STAR OF BETHLEHEM
The Christmas festival is acknowledged every year in the Christian west to a greater or lesser degree of understanding as to the truth of its message. Our Christmas cards when depicting the nativity show the star as having at least eight points, if not twelve, or even sixteen. Whether we like to acknowledge it or not an amazing event occurred two thousand or so years ago heralded by the appearance of a star which hung around for close on two years. The Bible does not tell us whether the shepherds saw it or not. If they did they may not have appreciated its significance. Nonetheless they had the privilege of a visit by the Angel Gabriel together with an entire host of angels praising God; a night they would remember for the rest of their lives. Whilst there were those who were very well qualified astronomers others would have been stargazers at a more elementary level. Many people would have been aware of this particular star being too bright to ignore. John Elliot Page in his book Signs in the Sky writes that it was an ‘exploding star’ which took place in the small constellation named Coma, associated with Virgo becoming one million times brighter than our sun in which case it would have been very difficult to ignore.
There were wise men from the east who not only saw this star, along with fellow astronomers, but who understood its meaning. They were called the magi; a class of priests among the ancient Persians. (1) As it was only Israel who had ever received word from the Lord God Almighty through His prophets, it is inevitable these wise men were of the lost ten tribes.
In II Esdras 13 vv 39-45 we read these words being the interpretation of a dream.
“ And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him, these are the ten tribes which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king whom Salmanasar, King of Assyria, led away captive and he carried them over the waters and so came they into another land.
“But , they took counsel amongst themselves that they would leave the multitude of the heathen and go forth into a further country where never mankind dwelt; that they might there keep their statutes which they never kept in their own land, ……… for through that country there was a great way to go, namely of a year and a half, and the same region is called Asareth”
These verses confirm that the ten tribes were taken captive into the Far East making it plausible that the wise men were of Israelite descent.
Steven M Collins in his book “The ‘lost’ Ten Tribes of Israel …. Found” reports that the magi came from the region of Parthia. He states that the Parthians were, in fact, descendants of Israel from the captives of both the northern kingdom of Ephraim-Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. They were influential people including priests descended from Levi, of non royal lineage. Collins further goes on to state that the magi party may have been escorted by hundreds of troops which also incorporated a large entourage of animal-handlers, cooks and servants.
Indeed, Flavius Josephus records that wealthy Jews would travel with treasures from the Parthia region with tens of thousands of soldiers as guards. This would be quite credible as Matthew 2.3 tells us that “all Jerusalem was troubled” by the visit of the magi. This caravan must have been fairly large to cause such a disturbance. Had the party consisted of only three or four wise men visiting King Herod not many people would have known about it. They were very bold men indeed to come to the incumbent monarch asking for information of a new baby born to be a future king of the Jews! King Herod must have experienced some trepidation from this large company of travellers, secretly wondering the real purpose of their visit.
For the wise men to have understood the hidden meaning of the appearance of this star we must look to the prophets as well as to the astronomers. As Israelites the magi would have read and studied the prophecies concerning the first advent.
Isaiah 11:1 ”And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots”.
Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgement andjustice in the earth”
Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”.
This very special star was observed in a small constellation known as Coma which is associated with the greater constellation known as Virgo. This sign shows a woman bearing a branch in her right hand, and an ear of corn in her left. The Hebrew name of this sign is “A Virgin”, and the meaning in Arabic is “A Branch”. The bright star in the ear of corn is called in Arabic “the branch”. This star is also called “Vindemiatrix” a Chaldee word meaning “the son” or “one who cometh”.(2)
In the light of the foregoing it would appear that any Star of David would be that wonderful star which must have been visible to some extent to the naked eye for about two years. As II Esdras states that some of the children of Israel had eighteen months ‘ travelling to do to reach a country “where never man dwelt” it would have been a similar journey for the wise men travelling from Parthia to Palestine. As they took many soldiers with them it must have been treacherous country through which to travel at times. It is not inconceivable to imagine the wise men, being masters in astronomy, becoming aware of this star from its inception and, therefore, hasting to their scrolls to find the meaning. Evidently they were not disappointed and made plans accordingly for the long journey, selecting their gifts appropriate for a king who would sacrifice himself for the sake of his people.
Further evidence of a long journey of at least eighteen months to two years is that when they eventually arrived in Bethlehem, still guided by the star, they found, not a baby, but a young child in the house where Mary and Joseph were living; hence, King Herod ‘s instruction to his soldiers to kill all male children two years of age and under.
The symbol we know today as the Star of David may not be all we believe it to be. According to Richard Kelly Hoskins in his book ‘In the Beginning…. the Story of the International Trade Cartel’ (p40) this sign is, in fact, an ancient Tibetan Hindu sign. On page 84 he elaborates further in that it is the most ancient of Hindu sex symbols, the two merging triangles representing the union of female and male, the upper for the female and the lower for the male. It will also be noted that the gematria for this symbol is 666 having six outer points, six inner triangles and a hexagon in the centre, ie a six sided plane. Rev.13:18 gives this number as the mark of the beast and is a symbol of Satan.
The red hexagram sign was used in 1 744 by Moses Amschel Bauer to celebrate the birth of his son, Mayer Amschel on 23 February. Moses Bauer had a counting house in Frankfurt, Germany, from where he loaned money. This symbol was placed above the front door of his business.(3) After his father’s death, Meyer Amschel Bauer returned to Frankfurt – having left the Openheimer’s bank in Hanover – to take over the family business. He recognised the significance of the red hexagram and changed his name to Rot(h)schild, being German for red, ‘rot’ and shield, ‘schild’.(4)
W H Bennett in his book Symbols of our Celtic Saxon Heritage (p102) states that this six pointed star in the shape of a hexagram is called the Star of David as well as the Seal of Solomon. He believes, however, that its correct name is the Shield of David. He bases his authority on the common Jewish use of the name the Star of David. The name of this emblem as used by the Rabbis and the more educated Jews is the Shield of David and on a Masonic tradition in which it is called the Seal of Solomon.
Regrettably this does not appear to be in agreement with biblical teaching as there is no mention of any of these titles anywhere in the word of God; the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, or the New Testament. Therefore we should be careful in our acceptance of such a claim. The only emblems used by the House of David are the lion rampant, the three lions couchant and the harp of David. The emblem for the tribe of Judah has always been the lion (Genesis 49:9).
Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? One of Judah’s sons, Zara, used as his personal standard the lion rampant while his twin brother, Pharez, used the lion couchant.
Jesus said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:16
(Footnotes)
1 Collins dictionary
2 Signs in the Sky by John Elliott Page p.21
3 Synagogue of Satan p.30
4 Synagogue of Satan p.31
