t See an art. by the present writer in The Interpreter (Jan. 1906) on ' The Gospel Narratives of the Nativity and the alleged influence of heathen ideas.'
t Notice esp. Is 603 ' And the Gentiles shall come to thv light.'
§ E.g. by Wunsche, Neue Beilrdge zur Erlduterung der Erangelien, p. 12.
prising. But it is to be observed that in Numbers the star is identified loith the Messiah, and would hardly be applicable in this story. (See, further, below).
It may be, as Zahn * suggests, that Mt. regards the episode of the visit of the Magi to render homage to the newborn King not so much in the light of a fulfilment of ancient prophecy, as a new prophecy ' which indicates that the Me.ssiah Jesus, who has been born to save His own people from their sins (P'), will be sought out and iionoured by heathen, while the leading representatives of the religious thought and worship of Israel ask no questions concerning Him, and leave it to the tyrant, who enslaves them, to concern himself about the true King of the Jews, and then only with the object of compassing His destruction.' On this view the star and the astrologers — the Magi — become sig- nificant as proof that God uses even such imperfect means as astrology for bringing the heathen to the knowledge of the truth.
The ' star ' of the narrative doubtless refers to some particular star, or to some unique astral phenomenon which the Magi were led to connect with the birth of the World-Redeemer in the West. The detail about the star ' which they saAv at its rising ' going ' before them, until it came and stood still above (the place) where the child was,' is, doubtless, not intended to be understood literally. It is merely a poetical description of the illusion which makes it appear that a luminous heavenly body keeps pace and maintains its<«:ela- tive position with the movement of the observer.
Various attempts have been made to identify the ' star ' of this narrative with some exceptional heavenly phenomenon, and to fix its occurrence by means of astronomical calculation. The most famous of these is that of Kepler (1605), who thought of a close conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation Pisces, — a rare combination which takes place only once in 800 years, and which occurred no less than three times in the year 747 a.u.c. ( = b.c. 7). See Edersheim, LT i. p. 212 f. But the data are too indefinite to allow of any certain conclusion in the matter. Moreover, the ignorance displayed by Herod and ' all Jerusalem ' as to the nature of the star hardly suggests that its appearance would strike any but prac- tised astrologers.
The association of the birth of great men with such pheno- mena was a common feature in the ancient world where astrology was held in high esteem. Thus, e.g., 'on the birth- night of Alexander, Magi prophesied from a brilliant constel- lation that the destroyer of Asia was born ' (cf. Cic. de Dinina- tione, i. 47, cited by Allen, op. cit. p. 12). On Jewish ground we have already seen the same idea at work in connexion with the birth of Moses in the Midrash passage cited above. Eders- heim {op. cit. i. p. 211 f.) also cites some late Midrashic passages which connect the coming of Messiah with the appearance of a star. But these are of very uncertain value.
3. The star of the Messiah. — Sometimes the Messiah Himself is metaphorically referred to as a Star,t a description which is based, apparently, on Nu 241'' :
' There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel ' ;
In the Targum Onkelos this is rendered :
' When a king shall arise out of Jacob, And the Messiah shall be anointed from Israel ' ;
And in pseudo-Jonathan :
' When the mighty King of Jacob's House shall reign. And the Messiah, the Power - sceptre of Israel, shall be anointed.'
Here, it will be noticed, the Star is expressly identified with the Messianic King. A similar Messianic application of this passage meets us in the Testnvientfi of the Twehie Patrinrclis, where (Judah, 24 [Greek text]) the following occurs :
' Over you a star shall proceed out of .Jacob, And a man shall arise from my seed like the sun of right eousness ' (cf. Mai i'^). Cf. also Test. Levi 18.
In the first part of the 3rd Messiah-Apocalypse embodied in
* AMv Kranfirliinn des MalthiiiiR {\^m). p. 101.
t The same word is used metaph. in Arabic for a ruler.
676
STAR
STEWAED, STEWARDSHIP
The Apocalypse of Baruch (ch. 53), the seer beholds the Messiah appear like lightning ' on the summit of the cloud ' ; and this lightning ' shone exceedingly so as to illuminate the whole earth ' (of. Mt 24^7 ' For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west, so shall be the coming of the lion of Man ' ; Lk 172^ and the other NT passages cited below ; cf Volz, Jud. Eschatologie, p. 221).
It was apparently from Nu 24^'', Messianically interpreted, that the false Messiah Simeon derived his designation Bar Cochba (i.e. ' Son of the Star '). AVhen Rabbi Akiba acknowledged him a.s the Messiah, he expressly cited this Scripture passage (Bab. Sank. 91b) as applicable to Simeon, though this opinion was not generally shared by the learned among tlie Jews of the time. Bar Cochba seems to have been invested with a Messianic character by the irresistible force of popular public oinnion. After the disastrous issue of his revolt it became necessary to apologize for Akiba's mistake, and one such explanation seems to be reflected in some of the minor Midrashini which make the reference apply to Messiah ben Joseph, who was destined to be killed in battle before Messiah ben David could appear.* There is thus good evidence that in the time of Christ the ' Star' of Nu 24" was popularly identified with the Messianic King.f