christmas celebrates God’s supreme gift to\u00a0man, through the acceptance of which man can find unity with God.<\/p>\n There has been much speculation about the Star of Bethlehem. When one\u00a0thinks of a sudden bright light in the sky, but one which lingers and does not\u00a0quickly fade out like a shooting star, one is lead by the star-gazers throughout\u00a0the ages to think of one of two phenomena, a comet or a new star, what astronomers\u00a0call a nova.\u00a0Now there is some reason for thinking that the Star of Bethlehem was a\u00a0comet. From the time of earliest written records, and doubtless for millennia\u00a0before that, comets were supposed to predict special events. The Romans have\u00a0left us many records of comets observed in one part or another of the Empire.<\/p>\n In 83 B.C. a comet appeared suddenly and was observed for a whole night in all\u00a0the mediterranean lands. Shortly after the Ides of March in 44 B.C., when Caesar\u00a0was assassinated, a brilliant comet appeared in the sky. The next to be\u00a0reported was in 66 A.D. shortly before Nero committed suicide. Between 44 B.C.\u00a0and 66 A.D. the Roman records are si lent about comets. But not so the Chinese\u00a0records. Translating the dates and the names for the Zodiac signs into our\u00a0own usage, th i sis what the 0ld Chinese records say: t’l n the first year of\u00a0the Emperor Yuen-Yen, on the 25th of August, a comet was seen in the region of\u00a0the sky known as the Twins. It passed over that consTellation, proceeded\u00a0northerly through Castor and Pol lux into the constellaTion of the Lion. On the\u00a056th day it disappeared into the constellation of the Scorpion. Altogether the\u00a0comet was seen for 63 days.”<\/p>\n That old Chinese account is the first description of the famous Halley’s\u00a0Comet, last seen in 1911 and sure to be visible again in 1986. Now the first\u00a0year of the Emperor Yuen-Yen is known to have been the year 12 B.C. That comes\u00a0somewhere near the time of Jesus’ birth, but not quite near enough. Astronomers\u00a0we 11 know That Halley ‘s comet is not equa Ily visi b Ie ina II parts of the earth.\u00a0Visible in China in 12 B.C., it may not have been seen at al I in the Mediterranean\u00a0countries. That is why the Roman records are silent about it.<\/p>\n What about a nova, a new star? Does that explain the Star of Bethlehem?\u00a0A nova is the result of an atomic explosion of colossal violence taking place\u00a0within 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\u00a0say about such happenings at the time of Jesus’ birth? The blazing light of a\u00a0new star — although of course the Roman observers did not know it was a new\u00a0star — is mentioned in <\/em>134 B.C. and 173 A.D. Those TWO descriptions fit exactly\u00a0what modern astronomers know as the phenomena which accompany a nova.\u00a0There 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\u00a0recorded sourCes or even the traditions say anything about a new star in or\u00a0near the year zero.<\/p>\n It seems extremely doubtful, therefore, whether the Star of Bethlehem\u00a0could h ave been e i the r a comet or a new star. What then was it? It was what\u00a0astronomers call a conjunction of two planets. Sometimes two of the Earth’s\u00a0planets move so close to each other that they have the appearance of a single\u00a0and more brilliant star. We now know that on the night Jesus was born the\u00a0planets Saturn and Jupiter had such a conjunction within the constellation of\u00a0the Fishes.\u00a0Shortly before Christmas in 1603 the astronomer Kepler, with his modest\u00a0home-made telescope, watched a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. Suddenly\u00a0he remembered a statement in an old Hebrew writing of the Rabbi Abarbanel that\u00a0the Messiah ‘would appear when Saturn and Jupiter were in conjunction in the\u00a0constellation of the Fishes. Kepler started carefully checking the mathematics\u00a0of this phenomenon, and figured out that a similar conjunction must have occurred\u00a0in 7 B.C. But few people believed Kepler, and it was not until 1925\u00a0that a German scholar, Schnabel, deciphered an old cuneiform record from Mesopotamia.<\/p>\n It was a record from the School of Astrology at Sippar in Babylonia.\u00a0Here was a fact clearly shown. In the year 7 B.C. Jupiter and Saturn\u00a0did meet in the constellation of the Fishes. Since Schnabel’s discovery, scholars\u00a0have done a lot of work on the matter. They now know that the meeting of\u00a0two planets in 7 B.C. began near the end of February. It was not until April\u00a012, however, that both planets had their heliacal rising in the constellation\u00a0of the Fishes. Heliacal is a technical word used by astronomers, and it means\u00a0the first visible rising of a star at daybreak.<\/p>\n On May 29, seen for fully two hours in the morning sky, Saturn and Jupiter\u00a0were incomplete conjunct10n. The same thing happened again on October 3, and\u00a0for the third and last time on December 4.\u00a011ltJe <\/em>have seen his star in the east, said the wise men. Now the Greek\u00a0word is anatole, which was the common astrological term for heliacal rising.\u00a0So a better translation might well be, n’tJe <\/em>have seen his star appear in the\u00a0first rays of dawn”.<\/p>\n Now comes an interesting question. Why did the three wise men, the three\u00a0astrologers from Babylon, come to Palestine to see a star they could just as\u00a0well see at home? We find the answer in the significance which the ancient\u00a0Chaldean astrologers gave to each constellation and each planet. Pisces (the\u00a0Fishes) was the sign of the west, of the Mediterranean countries west of Babylonia.\u00a0What is more, from very ancient Hebrew times it was the sign of Israel\u00a0and of Israel’s Messiah. The constellation, as symbol of the west, stood at\u00a0the end of the sun’s course and at the beginning of its new run. It represented\u00a0then, under certain circumstances, the end of one age and the beginning\u00a0of another.<\/p>\n Now let us see why Jupiter and Saturn provided the unusual circumstances.\u00a0All ancient nations considered Jupiter both the regal and the lucky star. Saturn,\u00a0according to al I Jewish tradition, was the special protector of Israel.\u00a0Babylonian astrology considered Saturn to be the special star of Syria and Palestine.\u00a0Since the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem in Nebuchadnezzar!s time;\u00a0many Jews had -lived in Babylon. Many of them had studied at the School of Astrology\u00a0in Sippar. This wonderful encounter of royal Jupiter with Saturn,\u00a0guardian of Israel, in the constellation of the west country, country of the\u00a0Messiah, stirred those exiled Jewish astrologers, for it pointed to the appearance\u00a0of a mighty king in the land of their fathers. To experience it in\u00a0person, to see it with their own eyes that was the reason why the three\u00a0Magi that is, Jewish astrologers — journeyed from Babylon to Palestine.\u00a0Arriving in Palestine, the three men inquired where the Messiah would be\u00a0born, according to the revered prophetic predictions. This is clearly told us\u00a0in Matthew’s gospel. Five miles south of Jerusalem, on the road to ancient\u00a0Hebron, is Bethlehem, and there the eastern travelers were di rected. The\u00a0ancient highway, which Abraham had once traversed, lay almost due north and\u00a0south. It was now early December and the planets Jupiter and Saturn blazed\u00a0together as one star. As the Wise Men of the East made their way from Jerusalem\u00a0to Bethlehem in the twi light, the blazing double planet would have been\u00a0directly ahead of them. As the gospel says, the star went before them!.<\/p>\n About this time, if you have been fol lowing me closely, you are thinking\u00a0something is wrong with this computation. If the conjunction of Jupiter and\u00a0Saturn occurred in the first week of December, how did December 25 come to be\u00a0fixed as Christmas Day? December 25 was first designated as the day to celebrate\u00a0Jesus’ birth some time in the 4th century, more than 300 years after the\u00a0crucifixion. In the 6th century, under the Roman Emperor Justinian, it was\u00a0first recognized as an official holiday. In the Roman calendar December 25 was\u00a0the day of the winter solstice, the changing daTe from autumn to winter, equivalent\u00a0to our December 21. It was also the last day of the Roman Saturnalia,\u00a0the great carefree festival, a kind of ancient Mardi Gras, when all Rome was in\u00a0hilarious celebration and the Christians could feel most safe from persecution.\u00a0Those TWO facts fastened December 25 as a great Christian day.<\/p>\n But what about the year 7 B.C.? Isn’t that seven years too early? Some\u00a0time ago New Testament scholars fixed the actual year of Jesus’ birth as 4 B.C.\u00a0Now we know it must have been three years earlier than that. The first verse\u00a0of the second chapter of Matthew reads: ‘~Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem\u00a0of Judea, in The days of Herod the king”. There is plenty of evidence outside\u00a0the Bible to show exactly when Herod reigned. He was designated King of Judea\u00a0by the Romans in 40 B. C., and he continued as king until his death in 4 B.C.\u00a0Jesus must therefore have been born before 4 8. C. And since the evidence\u00a0shows convincingly that a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred at the\u00a0time of Jesus’ birth, it must have been when those two planets blazed forth as\u00a0a single star in 7 B.C.<\/p>\n Finally as witnesses alongside the astronomers appear the meteorologists,\u00a0the weather men. They know that the climate of Palestine has changed very little\u00a0in the past 2,000 years. Their contemporary temperature readings show persistent frost in the Judea hills from December 18 to March 1.\u00a0At Christmas time Bethlehem is in the grip of frozen ground and no flocks\u00a0are in the fields. After remaining in the open for almost eight months, the\u00a0flocks are brought indoors before the end of November. That this practice of\u00a0today was true 2,000 years ago is borne out by several references in the Talmud.\u00a0Now in Luke’s gospel we read, “And there were in the same country shepherds\u00a0abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night”. That\u00a0must mean that the birth in the stable of the Bethlehem inn took place before\u00a0the onset of winter. So Jesus! birthday must have been some ti me in November\u00a0in the year 7 B.C.<\/p>\n After all, it doesn’t matter a great deal to know .exactly when Jesus was\u00a0born. The present Queen Elizabeth of England has her annual official birthday\u00a0on a day that is not even in the month of her birth. Why then have I gone to\u00a0such lengths to talk about the Star of Bethlehem? will tell you just why I\u00a0have done it and I hope you will agree it is a good reason.<\/p>\n For a long time many people have scoffed at the Bible narratives, calling\u00a0them just myths and legends. During recent years the investigations of archeologists\u00a0and other scientists have given us literally ,hundreds of examp les of\u00a0the Bible stories’ accuracy. Modern science, not the enemy but the partner of\u00a0religion, is responsible for our knowledge today that nearly two thousand\u00a0years ago, on the ancient road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, three astrologers\u00a0from Babylon followed no hallucination, but a real blazing star.<\/p>\n Year: 1956<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #324, broadcast on December 23, 1956<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[790,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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