"THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM: AN ASTRONOMICAL AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE," by Susan S. Carroll, is a plausible explanation of the historicity of Jesus' birth, and the visit by the Magi as covered in this study of The Star of Bethlehem. And if true, we would see Jesus' birth and coronation as two separate events; his birth being in mid September of 3 BC, and the visit by the Magi on or about December 25, 2 BC (the Jewish New Year occurring between those dates ).
Interestingly, as the author of the article put it,
"The 'star' they followed was the planet Jupiter, the king planet, which having gone through its retrograde motion, appeared to stand still on precisely December 25, 2 BC in the southern sky - and from Jerusalem it would appear that Jupiter had come to rest directly over Bethlehem."
Because Jupiter was in conjunction with Venus it would have appeared as one single and brighter than normal star, still obvious only to those such as the magi who studied the stars.
The part I find most profound in all of this is the context of the visit of the Magi. They were coming to pay homage to a newborn king, a "king of the Jews" they knew would one day arrive as they knew well the prophesy of Daniel to that effect written between 605 and 530 BC (Daniel had been taken captive and brought to Babylon where he later became a Master Magi, by their way of thinking, due to his ability to interpret dreams).
At the very moment these eastern Magi were coming to a place named Bethlehem to celebrate a Jewish king, the Roman empire was in festival to celebrate its 750th year, as well as to celebrate the 25th jubilee year of the reign of Caesar Augustus as Emperor; Augustus who was seen by the Roman's as "the prince of peace." And yet, here were Magi from the east come to visit a toddler in Bethlehem named Jesus, whom they believed to be "the king of the Jews," and whom we, as Christians, believe to be the true "Prince of Peace."
To many of us Christmas is a time of celebrating the birth of our savior, Jesus. This year it is all of that and more for me. I now know that the Star of Bethlehem was the telling of the arrival of a king. This Christmas I celebrate Jesus birth, but I also celebrate the coming of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, my true "Prince of Peace."
