When was Jesus born? Not that it matters so much because we know that He was not born in the usual manner, but extraordinarily. Matthew recounts His birth.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, ‘Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship Him? When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him…. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared… When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. (Mat 2:1-3,7,9)
His birth is not the significant thing, but His conception, to wit: it was revealed to the prophets of old, “a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, “God with us” (Mat 1:23)
God came down and was manifested in the flesh. Rather than looking for a “star” should we not be looking for God?
According to
Strong’s lexicon, the “star” is “astere.” Astere is interpreted “star”
but it comes from the Greek verb “stronnyo” — meaning “positing” or “to
strew.”
For instance, asteroids are small planetary bodies that are strewn between Mars and Jupiter that also orbit the Sun.
Perhaps, we should be looking at several bodies rather than one star.
Stars do not move as seen from planet Earth. The cosmos at any one time appears to be motionless. Isiaah called the cosmos and “curtain” that was unrolled during the creation. (Isa 4-:22). Hence, stars would not travel from east to west and then hover above the baby Jesus. Of course, God could have done that;but there is no evidence that He did beyond these passages.
I submit that something happened to the “asteroids” that revolve around the Sun. Perhaps they aligned with one another and pointed toward Jesus. Indeed, that is the modern theory posited by many.
During the dawning of the Age of Pisces, the planets Venus, Jupiter, and Mars converged, according to astronomers.
According to astronomical records, in 6 BC, a convergence of Mars, Jupiter, and Venus is most commonly associated with February 20th, where all three planets appeared close together in the constellation Pisces; however, some interpretations suggest a closer alignment could have been seen in the earlier part of the year, with Mars joining Jupiter and Saturn in conjunction around September-October of 6 BC. (AI Overview)
The convergence, therefore, could have occurred between February 20th to October of 6 BC.
A convergence would be a gradual alignment of those three planets. As they got closer, the brightness would increase until the three were aligned perfectly.
Herod asked “What time the star had appeared? When did it converge, meaning when was it the brightest. Following the star would be observing the convergence as the three heavenly bodies reached their brightest light.
In the magazine Astronomy, Eric Betz, writes that the “Great Conjunction” was at the winter solstice.
From the data from the table (https://www.beda.cz/~jirkaj/seasons/seasons.pdf) the winter solstice appeared precisely at 6 BC on 23 Dec 13:34 and lasted for 2 minutes and 57 seconds.
That was the answer to Herod’s question! The “magi” would have told him that precise time!
So, when did Herod issue the proclamation to murder the innocents? Flavious Josephus wrote that it was upon the death of Herod, before his death was announced. He asked that all the pretenders to the throne be executed.
It is generally accepted that Herod died March and April in 4 BC. Others suggest January to April 1st. (Finegan reasons that Herod died between March 12 and April 11, 4 B.C), agreeing with the birth of Jesus around mid-March of 6 BC.
So, on Dec 13th BC, Herod asked that all infants two years and below be killed. Minus two years would make the birth of Jesus between March and April 6 BC would it not?
Using Jewish holy days, Jonathan Cahn to the exact day in 6 BC that Jesus was born. During the spring equinox on 23 Mar11 BC from the previous table. (Jonathan Cahn calculated Nissan 1 6 BC or March 20, 6 BC).
The Zodiac ages are not absolute, They, are based on the dawning and waxing of certain constellations. That the Age of Pisces began in 1 BC is believed my most, However, in 6 BC it was “dawning” — beginning to appear or approaching. Pisces is the Christian Era that is now waning if not already “waxed.”
Now back to the death of Herod. Before his death was announced, he asked that all the contenders to the throne be executed. That was in 4 BC. The infant Jesus and his father would both be among the contenders for they were “sons of David” and of David’s line.
So subtract nine months from December 23, 4 BC. That comes out to be March 23, 4 BC, and Jesus would have been less than two years old. If exactly two, based on an average of nine months gestation, Jesus would have been conceived on or around March 23, 6 BC.
If not exactly March 23, it could very well have been March 20th 6 BC just as Cahn proposed.
However, was that the birthdate of Jesus, or the date of the conception of Jesus on March 20, 6 BC?
What happened when Jesus was conceived?
“The angel of the Lord (Gabriel) appeared unto him (Joseph) in a dream, saying, Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take unto you Mary your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. (Mat 1:20)
Gabriel told Mary about the conception of Jesus:
The Holy Ghost shall come upon you (Mary), and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore, also that Holy Thing which shall be born of you shall be called the “Son of God” (Luke 1:35)
In my book, The Awesome Quantum God, I defined the Godhead as the Power of God, the Holy Ghost of God, and the Person of God.
At the conception of Jesus all three substances of God was there. We often miss that the Power of God overshadowed Mary to form the Holy Thing (The Person of God) in the womb of Mary.
Back now to stars.
About the Abrahamic Covenant, God told Abraham, “That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying, I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven…" (Gen 22:17).
The conception of Jesus was the multiplication of the seed of Abraham, according to the promise to provide a Savior.
The conception of Jesus was the promise to Abraham. It was being fulfilled at the conception.
The conception story begins with what?
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Mat 1:1)
The conception was the generation of Jesus Christ from the seed of Abraham and the seed of God. The covenant was fulfilled with the conception! The Son of God and the Son of Abraham became one and Jesus was born like a “star” is born, by the Power of God:
God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also. (Gen 1:16).
The wise men, perhaps three kings from the East, knew that it was God whose Power was the “star” of Bethlehem and they did not follow a star but saw the Age of Pisces dawning and understood from scripture and the Zodiac that God had begun His Good Work in the body of Mary in March of 6 BC, and it would be finished in December, 6 BC.
The “Star” was the Power of God — His Light that they had followed from scripture.
Did it coincide with the convergence of Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus? Most assuredly, but they were following the convergence knowing that it was it pointed toward the Power or Star of God. When Jesus was born the Light shined from Jesus. He was the Light of God.
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