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Geoffrey and Andrew,

> Marcel Tschudin wonders how the Three Wise Men navigated their way to
> Bethlehem by "following a star"? First of all, it is clear from Matthew
> that the Wise Men came "from the East". So the implication is that in
> following a star to take them West, the star must have been in the West.

Not necessarily. The place in the West may have been indicated by astrological 
rules or by Jewish prophecies ("the star out of Jacob" in Numbers 14:17). 
Remember, the magi asked in Jerusalem where the Messiah would be born 
according to the prophecies. Moreover, they used to follow their dreams. 
There were also prophecies in Zoroastrianism according to which a Saviour 
would be born from a virgin. The magi could have worked in a similar way as 
the Tibetan monks looking for their reborn Tulkus. They combine a number of 
indications, e.g. dreams, prophecies, omens, possibly including astronomicla 
ones, to lead them to their child. We should be careful not to become victims 
of unreflecting preconceptions about the job of the magi.

We cannot even be sure that the magi were in the east when they first observed 
the star. If it was a heliacal rising that indicated the birth of the 
Messiah, they would have been able to predict the exact time of the birth and 
start their trip quite some time before that in order to find the baby 
shortly after birth. This is exactly what early Christian writers thought. 
Justin Martyr writes in Dialogue with Trypho, 77 (cf. 78, 106):
"For, at the same time (???) as his birth, Magi came from Arabia
and paid him homage, after they had first come to Herod". 

The magi came from the east (greek: apo anatolon, "from the risings" (a 
plural!)). But when it says that they saw the star in the east, it is Greek 
"en te anatole, "in the rising" (singular!, so I assume it does _not_ mean 
their country of residence). So probably they saw it at its morning first. 
The morning firsts of planets were listed in Babylonian horoscopes if they 
took place a couple of days or weeks before the birth. (See Rochberg, 
"Babylonian Horoscopes").

> The heliacal rising of Venus would have been in the East, wherever they
> came from, so they were not "following" Venus in the way we might simply
> expect.

As I said in my last message, the "going before" of the star could indicate 
its retrograde motion. (This has also been pointed out by Michael Molnar.) 
Later it stands still, which could indicate a station.

> Additionally Venus in 
> astrology is not the planet of a king but Jupiter is, so the "star" they were 
> following was Jupiter not Venus.  

First of all, what modern astrology says, is not necessarily relevant here.

In ancient Mesopotamia, you will find that the goddess Ishtar-Inanna, who was 
identified with the planet Venus, chose her lovers to become kings, E.g. 
Gilgamesch, Shulgi, Iddin Dagan, etc. In Assyrian times, Ishtar was 
considered to be the mother of the king (e.g. Assurbanipal, Esarhaddon). When 
the king had to go to war, she "went before" him and protected him (note, the 
star of the magi also went before them). This tradition of a very close union 
of the king with the Venus goddess lived for thousand of years. Even a clay 
tablet from Hellenistic times' Uruk mentions a sacred marriage ceremony in 
Ishtars temple. 

The king as a child of the goddess - this must remind as of the holy Mary icons with the king child.

Also, if you have a look at the places, where the Morning Star is mentioned in 
the Bible, you will find, that it was associated with rulership. (See e.g. 
Revelation 22:16 and 2:26, 2nd Peter 1:19, Psalm 110 (in the Septuagint!)) 

So, although in Babylon, the king of the Gods, Marduk, was associated with 
Jupiter, the tradition of the king-maker goddess Ishtar was extremely 
influential in the whole middle east. Venus is a perfect candidate for the 
star of a king.

As for Hellenistic astrology, Vettius Valens in his Anthology 1.1 says that 
Venus is not only connected with love, desire, and arts, but also with 
priestly rites and gold and "the wearing of crowns". However, I agree that 
the Hellenistic Venus does not have much to do anymore with war and kingship.

My book about all of this is temporarily downloadable from: 
http://www.gilgamesh.ch/stern_von_bethlehem/koch_stob_english_online.pdf

Dieter Koch

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[Sent from archive by: artizarrak-AT-yahoo.com]


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