Re: [asa] The Christmas Story

> The mention of the star indicating the house in which Jesus was when
> the magi arrived has been taken to indicate that it would need to be a
> phenomenon within the atmosphere.?

Another way would be if the "star" is intermittent and the language is figurative.? Here's what I mean:? the astrologers see a new "star" appear (whatever it may be).? They intepret it as the birth of a Judaean king and make the journey.? Sometime before they leave Herod, the "star" has already disappeared.? But they follow the directions to Bethlehem and ask around, and since the story told by?the shepherds is well known, the locals direct them to the famous baby at the house.? Just when they arrive at the house, they suddenly notice that the "star" has reappeared in the sky exactly as before.? They take this remarkable coincidence of its reappearance just as they reach the baby (adding to the excitement of the Bethlehem prophesy that they had recently been told plus the remarkable account of the shepherds) as a supernatural confirmation that they have indeed found the correct baby.? And so as the text says they rejoice at the star.? Later, either they or Matthew use figurat
 ive language to anthropomorphize the behavior of the star.? They say that the star "went before them" from Herod to the baby in the sense that when a traveler leaves ahead of you then he goes out of sight.? Then they figuratively caught up to the star when they arrived at the baby and it reappeared, so it was as if the star was waiting for them at the location of the baby, and they said it "stood" over the house.

This answers several issues regarding the text.? First, it explains how the "star" could be connected with identifying a single location on the ground.? Second, it explains why an ordinary person didn't notice the phenomenon (something in the atmosphere might have been too obvious and everyone in Judaea would have been astir, but the text implies that only the magi noticed this star).? Third, it explains why they rejoice at the star when they see it over the house; if the star had been there all along then the author?would have had no reason to mention them rejoicing "at the star" (rather than the baby) right at that moment.? Fourth, it gives the ancient people credit for knowing that you can't be guided to a particular city or house by a star in the sky -- their use of figurative language presumes that their listeners will be as smart as they are in understanding that it must be figurative.

For these reasons I have always thought this the best explanation ever since I first heard it.? I don't think any other hypthesis gives as?satisfying an explanation for all the features of the text.

Phil

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Received on Tue Jan 8 07:46:42 2008