林棟樑 | Don Lin
聖經中的伯利恆之星, 耶穌的出生,及古代天象圖
聖經馬太福音 2:1-12 中描述東方三「博士」 看到一顆「王星」昇起, 就跟著這顆星前來耶路撒冷地方尋找「猶太人之王」, 最後星停在「伯利恆」, 三「博士」也找到了剛出生的耶穌和他的母親瑪莉亞, 就俯伏膜拜, 打開寶盒, 送上禮物. 雖然地點有了, 但是這些事情在時間上到底是什麼時候發生, 也就是, 耶穌是哪一年哪一月哪一日出生的, 卻不甚清楚. 研究聖經及有關基督教的人何其多, 時間也何其久, 也是沒有定論. 本文是由古代天象及希伯來曆的角度來推斷「伯利恆之星」到底是發生在希律王時代的什麼時候, 也據此推斷耶穌出生的時間.
無庸置疑,「伯利恆之星」長期以來一直讓天文學家、歷史學家和神學家著迷: 大家好奇, 它到底是怎麼樣的一顆星, 又是在什麼時候發生. 幾年前筆者對農曆,天文學,以及希伯來曆產生興趣. 最近又開發了一個手機的App, 可以用來看古代, 現在及將來的天象圖. 不由得對「伯利恆之星」到底是怎麼樣的星產生了濃厚的興趣.
「博士」是星象家: 在馬太福音中, 「博士」（Magi）一詞是泛指古波斯（今伊朗）或拜比倫的一類祭司、占星家, 賢士或智者。他們以精通天文學、占星術、解夢和宗教儀式而聞名，通常擔任國王的顧問。古波斯或拜比倫的占星術中, 木星雖然在夜間的星空中不像金星那麼燦爛光亮, 卻是象徵著皇室、王權和神恩的King’s Star。在博士們看來，木星與偉大統治者的誕生或崛起有緊密的關係。如果更進一步, 木星與土星聚在一起 (conjunction; 又叫「合相」), 則預示著世界權力或歷史週期的重大轉變; 這種信念繼續延續到伊斯蘭和中世紀的占星術中. 所以西元前6-7年希律王還在位時, 三個東方「博士」必然是看到當時天象的重大啟示, 知道有王者誕生, 就三人組團循「王者之星」去尋找「王者」. 終於在「伯利恆」找到了耶穌.
木星與土星聚在一起是西元前幾年? 由於計算機科技的進步, 現在人類對各個行星軌道的掌握非常精準, 不僅將來, 就是過去的各行星軌道(亦即赤經Right Ascension和赤緯Declination)都可以精確的計算出來. 當兩顆行星的赤經交會在一起的時候我們就稱他們合相conjunction. 圖一顯示木星與土星在西元前六，七年前的赤經變化 (BCE=Before Christian Era=西元前)．紅色的土星赤經曲線交會藍色的木星赤經曲線於A，B，C三點，表示有三次的合相(conjunctions), 發生大約在西元前7年 的6月1日, 10月1日, 及12月3日附近．由圖還可以看出這三個conjunctions發生的時候，剛好兩顆行星也經歷了” 逆行” (Retrograde）的現象，也就是它們的赤經度在6月到12月之間不是一直在增加反而是在達到頂點後,停頓約一個月，然後開始減少（也就是”逆行”）, 幾個月後，到低點又停頓約一個月, 然後恢復正常的順行. 此時兩星的赤經度也開始分離. 由於兩星會合的時候又剛巧碰到了逆行, 所以有三次的合相. 我們一般都知道木星繞太陽一圈約12年, 土星要29.5年. 所以, 木星土星大約20年會相會一次. 三「博士」 看到的「王者之星」應該就是木星土星開始要conjunction的重大時刻, 亦即在Ａ點 (西元前7年 的 6月1日左右)就立刻啟程. 那時兩星還在順行, 過不久, 到7月8月的時候, 兩星到達頂點, 卻不動了. 這對應馬太福音 2:9 中所講的這顆星”stopped over”. 這時耶穌可能已經出生了幾個月. (12 月 25 日這個傳統的聖誕節是第四世紀羅馬帝國時訂的,大多數的學者認為其代表耶穌出日在歷史上是不準確的; 因為路加福音2:8說, 耶穌出生時, 牧羊人在夜間看守羊群的場景. 要知道, 伯利恆/耶路撒冷地區十二月天寒冷多雨, 冬季羊群通常被安置在棚屋中, 在春季到初秋期間才會把羊群飼養在田野中. 既然耶穌出生時, 牧羊人在夜間看守羊群的場景, 那顯然不會是寒冬.)
圖2就是筆者用最近開發的天象圖App(在筆會的另一篇文章中筆者有詳細介紹此App)畫出來的耶路撒冷在西元前7年的6月1日的凌晨3點的星空. 內圈的圓周就是耶路撒冷的東西南北地平線. 圈內的星星包括有東方的土星木星以及西方在地平線快要下山的火星. 內圈外面的星星, 包括太陽,金星, 水星月亮等等, 都是在地平線下, 所以耶路撒冷的人在那個時候(早上3點)是看不到的. 這個星象圖應該就是東方三博士在當時尋找耶穌時所看到的星象, 其中木星與土星幾乎重疊(conjunction).
圖3是同樣的星空但是加上12個星座. 從圖上可以看出木星與土星當時是坐落在雙魚星座內.
希律王的統治年代: 那麼希律王還在位時到底是甚麼時候? 最權威的解說來自於約瑟夫斯(Flavius Josephus). 他在西元37年誕生於當時屬於羅馬猶太行省的耶路撒冷, 是一位羅馬猶太裔歷史學家和軍事領袖。他以《猶太古史》與《猶太戰爭》兩本書而聞名. 在他的著作中, 他說希律王死於一個「月食」之後, 但在那一年的逾越節(Passover)之前. 此外, 羅馬帝國的紀事有提到羅馬元老院(Roman Senate)在西元前40年任命希律王為猶太國王．約瑟夫斯說希律王統治37年．筆者驗證天文學月食的計算以及希伯來曆的計算，確實在4BCE的3月13日有一個耶路撒冷可以看到的月食，而 4BCE當年的Passover是在4月11日． 所以希律王的死亡時間一般認為是4BCE的3月下旬到4月上旬之間. 如果說希律王召見三博士(馬太2:7), 要他們找到耶穌後, 回來報告, 但卻等了兩年, 三個博士都因為在夢中蒙指示不要再去見希律王(馬太福音 2:12) 而溜走, 沒有回來報告是否有找到耶穌, 因此一怒之下, 在他還活著的5BCE的時候發布命令殺掉所有伯利恆兩歲以內的小孩 (馬太福音 2:16), 在時間上的推理也合情合理.
結論: 三博士看到的伯利恆之星, 屬於王者之星, 應該是木星與土星的合相(Conjunction), 經天文學計算, 應該發生在西元前7年的六月初.爾後兩顆星的赤經度都達最高點, 停頓一段時候後開始逆行, 與 馬太福音 第2節的星停頓的描寫契合. 希律王最後幾年的月食時間與逾越節日子的計算, 表示他的過世約在西元前4年的3月底4月初. 由本文的綜合推斷, 耶穌應該出生在西元前7年的5月底六月初. (2025-07-24 New Jersey).
The Star of Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, and Ancient Sky Map
In Matthew 2:1-12 of the Bible, there is description about three “wise men” from the East saw a “King’s Star” rising. They followed the star to Jerusalem to look for the “King of the Jews”. Finally, the star stopped in “Bethlehem”, and the three “wise men” also found the newborn Jesus and his mother Mary, and they bowed down to worship, opened the treasure box, and gave gifts. Although the location is known, the time when these things happened, specifically, the question about what year, month, and day was Jesus born is still not clear. There are so many people who study the Bible and Christianity, and it has been a long time, but there is still no definite conclusion. This article infers when the “Star of Bethlehem” occurred from the perspective of ancient sky map and the Hebrew calendar, and as a result, also infers the time of Jesus’ birth.
Undoubtedly, the “Star of Bethlehem” has long fascinated astronomers, historians, and theologians: Everyone is curious about what kind of star it is and when it happened. A few years ago, this author became interested in the lunar calendar, astronomy, and the Hebrew calendar. Recently, he developed a mobile phone app that can be used to view ancient, present, and future sky maps. He couldn’t help but become very interested in what kind of star the “Star of Bethlehem” is.
Magi are astrologists: In the Gospel of Matthew, the term Magi refers to a group of priests, astrologists, or wise men in ancient Persia (now Iran) or Bybylon. They are famous for their mastery of astronomy, astrology, dream interpretation and religious rituals, and usually serve as advisors to the king. In ancient Persian astrology, although Jupiter is not as bright as Venus in the night sky, it is the King’s Star that symbolizes the royal family, royal power and divine grace. In the eyes of the Magi, Jupiter is closely related to the birth or rise of great rulers. If we go one step further, the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn indicates a major shift in world power or historical cycles; this belief continued into Islamic and medieval astrology. So when King Herod was still in power in 6-7 BC, the three “wise men” must have seen a major revelation in the celestial phenomena at the time, knowing that a king was born, so they formed a group to follow the “King’s Star” to search for the “King”. Finally, they found Jesus in “Bethlehem”.
At What Time Before the Christian Era Did Jupiter and Saturn Have Conjunction? Due to the advancement of computer technology, humans now have a very accurate grasp of the orbits of various planets. Not only the future but also the past orbits of various planets (in terms of Right Ascension, RA, and Declination, DEC) can be accurately calculated. When the RA of two planets intersect, we call it the conjunction of two celestial objects. Figure 1 shows the changes in the RA of Jupiter and Saturn six or seven years before the Christian Era (BCE=Before Christian Era). The red RA curve of Saturn intersects the blue RA curve of Jupiter at points A, B, and C, indicating that there are three conjunctions, which occur around June 1, October 1, and December 3. It can also be seen from the figure that when these three conjunctions occurred, the two planets experienced the phenomenon of “retrograde”, that is, their RA did not continue to increase, but after reaching the peak, it paused for about a month, and then began to decrease (that is, “retrograde”). After a few months, it reached the lowest point and paused for about a month, and then resumed normal forward motion. At this time, the RA of the two stars also began to separate. We generally know that Jupiter takes about 12 years to orbit the sun, and Saturn takes 29.5 years, so Jupiter and Saturn will meet once every 20 years. The “King Star” seen by the three “wise men” should be the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn at point A (around June 1, 7BCE). At that time, the two stars were still moving forward. Not long after, in July and August, the two stars reached the apex and stopped moving. This corresponds to the star “stopped over” mentioned in Matthew 2:9. Jesus may have been born for several months at this time. (The traditional Christmas day on December 25 was set by the Roman Empire in the fourth century. Most scholars believe that it is historically inaccurate to represent the birth date of Jesus.)
Figure 2 is the sky map of Jerusalem at 3 am on June 1, 7 BC, drawn by the author using the recently developed Sky Map app (please consult another article of the author in the TaiwanPenClub.org website). The inner circle represents the 360 degree horizons of Jerusalem. The stars inside the circle include Saturn and Jupiter in the east and Mars in the west; Mars is about to set on the horizon. The stars outside the inner circle, including the sun, Venus, Mercury and the moon etc, are all below the horizon, so the people of Jerusalem could not see them at that time (3 am). This sky map should be the sky map seen by the three wise men from the East when they were looking for Jesus at that time. As shown in the sky map, Jupiter and Saturn are highly overlaped (conjunction).
Figure 3 is the same sky map except with 12 constellations added. From the figure, we can see that Jupiter and Saturn were located in the Pisces constellation at that time.
The reign of King Herod: The question is when was King Herod still in power? The most authoritative explanation comes from Flavius Josephus. He was born in 37 AD in Jerusalem, which was then part of the Roman province of Judea. He was a Roman Jewish historian and military leader. He is famous for his two books, Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish Wars. In his books, he said that King Herod died after a “lunar eclipse” but before the Passover of that year. In addition, the chronicles of the Roman Empire mentioned that the Roman Senate appointed King Herod as King of Judea in 40 BC. Josephus said that King Herod ruled for 37 years. The author verified the calculation of the lunar eclipse and the calculation of the Hebrew calendar for date of Passover. There was indeed a lunar eclipse visible from Jerusalem on March 13, 4 BCE, and the Passover of that year was on April 11, 4 BCE. Therefore, the time of King Herod’s death is generally believed to be between late March and early April, 4 BCE. If Herod waited for two years, and found that the three wise men all ran away because they were told in a dream not to see Herod again (Matthew 2:12) and did not come back to report to him whether they had found Jesus, then, in anger, he may have issued an order to kill all children under two years old in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16) in 5 BCE when he was still alive. Such a timeline for Herod’s final years seems reasonable.
Conclusion: The Star of Bethlehem seen by the three wise men is the King’s Star, which should be the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. According to astronomical calculations, it should have occurred in early June of 7 BC. After that, the right ascension of the two stars reached the highest point, and after a period of pause, they began to retrograde. The pause before regrade is consistent with the description of the star pause in Matthew 2. The calculation of the time of the lunar eclipse in the last few years of Herod and the date of Passover indicates that he died around the end of March or the beginning of April in 4 BC. Based on the comprehensive inference of this article, Jesus should have been born in the end of May or the beginning of June in 7 BC.
