People, It's Just a Couple of Planets

 

I have been bothered by something for a while now; something that has gained a lot of momentum on Facebook and other social media. I was just going to keep silent about this and let people have their excitement, but I cannot hold my tongue any longer. This is in regards to the "Christmas Star" that is going to be visible on December 21st. My position is that this is not a re-manifestation of the Star of Bethlehem, as it is commonly referred to, but rather just another astronomical re-occurrence.

I keep seeing posts about the alignment of two planets in our sky and people seem so very excited about what it might mean. It seems to me that people are grasping at straws to try to find something positive to cling to, especially as this awful year draws to a close and Christians are trying to see prophecy fulfilled in every possible irregularity with eyes looking to the End Times. We must be very careful to correctly identify prophetic fulfillment where it is and not to put weight where it is not due.

The upcoming astronomical phenomena is not such a rarity as it is being portrayed. This alignment occurs to some degree every 20 years or so - the excitement this year is that the two planets will align closer than they have for about 800 years; so cool, but not necessarily more than that. Plus, I have seen posts stating that the original star that marked the birth of Jesus was the result of the alignment of three planets, and that this alignment somehow correlates to that one. I believe this to be logically untenable, even just on a mathematical basis. The likelihood of the alignment of three planets to create one large light in the night sky is a minuscule possibility while the likelihood of two planets is far more likely, though a rarity in itself, making this a far less miraculous event than what is purported to have happened 2000+ years ago. This is not to say that I subscribe to the three planets alignment theory either - let's look to Scripture.

As we read the story of Jesus' birth in Matthew, the second chapter sees the Magi arrive in Jerusalem to see King Herod. They claim that they saw the star and have travelled to see the newborn King of the Jews. We must bear in mind that these men could not hop a plane or drive a car for their travels, they had to use camels, donkeys, carts, possibly sail boats to cover the distance, none of which is a fast mode of transportation by our standards. We don't know exactly where their starting point was, but given the size of the geographic area, legend of the Magi coming from the Orient or at least a very far off place and their mode of transport, I think we can safely assume at least a few weeks of travel to reach Jerusalem. Even this is assuming that the Magi immediately knew the meaning of the star, knew they wanted to travel and had their lives arranged so that a long journey could be embarked upon on short notice - likely none of this was the case, probably adding weeks of preparation before they even left their homes. All of this already easily puts the Magi's arrival in Jerusalem anywhere from four to eight weeks after the appearance of the star. Let's call it six weeks.

In verse seven, Herod asks the Magi about the timing of the star's appearance, which the Magi share with him, a detail which will come into play a little later in the story. Now again, we may assume that these unknown men had an immediate audience with the King, but I doubt that is a wise assumption to make, which will also most likely add at least a few days to their stay in Jerusalem, but I am willing to let that slide.

In verse nine we learn that the Magi continue their travels, again following the Star as it "went ahead of them". Here is an indication that the appearance of the star is not just a one night occurrence, or even a week long phenomenon given the length of time that the Magi have likely travelled to this point as mentioned above. We could assume that the star appeared for only one or even a few nights initially and the Magi travelled to Jerusalem to seek the "King of the Jews" in the place that would seem logical to them, not actually having been led to Jerusalem by the star but having reached this conclusion based upon their knowledge and logic alone. The problem with this view in relation to the statements that are being made about the coming planetary alignment and the Biblical story, is that it requires that the planets, all three of them, then align to each other again mere weeks or months after their first alignment, which astronomy tells us is an impossibility.

 

Also, if the star is actually going ahead of them and leading them, then it cannot be a cosmic light as it cannot lead except to indicate a general direction, starting a journey which will never end on a round planet. They will have never reached an unknown destination, and the star could not have "stopped over the place where the child was" as we are told in verse 9.

In verse 11 we are told that the Magi arrive at the house where they found Mary and Jesus. The young family is no longer in the stable, they are not even in an inn as they attempted on the first night. As it is now likely at least weeks after Jesus' birth and Joseph will have likely long fulfilled his duty to participate in the census taken in Bethlehem, they have probably returned home, to Nazareth according to Luke 2:4. It was costly then for a family to travel without an opportunity to earn an income, just as it is now, so to assume that they have stayed in Bethlehem this entire time does not make sense. Joseph had responsibilities to his work and his family just as he would today, so a return to home and work is due in short order.

Now we jump further in the story. Herod has been waiting for the Magi to report back to him. After meeting with Herod the Magi knew where Jesus had been prophesied to be born, in Bethlehem. I suspect that the chief priests and teachers likely directed the Magi to Bethlehem assuming Jesus' residency there, and this can be corroborated by the edict that Herod later had the children in and around Bethlehem killed.

 

The distance from modern day Jerusalem to Bethlehem is less than 10 kilometers. Assuming that both cities were much smaller 2000 years ago, the distance likely measured somewhat longer, depending on the means of measuring, but even at three times that distance, it could easily be travelled within about one day, maybe two if they were worn out. It would not take too long for Herod to lose patience waiting for the Magi to return from a city barely a day's travel away, so even giving as much as two weeks is probably generous before he realizes that the Magi are not returning and he implements his murderous act of killing the young boys, as we learn in verse 16 of chapter 2. Let's call it eight weeks from the appearance of the star.

 

So at this point, if we are claiming that the Star of Bethlehem came to be because three, or even two planets aligned in the heavens, combining their reflected light to become a beacon to the place of Jesus' birth, then we have to accept that the alignment of these planets did not change over the course of eight weeks, give or take a little, or that the planets aligned for a short period, then aligned again a short time later, again within about an eight week time frame. Modern astronomy tells us that both of these are impossibilities.

 

Digging deeper, we see that Herod had all of the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and younger killed, "in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi", and here is where I base my position that it was not weeks that passed from the appearance of the star to the arrival of the Magi, but likely many months. It is one thing to be overly cautious about the ages of the children to kill, but to kill all boys under two years old when the star purportedly appeared a couple of weeks or maybe months earlier is going to an extreme of extremes. This leads me to believe that it possibly took the Magi up to a year to arrive in Jerusalem and even this assumes that Herod gave himself a 12 month cushion on the age of Jesus as a precaution when killing the baby boys.

So, assuming a one year buffer on the possible age of Jesus when Herod killed the baby boys under two, we are looking at a likelihood of at least one year for the Magi to have travelled from their home country to Jerusalem, meet Herod, and see Jesus, all the while following a star supposedly formed by the alignment of three, never mind two planets in a sky that is constantly shifting from Earth's perspective. Again, modern astronomy tells us that this is an impossibility. As Bible believing Christians, our only other explanation is that the "star" was an unnatural phenomenon, placed in the heavens for a set time to accomplish God's Will according to His timing. If this is the case, we need to take a step back from a natural, recurring cosmic alignment and keep it in it's rightful place, and that place is within God's natural creation, as a beauty to behold and enjoy, with no Biblical or prophetic significance whatsoever. Otherwise, what ever the significance is, we missed it by at least 800 years, and so did the people 800 years earlier, in perpetuity.

One final note: you may decide that while everything that I stated above my be accurate and true, you still choose to believe that the planets aligning is a sign of prophecy at the time of year when we celebrate Christmas. And while my intention is not to pop your bubble, keep this in mind; December 25th was a pagan holiday repurposed by the Church as a date on which to celebrate Christmas. This is not historically the birth date of Christ and may not even be in the right month. Why would God adjust His timing to accommodate our misconceptions and send a sign to us accordingly? God does not bend His timing to match ours, he expects us to bend to match His.