A MYSTERY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 306, 26 December 1936, Page 13

A MYSTERY.

THE NATIVITY STAR. WAS IT REFLECTION IN WELL? CONFLICTING IDEAS. (By F.R.A.S.) The story of the visit to Judea of the wise men from the East and of the star by which they were directed to the scene of the Nativity has been the victim of numerous wild explanatory theories. None, however, are satisfactory, not even the simplest of them; namely, that the entire account is legendary. Three hundred years ago Kepler, always ingenious and devout, thought he could explain the phenonemou by identifying the star with a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, which occurred in May, seven years before the birth of Christ is said to have taken place. But -it has been shown that a like conjunction happened <50 years earlier still, and should therefore have inspired the Magi a 11 astrologers to undertake their long journey then. It is also knowii that" the two planets were l " not in close con junction, and never could have been described as "a star." It must have been obvious to all that there were two bodies. Was it a New Star? A further suggestion is that the object was the "new'star" which appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia a second time in 1572. This star greatly surpassed Venus in lustre, and remained visible, though dimming its brightness meanwhile, for a year and four months. The theory is that, like many others, it was a variable star, and that it burst into excessive splendour at the time of the Nativity. It is built up, however, 011 a weak foundation, since Cassiopeia is a. northern constellation, and would have been behind the party of Magiaiis in their passage from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. • E. W. Maunder thinks that a possible clue to the facts lies embodied in a legend. He suggests that the star had been lost in the daylight by the time the wise men reached Jerusalem. It was, therefore, as Maunder states, an evening star during tlieij: journey thither. Let the explanation be given as it stands in his own words: "But it is said in the legend that when the Magians reached Bethleheuj; apparently nearby at midday, one went to the well of the inn in order to draw water. Looking down into the well he saw the star reflected from the surface of the water. This would, of course, be an intimation to them that the star was directly overhead, and its reobservation, under such unusual circumstances, would be sufficient assurance that tliey had reached the right spot. Inquiry at the inn would lead to a knowledge of the.visit of the shepherds." If this story be true, Maunder thinks, the star of Bethlehem was probably a new star not unlike that of 1572. Its first appearance would then have caused

the Magi to set out on their journey, he contends, though it does not appear how they knew what it signified. Whilst they were travelling on their journey of many mouths' duration "the course of the year would bring the star, which shone straight before them in the west after sunset every evening, nearer and nearer the sun. We may suppose that, like other new stars, it gradually faded, so that by the time the wise men had reached Jerusalem tliey had lost sight of it altogether. Having thus lost it, they would not think of looking for it in daylight, for it ijs no easy thing to detect by daylight even Venus at her greatest brilliancy, unless one knows where to look." , The difficulty does not lie in want of lustre, but in picking up and holding steady so minute a point of light in the broad expanse of the gleaming sky. This difficulty would be overcome for them, states Maunder, by the well, which acted like a tube to direct them exactly to the star, and like a telescope to lessen the glare of the sky. It would be necessary. he points out, to suppose that the star was flashing out again with renewed brilliancy; and he reminds us that such a brief recovery of light lias not been unknown in the case of some of our "new" or "temporary" stars. The question is not whether a star can lead men and finally stand over a given place (for stars do not thus stand still); but .whether it can appear to do .so. The only reasonable conclusion to come to is that some astronomical occurrence which was sufficient to lead these astrologers to undertake their journey of five months' duration did actually take place. Magi and Trickery. The word "Rab-mag," used for the chief of the Magi, signifies a religious caste among the Persians, worshipping God under the form of fire. In the court of Nebuchadnezzar their influence brought about a corruption of faith among the Chaldeans, and their operations were for the most part given up to divining, to the interpretation of dreams and to astrology. Immediately prior to New Testament times the name -Mngi had come,,to be connected with trickery of various kinds. Throughout the Roman Empire there were great numbers of impostors bearing the name. Simon Magus, it will be remembered, was the name of a trickster mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. But the word lias also an honourable significance in different connections, as in the case of the "wise men from the East." At Damascus, Josephus tells us, it was commonly 'believed that the Messiah's coming was imminent, and that signs would be given from heaven to indicate his advent. There would thus be sufficient inducement to the astrologers to venture 011 the journey westward in the event of anything happening in the heavens of an exceptional nature. Such events were of extreme interest to them, and they would be prepared to go to almost any length to fathom their mystery and meaning. All suggestions made in explanation of the story are fraught with difficulty; but *110110 is so unsatisfactory as that the whole story sliould be regarded as mythical. As iloltzman truly says, the narrative is of great poetic beauty, but it does not follow that its rests upon no historical foundation.