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Imprimis, On Line
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December, 1993
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IMPRIMIS (im-pr<70>-mis), taking its name from the Latin
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term, "in the first place," is the publication of
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Hillsdale College. Executive Editor, Ronald L.
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Trowbridge; Managing Editor, Lissa Roche; Assistant,
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Patricia A. DuBois. Illustrations by Tom Curtis. The
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opinions expressed in IMPRIMIS may be, but are not
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necessarily, the views of Hillsdale College and its
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External Programs division. Copyright 1993. Permission
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to reprint in whole or part is hereby granted, provided
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a version of the following credit line is used:
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"Reprinted by permission from IMPRIMIS, the monthly
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journal of Hillsdale College." Subscription free upon
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request. ISSN 0277-8432. Circulation 490,000 worldwide,
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established 1972. IMPRIMIS trademark registered in U.S.
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Patent and Trade Office #1563325.
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---------------------------------------------
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"The Star of Bethlehem"
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by Craig Chester
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President, Monterey Institute
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for Research in Astronomy
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---------------------------------------------
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December 1993
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Volume 22, No. 12
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---------------------------------------------
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Preview: For over 2,000 years, the Star of Bethlehem
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has been a powerful symbol of the Christian faith.
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This unique story, told here by astronomer Craig
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Chester, was originally presented at Hillsdale
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College's Center for Constructive Alternatives Seminar
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"Man and Creation--Perspectives on Science and
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Religion," in the fall of 1992.
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---------------------------------------------
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The Story of the Star in the East
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Someone once observed, "The universe is composed of
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stories, not atoms." The Star of Bethlehem is certainly
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a story (as is most of the Bible, first and foremost).
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It is a mystery and a puzzle, involving not only
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theology and astronomy, but also history and even
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astrology.[1] It is an attempt of men to understand not
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the universe at large, but specific events, or "What I
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Saw."
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What do we know about the Star of Bethlehem? The
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popular conception is summarized in the Christmas
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carol:
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We three kings of Orient are/Bearing gifts we
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traverse afar, Field and fountain, moor and
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mountain/Following yonder star.
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O star of wonder, star of night/Star with royal
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beauty bright, Westward leading, still
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proceeding/Guide us to thy perfect light.
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We all know those lines as the story of the Star,
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which is fine--except for the fact that almost
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everything in it is wrong. The actual New Testament
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account of the Star of Bethlehem comes from the second
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chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (told here in the
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Revised English Bible translation):
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Jesus was born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the
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reign of Herod. After his birth astrologers [Magi]
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from the east arrived in Jerusalem, asking, "Where
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is the newborn king of the Jews? We observed the
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rising of his star, and we have come to pay him
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homage." King Herod was greatly perturbed when he
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heard this, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He
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called together the chief priests and scribes of
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the Jews and asked them where the Messiah was to
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be born. "At Bethlehem in Judaea," they replied,
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"for this is what the prophet wrote: 'Bethlehem in
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the land of Judah, you are by no means least among
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the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a
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ruler to be the shepherd of my people Israel.' "
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Then Herod summoned the astrologers to meet him
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secretly, and ascertained from them the exact time
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when the star had appeared. He sent them to
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Bethlehem, and said, "Go and make a careful search
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for the child, and when you have found him, bring
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me word, so that I may go myself and pay him
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homage."
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After hearing what the king had to say they set
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out; there before them was the star they had seen
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rising, and it went ahead of them until it stopped
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above the place where the child lay. They were
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overjoyed at the sight of it and, entering the
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house, they saw the child with Mary his mother and
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bowed low in homage to him; they opened their
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treasure chests and presented gifts to him: gold,
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frankincense, and myrrh. Then they returned to
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their own country by another route, for they had
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been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod.
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What is your initial reaction to this story? It
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seems to me that it is not a fabulous tale. That is, it
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does not conjure up fantastic details or images, and it
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is told in a rather mundane fashion, not at all like a
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fable. It is also the only account we have of it in our
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Bible. Later, various non-canonical sources did
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elaborate on it. Books like the Protevangelium of James
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and an epistle of Ignatius say this star was the
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brightest star in the sky, brighter than all other
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stars combined, even in-cluding the sun and the moon,
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which bowed down before it. But Matthew is very matter-
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of-fact.[2]
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The Historical Perspective
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To understand this story, we must view it in the
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context of its time. Who were these Magi? Where did
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they come from? Magi is the plural of Magus, the root
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of our word magic; "court astrologer" is probably the
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best translation. "Wise men" is also a good term,
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descriptive of the esteem in which they were widely
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held. The group of Magi in question (it is the
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Christmas carol, not Matthew, that refers to three of
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them) came "from the east." They might have been
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Zoroastrians, Medes, Persians, Arabs, or even Jews.
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They served as court advisors, making forecasts and
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predictions for their royal patrons based on their
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study of the stars, about which they were quite
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knowledgeable. Magi often wandered from court to court,
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and it was not unusual for them to cover great
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distances in order to attend the birth or crowning of a
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king, paying their respects and offering gifts. It is
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not surprising, therefore, that Matthew would mention
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them as validation of Jesus' kingship, or that Herod
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would regard their arrival as a very serious matter.[3]
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When might these Magi have appeared in Judaea?
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Obviously, determining the story's date is important if
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we are to look for astronomical connections. We might
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assume that it was around 1 b.c. or 1 a.d., since that
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is when, by conventional reckoning, Jesus was born. But
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the calendar on which these dates are based was set by
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the Roman monk Dionysius Exiguus in the year 525 a.d.,
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long after the fact. Scholars writing in the first and
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second centuries a.d. asserted that Jesus was born
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between what we now call 4 b.c. and 1 b.c. They were
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living much closer to the event and had access to
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thousands of historical records in many excellent
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libraries, and their opinions probably should be given
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much more weight than has been common.
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How about the time of the year? The best clue is a
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passage in the Book of Luke:
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And there were in the same country shepherds
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abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their
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flock by night.
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If the reference to "fields" is accurate-- not
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pastures or holding pens--we might guess at a date in
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late summer or early fall, for it was customary for
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farmers to allow sheep and cattle to graze the stubble
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in the fields following the harvest. This clue is
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suggestive, but hardly definitive.
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One difficulty in seeking a precise date is the
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fact that Matthew reports two separate sightings,
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possibly separated by a substantial time. First, the
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Magi saw the Star rising en anatole, best translated as
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"rising in the east," the ancient technical term for an
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acronical rising, when an object rises at sunset and is
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visible all night. After they come to Jerusalem--we do
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not know how long that took, and there is no indication
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that the Star was in any way involved with the journey-
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-they see the Star again as they travel the few miles
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to Bethlehem:
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There before them was the star they had seen
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rising, and it went ahead of them until it stopped
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above the place where the child lay.
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There was no need for a bright or supernatural
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guiding light to find Bethlehem from Jerusalem; it lies
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just five miles south on the main road. There is a
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reference not to the "house" of an infant (brephos in
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the Greek) but of a paidion, or toddler, indicating
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that some months may have elapsed since the birth
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itself.
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What are the astronomical possibilities? This
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question has been asked many times since the Christian
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apologist Origen first raised it around 250 a.d. It is
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safe to say that every astronomical event known to have
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occurred during, say, the decade of interest has at
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some point been proposed as the Star of Bethlehem.
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The key point to answering this question is to
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note that it is not just any astronomical event that is
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of interest. We can restrict our inquiry to those
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appearances that would have had astrological
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significance to the Magi, who declared:
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"We observed the rising of his star, and we have
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come to pay him homage."
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An astronomical event may not have been very
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obvious at all; certainly it was not obvious to Herod.
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Had it been an incomparably bright object, as later
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writers thought, there would be numerous written
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records of it. It is much more plausible that the Star
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of Bethlehem went unnoticed by all but a few experts
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such as the Magi.
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The Death of Herod
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A major key to the chronology is the date of the death
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of Herod, who figures prominently in our story. Herod
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was alive when the Star of Bethlehem appeared and the
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commonly quoted date for his death is 4 b.c.4 Thus
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dates of 7 b.c. through 4 b.c. are often given for the
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birth of Jesus. The political events of this period are
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best known from the writings of Josephus Flavius, the
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Jewish historian who lived from 37 a.d. to about 95
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a.d. His testimony has always been considered vital in
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||
determining these dates. But the accounts of Josephus
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and the entire history of this period have been
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reassessed recently, with important new results, by
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Ernest Martin, whose book, The Star that Astonished the
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World, has become the authoritative source on the
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||
subject.[5]
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According to Josephus, on the night of a lunar
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||
eclipse Herod executed two rabbis. They were accused of
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||
inciting some young men to climb up on the wall and
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tear down the golden eagle that the king had ordered
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||
placed on the gate to the Temple in Jerusalem. This
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||
eagle was, of course, an abomination to the Jews
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||
because it was a graven image. Soon Herod himself died
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and was buried. One of his sons inherited his throne,
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shortly after which Passover was celebrated. It was
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long believed that the lunar eclipse in question
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occurred on March 13 in 4 b.c. But this was only a
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partial eclipse (40 percent total) and fairly hard to
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detect. And it occurred only 29 days before Passover.
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Here is what would have had to happen in those 29 days:
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Herod was sick at the time of the execution of the
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rabbis and his condition worsened almost immediately.
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He was treated for a time by his physicians, to no
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avail. Herod then decided to pack up the royal
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household and move to Jericho to take the baths. He
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tried the baths unsuccessfully for some days and then
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returned to Jerusalem. Believing that he soon would
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die, Herod came up with a diabolical plan to insure
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that all of Israel would mourn his death, in spite of
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his unpopularity. He commanded the leading men from
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around the country to come to Jerusalem; there he
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imprisoned them in the Hippodrome and ordered the army
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to execute them as soon as he was dead. Israel would
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indeed mourn. (Fortunately, the order was not carried
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out.)
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In the meantime, word arrived from Rome that Herod
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had the Emperor's permission to execute his rebellious
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son Antipater, and he promptly complied. Five days
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||
later he died, but not before decreeing that his was to
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be the largest funeral ever held in the history of the
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world. His body was embalmed. The army was assembled to
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carry his body in the funeral procession to a burial
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site some 25 miles away. The soldiers walked in bare
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feet, as was required when in mourning, traveling one
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mile a day. A legate from Rome, where word of Herod's
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death had been received, arrived to protect the royal
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treasury. Finally, Herod's son Archelaus was crowned
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king and had time to issue a few decrees prior to the
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celebration of Passover.
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The 29 days between the eclipse of 4 b.c. and the
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following Passover simply do not allow enough time for
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all of this to have happened. A minimum of ten weeks
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would have been required. But on January 10, 1 b.c.,
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there was a total lunar eclipse visible in Palestine,
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and it occurred twelve and a half weeks before
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Passover. As Martin points out, there are other
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compelling reasons to regard 1 b.c. as the true date of
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Herod's death. For example, the War of Varus, known to
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have followed Herod's death, can be redated to 1 b.c.,
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where it fits the other known facts perfectly.
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If we conclude that Herod did die in the spring of
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1 b.c., we are free to add the years 3 b.c. and 2 b.c.
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to our search for the Star of Bethlehem. What was
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happening then? The year 2 b.c. marked the 25th
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anniversary of Caesar Augustus's rule and the 750th
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anniversary of the founding of Rome. Huge celebrations
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||
were planned. The whole empire was at peace. The doors
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of the temple of Janus were closed for only the third
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||
time in Roman history. To honor their emperor, the
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people were to rise as one and name Augustus pater
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patriae, or "Father of the Country." Now, getting the
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people of an empire to do something "spontaneously"
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requires a great deal of organization. And so an
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enrollment, or census, was ordered:
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In those days, a decree went out from Caesar
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Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.
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And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city.
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This enrollment, described in the Gospel of Luke,
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which brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, always has
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been a mystery since no regular taxation census
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occurred at this time. But the pater patriae enrollment
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fits perfectly.
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The Astronomical Perspective
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What astronomical events, possibly in the years 3 or 2
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||
b.c., might have been related to the Star of Bethlehem?
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Novae have been suggested, the unexpected, sudden
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brightening of a star from invisibility into a bright
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object for a period of days or weeks. There is no
|
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historical record of such a nova, nor is it clear what
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||
a nova's astrological significance would be. Comets are
|
||
candidates, for they appear sporadically, move, and
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||
even seem to point down to the earth. (This was
|
||
Origen's choice.) But the recorded comets around this
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||
time, even Halley's Comet in 12 b.c., were not very
|
||
impressive; astrologically, they were considered
|
||
ominous. Meteors and fireballs are even less likely
|
||
candidates.
|
||
|
||
Conjunctions of planets have long been considered
|
||
good possibilities. A conjunction is a close apparent
|
||
approach between two celestial objects. Technically
|
||
speaking, a conjunction occurs at the moment when both
|
||
objects have the same celestial longitude; one is due
|
||
north of the other. The closer the objects, the more
|
||
visually impressive is the event and the more
|
||
significant astrologically. In 3 b.c. and 2 b.c., there
|
||
was a series of close conjunctions involving Jupiter,
|
||
the planet that represented kingship, coronations, and
|
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the birth of kings. In Hebrew, Jupiter was known as
|
||
Sedeq or "Righteousness," a term also used for the
|
||
Messiah.
|
||
|
||
In September of 3 b.c., Jupiter came into
|
||
conjunction with Regulus, the star of kingship, the
|
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brightest star in the constellation of Leo. Leo was the
|
||
constellation of kings, and it was associated with the
|
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Lion of Judah. The royal planet approached the royal
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||
star in the royal constellation representing Israel.
|
||
Just a month earlier, Jupiter and Venus, the Mother
|
||
planet, had almost seemed to touch each other in
|
||
another close conjunction, also in Leo. Then the
|
||
conjunction between Jupiter and Regulus was repeated,
|
||
not once but twice, in February and May of 2 b.c.
|
||
Finally, in June of 2 b.c., Jupiter and Venus, the two
|
||
brightest objects in the sky save the sun and the moon,
|
||
experienced an even closer encounter when their disks
|
||
appeared to touch; to the naked eye they became a
|
||
single object above the setting sun. This exceptionally
|
||
rare spectacle could not have been missed by the Magi.
|
||
|
||
In fact, we have seen here only the highlights of
|
||
an impressive series of planetary motions and
|
||
conjunctions fraught with a variety of astrological
|
||
meanings, involving all the other known planets of the
|
||
period, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn. The astrological
|
||
significance of these impressive events must surely
|
||
have been seen by the Magi as the announcement of the
|
||
impending birth of a great king of Israel.
|
||
|
||
September 11, 3 b.c., is perhaps the most
|
||
interesting date of all. Not only was Jupiter very
|
||
close to Regulus in the first of their conjunctions,
|
||
but the sun was in the constellation of Virgo (of
|
||
obvious symbolism), together with the new moon, in a
|
||
configuration that fits a plausible interpretation of a
|
||
passage in the Book of Revelation describing the birth
|
||
of a male child who is to be the ruler of the universe.
|
||
Significantly, September 11, 3 b.c., also marked the
|
||
beginning of the Jewish New Year, traditionally
|
||
regarded as the anniversary of Noah's landing after the
|
||
Great Flood.
|
||
|
||
But if the planet Jupiter was the Star of
|
||
Bethlehem, or was a component of the events that
|
||
triggered the visit by the Magi, how do we view the
|
||
final appearance of the Star on their journey to
|
||
Bethlehem? It would have been in the southern sky,
|
||
though fairly high above the horizon. Could it have
|
||
stopped over Bethlehem?
|
||
|
||
The answer is yes. The word "stop" was used for
|
||
what we now call a planet's "stationary point." A
|
||
planet normally moves eastward through the stars from
|
||
night to night and month to month, but regularly
|
||
exhibits a "retrograde loop." As it approaches the
|
||
opposite point in the sky from the sun, it appears to
|
||
slow, come to a full stop, and move backward (westward)
|
||
through the sky for some weeks. Again it slows, stops,
|
||
and resumes its eastward course. It seems plausible
|
||
that the Magi were "overjoyed" at again seeing before
|
||
them, as they traveled southward, His star, Jupiter,
|
||
which at its stationary point was standing still over
|
||
Bethlehem. We do know for certain that Jupiter
|
||
performed a retrograde loop in 2 b.c. and that it was
|
||
stationary on December 25, interestingly enough, during
|
||
Hanukkah, the season for giving presents.
|
||
|
||
|
||
What Room for God?
|
||
|
||
Where has this search for the Star of Bethlehem taken
|
||
us? There has been much discussion in recent years
|
||
about the "God of the gaps"--finding God in the gaps
|
||
between the portions of some subject that we feel we
|
||
understand scientifically. It seems to me that this is
|
||
a dangerous position, for science by definition cannot
|
||
admit to such gaps and must search continually to fill
|
||
them with its understanding, and it often will succeed
|
||
in so doing. Here the situation is different. The
|
||
question is: What meaning, what room for God, do we
|
||
find in the events that we know to have occurred?
|
||
|
||
If we have correctly identified the Star of
|
||
Bethlehem, the science is clear and simple. Keplerian
|
||
orbits of planets[6] are predictable, so that we can
|
||
deduce quite accurately what the sky looked like two
|
||
thousand years ago. Even the ancient Magi understood
|
||
apparent planetary motions quite well. Predictions of
|
||
the conjunctions of 3 and 2 b.c. were made 400 years
|
||
prior to the birth of Christ, and they were in error by
|
||
only a few days. There is no need to invoke God or
|
||
divine miracles to explain what happened in the heavens
|
||
above Judaea. Natural laws are sufficient.
|
||
|
||
But is this kind of sufficiency really enough for
|
||
us? The significant question raised here is not what
|
||
happened, but why it happened. What does it mean? Was
|
||
Matthew right in seeing this event as divine
|
||
confirmation of a central moment in God's plan for
|
||
mankind? What room is left for God, not as an agent
|
||
filling in the gaps between what we can understand as
|
||
physical causes, but as the creator of purpose? And was
|
||
God's purpose fulfilled by the great celestial dance
|
||
that we call the Star of Bethlehem?
|
||
|
||
These questions are examples of the kind of
|
||
decisions we are faced with daily. No theologian can
|
||
say, in a way convincing to a scientist, that some
|
||
event required an act of God outside natural law.
|
||
Similarly, no scientist can say that some event was
|
||
merely (a dangerous word) an act of natural law working
|
||
itself out with no other meaning. That is, no one is
|
||
forced to believe that what happened in the heavens two
|
||
thousand years ago was a simple, natural event devoid
|
||
of meaning. The Star of Bethlehem is an excellent
|
||
example of an event that occurs right at the
|
||
intersection of Christianity and science, in a world
|
||
created by a God who chose to institute natural laws
|
||
but who nevertheless continues to carry out His own
|
||
purposes.
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Craig Chester is the president and co-founder of the
|
||
Monterey (California) Institute for Research in
|
||
Astronomy (MIRA). Founded 22 years ago, MIRA is the
|
||
only American professional observatory established in
|
||
this century which is independent of universities and
|
||
of the federal government; its observatory (at one of
|
||
the best sites in the U.S.), its educational programs,
|
||
and its state-of-the-art research are funded almost
|
||
entirely by private donors who wish to support basic
|
||
science at a unique institution. As a software
|
||
consultant, Dr. Chester has worked on a variety of U.S.
|
||
Navy and U.S. Air Force projects, developing ground
|
||
equipment and software tools for satellite
|
||
communications. He holds a Ph.D. in astronomy from Case
|
||
Western Reserve University.
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Footnotes:
|
||
|
||
1 My background is astronomy. I also took some
|
||
fascinating courses in Biblical studies at Harvard
|
||
Divinity School, but I do not pretend to be an expert
|
||
of any sort. It also should be noted that I am not
|
||
presenting any original research in this essay. Many
|
||
scholars, including scientists, theologians,
|
||
andhistorians, have studied the Star of Bethlehem.
|
||
|
||
2 It has been suggested that this is a commentary by
|
||
Matthew, always fond of referring to Old Testament
|
||
prophecies, on Balaam's oracle in the Book of Numbers
|
||
that "a star shall come forth out of Jacob and a
|
||
scepter shall rise out of Israel." It would be
|
||
uncharacteristic of Matthew to refrain from pointing
|
||
out this prophecy explicitly, had he had it in mind.
|
||
|
||
3 The Hebrew prophet Daniel, himself a member of the
|
||
Magi, foretold that a king of kings would come forth
|
||
from Israel. On the strength of this prophecy, the
|
||
Roman emperor Nero was even advised to move his capital
|
||
to Jerusalem.
|
||
|
||
4 The reference is to Herod the Great. It was his son
|
||
Herod Antipas who executed John the Baptist and who
|
||
ruled at the time of the Crucifixion.
|
||
|
||
5 Ernest Martin, The Star that Astonished the World
|
||
(ASK Publications, 1991). See also, John Mosley, The
|
||
Christmas Star (Griffith Observatory), 1987).
|
||
|
||
6 Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was the German
|
||
astronomer who discovered the physical laws describing
|
||
planetary orbits.
|
||
|
||
###
|
||
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
||
End of this issue of Imprimis, On Line; Information
|
||
about the electronic publisher, Applied Foresight,
|
||
Inc., is in the file, IMPR_BY.TXT
|
||
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
||
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