The Gospel of Matthew describes how astrologers travelled to Jerusalem where King Herod met them. They told Herod that they had followed a star that prophesied the birth of the rightful King of the Jews, and they came to worship this baby. Herod was concerned about his own position as he was just a puppet ruler, and he asked the wise men to return to him when they had found the child. He called his scribes to him for information. In the Book of Micah, it states the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem, birthplace of King David. The wise men continued to follow the star which led them to Bethlehem. We are unsure of the exact date of the birth of Jesus but a bright conjunction, supernova or comet could have been ‘the Star of Bethlehem’.
It might have been a conjunction (coming together) of two planets, one being Jupiter which is known to represent Kingship. (Jupiter is known as Sedeq to the Jews, a word which means righteousness - a title for the Messiah). Regulus might have been the other star - this name means, in Latin 'prince’, and in Arabic, it means 'the heart of the lion' because it appears in the constellation of Leo and also represents Kingship. These two stars appearing together would have been a meaningful sign to the star gazers of the Middle East (possibly Mesopotamia where astrologers were recognised since very ancient times).
There was a conjunction of these two stars, Jupiter and Regulus in 3BC. There was also a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in 2BC, Venus could represent a great light perhaps the joining of a true King with a true Queen, as both Joseph and Mary were of the bloodline of King David. Or did Jupiter go retrograde over Bethlehem in 2BC during Hanukkah?
The wise men had a dream about the dangers that the newborn child faced, and they returned to their homeland without telling Herod that they had found the child. Joseph had a dream that his young family were in great danger, and they fled to Egypt soon after the birth. Herod was furious and ordered the killing of every child under two years old in Bethlehem, but it was too late, Jesus was safe in Egypt.
Wendy Stokes: https://wendystokes.co.uk
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