Dec. 29, 1882.] 



• KNOWLEDGE 



491 



THE STAR IN THE EAST. 

 By Richard A. Proctor. 



IT has been suggested by Ideler (182G) that the star 

 which the magi saw in the East was in reality a con- 

 junction of the two planets Jupiter and Saturn. In point 

 of fact, no less than three conjunctions of these two planets 

 occurred in the year 7 B.C., or, remembering the error of 

 four years in the ordinary dating of the year from which 

 the Christian era is reckoned, in the third year before the 

 birth of Christ. On Jlay 29, in that year, the two planets 

 ■were within a distance of about one degree from each other, 

 or about twice the apparent diameter of the moon. On 

 Sept. 30 they were again at aljout the same distance from 

 each other, and on Dec. 5 they were for yet a third time 

 almost exactly at the same distance apart. On Sept. 30, 

 in the year 7 b c, the two planets must have presented a 

 very striking appearance, since they were then both nearly 

 at their brightest. 



Ideler's calculations were not quite so e.\act as those 

 I have here dealt with (which are Encke's). Yet even 

 Ideler's imperfect calculations made it clear that the 

 two planets could not have been less than half a degree 

 from each other — a distance equal to about the appa- 

 rent diameter of the moon. Ideler, therefore, in order to 

 explain how the two planets came to be mistaken for a 

 single star, was obliged to introduce the subsidiary theorj- 

 that the magi were very shortsighted, insomuch that the 

 images of the two planets appeared to them to form in 

 appearance a single star of exceptional brightness. When 

 Encke, in 1831, announced the result of his calculations 

 as setting the planets about one degree apart at each of 

 their three conjunctions in the year 7 u.c, Ideler 

 withdrew this fanciful notion. For though to a very 

 shortsighted person the image of a star may appear 

 a little larger than the moon, and thus two stars 

 separated by a distance equal to the moon's apparent 

 diameter might seem to coalesce into a single blurred 

 image (shaped somewhat like the dumbbell nebula, yet 

 assuredly two stars separated by twice this distance could 

 not possibly be mistaken by the magi for one, unless we 

 suppose those worthies to have been miraculously short- 

 sighted, which does not appear from the narrative. 

 Therefore Ideler now only maintained that the unusual 

 conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in the third year 

 before the birth of Christ formed the special astronomical 

 phenomenon which announced to the magi the approaching 

 birth of the great King, whose " kingdom was not of this 

 world." Sing\ilarly enough, Dr. Farrar, whom we would 

 suppose unlikely to be led astray by astronomical fancies, 

 adopts in his "Life of Christ" the strange theory thus 

 advanced. 



If we consider carefully the narrative given by Matthew, 

 and especially if we consider it from the point of view of 

 those theologians who believe in verbal inspiration, it will 

 appear that this explanation of the Star in the East is alto- 

 gether inadmissible. It will be well thus to examine the 

 account, one of the most suggesti\e and poetical in the 

 Gospels, and altogether the most poetical in the Gospel of 

 Matthew. It is well worthy of study in whatever way we 

 view it, whether we regard it as an inspired narrative, true 

 in every detail, or whether we consider it as a tradition 

 only, or whether, lastly, we take some view intermediate 

 between these extreme opinions. Here, however, I only 

 note those features of the narrati\e which might be apt to 

 escape attention, not to run through the entire account, 

 with wliich every one may be supposed to be perfectly 

 familiar. I follow the Greek version, not tliat our trans- 



lation is inaccurate, but because there are one or two 

 sentences which might be wrongly understood in the English 

 version, while their meaning in the Greek is unmistakable. 



Christ was already born in Bethlehem, but how long 

 before we do not know, when certain magi, or persons 

 possessed of occult knowledge, came from the East to 

 Jerusalem. Probably they were supposed to have come 

 from Chaldea, since their wisdom is manifestly associated 

 with the interpretation of the stars, for which the Chal- 

 deans were in those days, and had been for ages, famous. 

 The use of the word " magi, " even if we translated it 

 " magicians," would not of itself imply anything objection- 

 able in their wisdom, although the same word is translated 

 " sorcerer " when applied to Elymas, and is used in a 

 somewhat similar sense in the case of Simon Magus. 

 For in the East, the possession of magical power or 

 wisdom was not necessary, or, indeed, chiefly re- 

 garded as evidence of wickedness, but frequently as 

 the reward of special virtue. Be this as it may, it is cer- 

 tain that Matthew's narrative attributes a good purpose to 

 the magi who came from the East to worship Christ — 

 though some of the consequences of their journey were, to 

 sa:y the least, unfortunate. They knew from the star or 

 celestial phenomenon which they had observed that one 

 was born who was to be King of the Jews, and they had, 

 therefore, come to Jerusalem, the chief city of the Jews, 

 to ask for more precise information. Astrology, according 

 to the teaching of its leading professors in those days (as, 

 indeed, now), ailbrds the means of determining what region 

 of the earth is indicated by some special phenomenon, 

 though not of assigning the exact part of that region which 

 is in question. 



The magi learned from Herod that Bethlehem of Judea 

 was the place where the Jlessiah was to be born. He had 

 obtained this information from the chief priests and scribes, 

 who interpreted as a prediction to that etl'ect certain words 

 of the prophet Micah. So soon as the magi had been told 

 this they set out from Jerusalem toward 15ethlehcm, or in 

 a nearly southerly direction. "We may suppose that, as 

 Longfellow sings — 



They travelled by night and they slept by day, 

 For their guide wag a beautiful, wonderful star. 



And the star which they had seen in the East went before 

 them till it came and stood over where the young child 

 was. This would imply, if we suppose that they reached 

 Bethlehem near the middle of the night, that the star or 

 orb which they regarded as signifying the coming of a great 

 king was nearly in opposition to the sun at the time when 

 they reached the village where the child was. A\'e must 

 remember, however, in reading this account, that the dis- 

 tance whicli the magi had to journey was not great — not 

 more, certainly, than six miles. Supposing them to be 

 very feeble old men, and to be heavily burdened with their 

 gifts, which seems hardly probable, since tliey had come 

 to Jerusalem from a distant country, they could hardly 

 have been more than three hours at the outside upon their 

 journey, if they set out from Jerusalem as the shades of 

 evening closed, and the time was winter, as commonly re- 

 ceived, then it would have been about eight in the e\ oning 

 at latest when they reached Bethlehem. And if at that 

 hour the star lay due South, or rather to the west of South, 

 then it must have been sixty or seventy degrees West of the 

 point opposite the sun. This would correspond fairly with 

 the case of the conjoined planets Jupiter and Saturn in 

 the third year before the birth of Christ, if we suppose 

 the journey to Bethlehem made nearly at the time of tlie 

 third conjunction of those planets, or about December 5. 

 It is, in fact, on this circumstance chiefly that the 



