Loading...In a post a couple of days ago I mentioned that if the wise men were following the star to Bethlehem, they would be walking in circles. When asked about it by several people I explained that since the earth is not “fixed” — it rotates and is in orbit around the sun — stars are never in the same place in the sky, so “following” one would take you all over the place. Here’s a hilarious illustration of what would happen if the wisemen followed a celestial body to find Jesus. I have borrowed this (no permission required, only acknowledgment) from here: http://what-if.xkcd.com/25/
Acknowledgement is here: http://xkcd.com/license.html
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Three Wise Men
The story of the three wise men got me wondering: What if you did walk towards a star at a fixed speed? What path would you trace on the Earth? Does it converge to a fixed cycle?
—N. Murdoch
If the wise men leave Jerusalem and walk toward the star Sirius, day and night, even when it’s below the horizon, this is the path they follow over the surface:
If we allow a little theological confusion and assume the wise men can walk on water, they’ll eventually wind up going in an endless circle, 30 kilometers in diameter, around the South Pole.
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I cannot vouch for the accuracy of these humorous paths, but anyone who has star gazed with his/her kids knows that due to the earth’s rotation, the stars and moon move across the sky at night, just like the sun, another star, does during the day, and are not fixed in position. Thanks for the humor.
If following any star WITH the ability to walk on water, the Wise Guys could end up orbiting any Earth locale at the right latitude for that star, but at any longitude. Once at that latitude, the Earth’s tilt would tend to lock them into a North-South drift over the course of each year, but where they end up in longitude depends on the consistency of their groundspeed.
Given enough time, I wouldn’t assume a simple southward (or northward) drift. Who, today, could know the variability in speed of the Wise Guys walking over the Earth? Into the Sun? Away from the Sun? Uphill? Downhill? Relative to the flow of streams and rivers? The oceanic currents and storms?
So. For Sirius @ ~16.5deg South of Celestial Equator, that latitude could put them making lazy circles near any of northern Botswana (actually Zambia), Queensland Australia, Brasilia Brazil, or (my favorite) Lake Titicaca Peru.
Assuming the Wise Guys (like global weather patterns under the influence of the Sun and the Earth’s rotation) would generally flow West to East while walking with their guide dog star (Sirius), I like to think they could spend a little time in ALL those places.
Delightful! My neighbors probably heard my guffaws.
Seriously, though, I think many Christians who are determined to believe convince themselves that despite the “misleading wording,” those wise men were really *astrologers*, following written charts rather than an object in the sky – and there are many variants of astrology, so it’s possible no one but they could have understood where they were being led (indirectly, of course, by “God”).
I think the stronger arguments against the historical truth of the “Magi” story are the irreconcilable differences between this narrative and Luke’s, the ways in which Matthew can be shown to be claiming parallels to the story of Moses, and the absence of any other historical reference to this slaughter of children. (Though I’ve heard that last “explained” by the argument that Bethlehem was such a small town that there were very few children to be killed.)
I want to mention that I’m reading your new textbook, and loving it – just finished reading about the Books of Samuel. Not being one of your students, I’m not doing the “homework” – reading the actual Bible! But I’m learning a lot.
I was fascinated by the diagram on page 34, showing how the ancients in that part of the world, at least when Genesis 1 was written, imagined the relationship of Earth, “firmament,” and surrounding water. A question: Do scholars know whether they imagined *everything* beyond this world God had created to be water? An *infinite* expanse of water?
Also, a very different question: The one of the Ten Commandments that deals with killing is correctly translated as “Thou shalt not murder”? That’s better than the Catholic version I’ve always heard: “Thou shalt not kill,” which doesn’t make any distinction among the many kinds of killing. And “Thou shalt not covet (whatever)” really does make clear, in the original Hebrew, that it refers to something more than a mild envy?
Even so, I’m less than impressed by a moral code that doesn’t forbid rape and pedophilia. And after what the Israelites had supposedly endured in Egypt, I’m surprised at their not condemning slavery.
First quesiton: yes, I think they imagined the “world” to be very very small in comparison to what we think of as the universe; I don’t know what they thought was outside the water….
It’s debated about Kill vs. Murder — but since God later tells the Israelites to Kill all the inhabitants of Canaan, it appears that here he means “Murder” (your fellow Israelite); covet: also debated. Slavery: virtually *no one* condemned it in antiquity! The Law of Moses actually condones it!
Navigation by Star
To find their direction, sailors could use a compass or the stars. The needle of a compass points in a northern direction from almost anywhere on Earth. The North Star was also a reliable way to determine north. As it turns out, the North Star is located directly over the North Pole so wherever the North Star is in the sky, that direction is north.
Of the two methods for determining north, early navigators preferred using the stars because early compasses were unreliable. They sometimes lost their magnetic charge and became useless. Also, the ship’s motion made it difficult to get a steady reading from the compass. For centuries, many great scientists worked on the technical problem of keeping a compass needle steady. And then there was the problem of variation: a compass needle doesn’t point to true north, it points to magnetic north. As you sail around the globe, magnetic north changes in relation to true north. The North Star on the other hand was always located at true north.
Um, to take this literally, wouldn’t following a star imply spedning the first half of the night heading east and then, as the start in question crosses the celestial zenith, turning around and heading west for the rest of the night?
I’ve often wondered about this part. Did the author of Matthew literally believe the Magi followed the star? I’ve known about the behavior of stars since I was a child and wondered how they could follow it and not end up walking back where they came from . Presumably Matthew was aware of as well. So did he think it was a “magic” star that somehow stayed fixed in the sky, and was small enough and close enough to the ground to be a navigable beacon? Or, does the text imply something else. Of all the things the author may have been I doubt he was stupid, or unaware of the behavior of celestial bodies.
Good questions! I wish we know!
Bart,
The problem, again, is widespread ignorance of Mysticism. Mystics know that the ‘star’ is an inner star, not visible outside. While it is humorous to speculate on the astronomy version, this is just a bit silly. On page 57 of gJudas, Judas (James) is told to “lift up your eyes” to “see the luminous cloud”, the same as in Matthew 6:22, with “thy eye be single, body full of Light”. This is talking about the third eye, the Tisra Til of Eastern Mystics, the reason for the henna dot on Indian women’s forehead, the ‘mark” on the forehead in numerous biblical passages, The “lifting up”, just as with Moses in the desert with the Kundalini ‘serpent’, it is easily explained as concentration within and seeing inner visions there. The Transfiguration is the same. In fact, in Hebrew Matthew 17:3, a deleted passage states pretty recognizably “Asleep and not asleep, awake but not awake”. It was deleted in the Greek translations because it was too gnostic. Tell me, what do they teach about Eastern religions in divinity schools? Anything? We can’t make progress until there is an Eastern education. I am an example.
It completely depends on the divinity school. Academically top-level ones, possibly; regular minister-factories, not so much.
I’m sure the writer of Matthew was unaware of the behavior of celestial bodies. He imagined he star to be close to the ground. How else could it have stood over the house where Jesus lay?
That *would* be an amazing star (say, 30 feet off the ground!)
Dear Bart,
I know this posting is a bit of humour, but it is also obfuscating the real history of the region (and gospels). The story of the Star at Jesus’ birth was actually a direct allusion to the Star Prophesy – and it was Jesus who was the Star from the East. The Star Prophesy said:
“I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.” Numbers 24:17
As you know this same Star Prophesy was being used to predict the new Emperor of Rome (after Nero), and was not a prophesy about a new King of Judaea. Thus the import of this story is that Jesus was connected with the Jewish Revolt, and he his primary goal to become the next Emperor of Rome.
An absurd proposition? Not at all. Why do you think that Jesus was crucified with a purple cloak of the Emperor of Rome:
“And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head.” Mark 15:17
This verse is as plain as it could possibly be. Only the Emperor could wear the Imperial Purple, and so Jesus was being dressed as a Roman Emperor because he was attempting to become Emperor of Rome. And that is why the Romans got involved in this dispute and crushed the Jewish Revolt. But do note that is was Jesus’ primary adversary, Vespasian, who took the Star Prophesy to Rome and became Emperor.
Wheels within hidden historical wheels, but all is about to be revealed….
Ralph Ellis
I don’t believe Romans knew about the book of Numbers — if that’s what you’re suggesting!
>>I don’t believe Romans knew about the book
>>of Numbers — if that’s what you’re suggesting!
But Josephus did, and Josephus was the primary quisling and yes-man of Emperor Vespasian. And the Romans quite obviously knew of this Star Prophesy (from Josephus) because they mention it.
Suetonius says of the Star Prophesy:
A firm persuasion had long prevailed through all the East, that it was fated for the empire of the world, at that time, to transfer power to someone who should come from Judaea. This prediction referred to a Roman Emperor, as events showed, but the Jews applying it to themselves broke out into rebellion. (The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Vespasian IV)
Tacitus says of the Star Prophesy:
In most (Jews) there was a firm persuasion, that in the ancient records of their priests was contained a prediction of how at this very time the East was to grow powerful, and rulers coming from Judaea were to acquire a universal empire. These prophesies had pointed to Vespasian and Titus, but the common (Jewish) people had interpreted these mighty destinies of themselves. (The Histories, 5:13)
It is axiomatic that the Star Prophesy was a cornerstone of the vital oracles that Vespasian needed to become Emperor (an emperor needed oracles from the gods). But who was the (king) from Judaea who originally born under the Eastern Star and aspired to make a ‘universal empire’? Quite plainly, the Star Prophesy must have originally referred to Jesus.
And if Jesus was the leader of the Jewish Revolt (ie: he was Jesus of Gamala), then Vespasian stole the Star Prophesy from the very king he defeated at the siege of Jerusalem. And thus was born not only Josephus’ book entitled ‘Jewish War’, but also the accounts of the gospels.
Thanks,
Ralph Ellis