The Star of Bethlehem

Which star was it that the magi from the East saw? Was it a (super)nova, a comet, or a meteor? The Griffith Observatory in the U.S. has made a wonderful presentation, pointing to spectacular conjunctions of Jupiter and Venus a few years before our era.

For the Babylonians, Jupiter and Venus were respectively “the king’s star” and Ishtar, the goddess of fertility. First there was the conjunction that took place on August 12, 3 B.C. in the constellation Leo (> the Lion of Judah), and this phenomenon repeated itself on June 17, 2 B.C. In between, there were also several other remarkable occurrences connected with Jupiter, the “king’s star.”

The Griffith Observatory has succeeded in presenting these phenomena in a very vivid way. An absolute recommendation, especially around this time of year, when the birth story of the Savior of the world is usually distorted into a sugar-sweet fairy tale.
See The Star of Bethlehem Video.

Delen: