Troublesome Topic: In What Way Was this the Star They Had Seen in the East?

Matthew 2:9

Translation

Then, having heard the king, they went away, and behold, the star they had seen in the East, went before them,

and when it had arrived, it stood over the place where the child was.

Paraphrase

Then, having heard the instructions of the king, they left, and then they had a pleasant surprise, for the star they had seen in the eastern sky, went ahead of them, and when it had

arrived at the right spot, it stayed right over the place where the child was.

A star “went before them.” Notice the text identifies the star as “the star they had seen in the East.”

Are we to take this literally or not? We must put ourselves in the Wise Men’s shoes and I don’t think they took it literally. If we are right in thinking that the bright light appeared in the sky two years before the birth of Jesus, then the star would have been absent from the sky for most of that time. But at some point in their journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem the bright light appeared again. This time it was different in some ways, but the Wise Men considered it the same because it was once again the light that “spoke of” the birth of the savior.

The star “stood over the place where the child was”: This is nothing short of a miracle. All attempts to explain it with some natural phenomenon fall short because of the specificity of the light beam enabling them to know the exact house in which they would find Jesus.

The next lesson is: How Many Gifts Did the Wise Men Bring?

Footnotes

1: “went before them”

The text identifies it as “the star they had seen in the East.” Should we take this literally or not? If we are right in thinking that the bright light appeared in the sky two years before the birth of Jesus, then the star would have been absent from the sky for most of that time. But at some point in their journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem the bright light appeared again. This time it was different in some ways, but the Wise Men considered it the same because it was once again the light that “spoke of” the birth of the savior.

2: “stood over the place where the child was”

This is nothing short of a miracle. All attempts to explain it with some natural phenomenon fall short because of the specificity of the light beam enabling them to know the exact house in which they would find Jesus.